第一滝本館 — Hotel in Noboribetsu

This is supposed to be one of the top ranked onsen hotel in Japan. It's fairly expensive and I had a high expectation. However I found the hotel just too big to feel the charm.||The hotel is located in a great location, with easy access to both the onsen's main street and the Hell's Valley. If you are driving, beware that they use mechanical parking, which was a scary experience for me. It was a lot of hassle to get in or out. If you take the bus, there's a bus stop nearby, but you need to either climb up some stairs to access the hotel's lobby or use a narrow walkway down into the hotels basement.||My first impression about the hotel was how their staff behave. They were generally nice. But you can see they just want to send you away as fast as possible, which is very different from how Japanese hospitability usually works. This is a prestigious and expensive hotel, yet the service was level far below par in Japan. I asked for a larger slipper because the slipper they had in the room was too small. The person I talked to said they will have it delivered to my room, and it never happened. They probably never figured out what I was asking for in the first place and decided to ignore me.||The hotel complex was huge. So huge that they give you a map when checking in. I stayed in the south building witch was closest to the entrance but farthest to the hot spring bath. I stayed in a western styled room this time. The room was big, but surprisingly basic. There was little table space, only basic channels on TV, and there was no tea or coffee in the room, just matcha. Yes matcha is expensive, but I found the theme of this hotel is to offer as little as possible without annoying the guests. The soundproof was bad for the room. The hotel was filled with loud group tourists on both nights I stayed and I could constantly hear people in my room. Furthermore the hotel played music in the hallway, and somehow the room door could not block the music so I could hear it in my room (it didn't reach my bed though). My room had zero view, I think Japanese styled rooms gets the better view. Probably to compensate that, they put a light source outside of the paper windows. If you turn them on at night, it looks like it's still the day outside. This was the only thing I really liked in my room.||Takimotokan is famous for it's hot spring bath. They call it the best hot spring bath in Japan. It was indeed big, with two levels of various bath tubs. Even a swimming pool (swim suit is required for the pool). One of the bath tubs overlooked the whole Hell's Velley, which was super cool. However that will require you to be there when there's still daylight, which can be tricky for the reason I'll explain later. I think hot spring lovers will definitely love the place. However outside of the hot springs, the hotel was underwhelming. It's supposed to have a shopping/entertainment complex built in, but most of the things in the basement level were closed. Not sure if it was due to covid or the hotel being aged. They also removed the automated puppet show recently. There wasn't much to see or do in the hotel besides browsing the souvenir store, which was not very different from the ones outside.||I chose Kaiseki as my dining option. the restaurant was very quiet, away from those group tourists. Everyone got their own private booth or box. I was fairly surprised that they were willing to sit a solo traveler next to the window, with a much better view than my room had. The hotel manager was one of the few courteous staff I met in the hotel and the staff respond promptly to summons. They gave me a bilingual menu so I can see what I was eating. The food was good. But considering it was much more expensive than the buffet option, I will choose buffet if I would chose again.||Overall, Takimotokan reminds me of those large businesses that sees numbers, but not people. I was there for two weekday nights, and the hotel was probably fully occupied on both nights, mostly by group tourists. The business was good for them, but it doesn't mean they create the nicest memories. You are required to check out by 10, and the breakfast ends at 9. Unless you are one of those people who gets up super early, you may not have the time to take the hot spring bath in the morning, which makes it hard to see Hell's Valley from the bath. It also summarizes my feeling...

Situated just before the entrance to Hell Valley, Daiichi Takimoto Honkan stands as an imposing resort replete with many facilities to ensure a relaxing stay. The resort is accessible via bus that I was able to take from Noboribetsu.||Service was good from check-in to check-out, even if a little brusque. I had no issues dealing with the staff throughout my stay, though compared to other places, service did feel a bit hands-off, perhaps due to the large scale of the resort, which meant that I was unlikely to find a staff member to help me navigate somewhere between areas-- and it's a long walk to get from place to place. There are staff who speak English at the resort and the resort does offer information in English, but guests should not expect the same level of fluency as they would in the cities. It would be particularly helpful if one learns a bit of Japanese beforehand including some basic phrases and numbers. It will make communicating specific requests and booking reservations much easier outside of the main lobby.||I booked a Japanese style room, so the room was massive, complete with a full bathroom and a living room. The main area converts into a bedroom during turn-down service. The only drawback was the lack of outlets, as the few that were in there are located all over the room. ||I opted for Kaiseki in-room dining. Service was efficient and punctual-- expect to be served quickly. The meal was split into three phases; two parts consisting of main courses (several courses are served in the same tray) and dessert at the end. The menu appears to rotate daily between two sets, as I had different dinners on both nights I was there. The food was good, albeit delicate, featuring a lot of seafood and steamed/boiled dishes in small portions. However, I was full after each meal due to the number of courses offered, so no issues there.||The onsen is the star of the resort, featuring many heated baths and an outdoor onsen overlooking Hell Valley. Everything was clean and the baths operated well. You can easily spend hours relaxing in the onsen between the two floors, alternating between the hot and cold pools. As well, the onsen opens very late-- the outdoors area closes at midnight and indoors area are only closed at certain points for cleaning. The outdoors area is another highlight, featuring views of Hell Valley. The area is also far enough from the Hell Valley walkways, so I didn't worry about being exposed. The outdoors area also has a bar from which I was able to order beer and sake to drink in the baths, which was delightful. The prices were also fair for what they were and I likely would have drank into a slumber had I arrived earlier, lounge chairs were in plentiful supply around the baths.||I think the two nights I spent there were the perfect length of stay. Had I booked a third night, I likely would have used that night to eat at the resort's casual restaurants and visit the resort's whisky bar (just be careful of their opening hours, the F&B operations do kind of close early). The resort was a great way to unwind and was a much warranted break from all of the sightseeing that I had...

This review is coming from the perspective of a solo, foreign traveler. Objectively, the facilities are impressive. But they are clearly catering to local families.

This is a super family friendly accommodation best described as an onsen theme park. There are tons of kid-friendly activities and facilities such as a water slide, game room, and wading pool. The entire complex is massive.

First, the good. The rooms are very nice, and very traditional ryokan. The futon mattress folds out on the floor at night, replacing the dining set. The baths are among the largest and most varied I have seen (though I have only been to a handful of onsens)—tattoo friendly and accessible 24/7. The different mineral baths are interesting—ferrous, sulfur, alum, etc.

There’s also some good hiking in nearby Hell Valley, but during winter most of the trails are closed. The shopping street nearby is quaint with some good food options and tchotchke souvenirs.

The not so good: booking was very difficult. There were several options available with different rooms and meal bookings (breakfast buffet, dinner buffet, Kaiseki dinner, room service, etc), so I had no clue what I was booking. The website translation is very difficult to understand. **The caveat here is I ended up booking thru an online agent, and the hotel was very responsive through the agent chat, so that was good.

Because of the size of this place, check-in was NOT quick. Took roughly 40 minutes from the time I arrived to the time I set foot in my room.

Depending on the room, if you want modern luxury, this probably isn’t your place. The buffet meals are meant to cater to 100s, if not 1000s of guests per seating, so the quality is not great, but there’s variety and volume. For the price (even for a traditional room), if you aren’t looking for a fully self-contained resort experience, I would probably suggest skipping the buffet, especially as a solo traveler. You can dine well outside.

The traditional rooms are Spartan, by design. So if you’re looking for luxurious mattresses and fluffy pillows, look elsewhere (or pony up for the suites here). The wifi in the rooms is extremely hit and miss, so if you need reliable wifi, you’ll probably end up in a common area or using your cell data.

Finally, Noboribetsu Onsen (town) isn’t exactly the most accessible location without a car. During the winter, there’s 1 bus per day that has a direct route from New Chitose Airport. Otherwise you’re on some combo of 3 trains and/or buses from the airport. It only takes up to 2 hours, but 2 transfers is annoying. A cab ride from the airport is ~US$150. The facility didn’t have any other suggestion other than those public transportation options you can find on a map.

I would consider this a $$$ resort… comparable to or more expensive than the mid-tier ski accommodations in Niseko. All in all, for the price, I likely would have chosen a more boutique accommodation in the area and gotten a day pass for the baths here, since as a solo traveler, it’s really the highlight of...