Hotel Mahoroba — Hotel in Noboribetsu

I love this hotel!! Well, everyone in my family does. The kids love sleeping on the tatami. ||Check in was a bliss. The lady doesn’t speak very good English but good enough for me to understand. I apparently paid extra booking on Agoda (for 4 adults, we are a family of 2 adults and 2 kids) but she wasn’t able to refund. Not her problems. She was really apologetic. ||We went to our room and it was super smelly (with cigarette smoke). I called up reception and they immediately came to assist me with the change of the room. I really appreciate that. I’d suggest to book directly at the website rather than via a third party booking site like Agoda. ||After settling down ourselves we walking to the Jikokudani (Hell Valley). It was very near and the walk was a pleasant one. ||We went for the buffet dinner after that and it was massive. Love the free flow steak. The crab was okay (I prefer grilled type). The draught Beer (extra charge) was really good. ||We went to the onsen twice. Once at night and again the next day early morn, so we get to try both the onsen. |There are 2 levels of onsen and male and female take turns to use at different timing. I prefer the one at B2. The one at B1 doesn’t get much of a view. But the types of pools are similar. They have so so so many types of hot spring stop choose from ~ sulfur (my favourite), salt, iron acid (or was it acid iron? ), and many more. |They provide Yukata of different sizes in the room, for kids size you have to call the reception. |The toiletries at the onsen was superb. I bought the shampoo home! Horse oil shampoo. Makes my hair silky soft. ||Breakfast was so so. Limited as compared to the spread the night before and also to the other hotels we stayed. ||If I’m coming again to Noboribetsu, I’ll definitely stay here again! ||P/S: the hotel even provide a shuttle to Sapporo at a very small fee. U just need to book early. The ride was very...

I love this hotel!! Well, everyone in my family does. The kids love sleeping on the tatami. ||Check in was a bliss. The lady doesn’t speak very good English but good enough for me to understand. I apparently paid extra booking on Agoda (for 4 adults, we are a family of 2 adults and 2 kids) but she wasn’t able to refund. Not her problems. She was really apologetic. ||We went to our room and it was super smelly (with cigarette smoke). I called up reception and they immediately came to assist me with the change of the room. I really appreciate that. I’d suggest to book directly at the website rather than via a third party booking site like Agoda. ||After settling down ourselves we walking to the Jikokudani (Hell Valley). It was very near and the walk was a pleasant one. ||We went for the buffet dinner after that and it was massive. Love the free flow steak. The crab was okay (I prefer grilled type). The draught Beer (extra charge) was really good. ||We went to the onsen twice. Once at night and again the next day early morn, so we get to try both the onsen. |There are 2 levels of onsen and male and female take turns to use at different timing. I prefer the one at B2. The one at B1 doesn’t get much of a view. But the types of pools are similar. They have so so so many types of hot spring stop choose from ~ sulfur (my favourite), salt, iron acid (or was it acid iron? ), and many more. |They provide Yukata of different sizes in the room, for kids size you have to call the reception. |The toiletries at the onsen was superb. I bought the shampoo home! Horse oil shampoo. Makes my hair silky soft. ||Breakfast was so so. Limited as compared to the spread the night before and also to the other hotels we stayed. ||If I’m coming again to Noboribetsu, I’ll definitely stay here again! ||P/S: the hotel even provide a shuttle to Sapporo at a very small fee. U just need to book early. The ride was very...

The good:

Very nice onsen. Great variety of hot pools and the outdoor ones are magical when it snows. Unlike the Takimotokan on the other end of the street, the public bath here is not permanently arranged for male/female guests (and ladies miss out on the best views there), instead they swap places in the mid night and every guest get to experience every pool. Kudos on that!

Shuttle bus from Sapporo TV tower for 1000 yen. They answer emails in English but much quicker just to call - the reception staff kindly accommodated my broken Japanese.

Plenty of rooms - enough for making a last minute booking on a Saturday (right before Christmas) at a bargain price!

The bad:

Average buffet food. Seen other tables (not international tourists) grabbing large quantity of crab legs only going to waste.

The hotel really needs to work on the WiFi. Most people getting by using their own mobile data doesn't mean the hotel can fool around with broken Internet infrastructure. Oh and there is a sign in the lift asking people not to use their own WiFi - whoever came up with this knew nothing about networking, and/or have never lived in an apartment!

Also take note this is a very big touristy hotel. Be prepared for the crazy queues for the lifts at checkout time. For that reason I do not recommend booking transport out of the town right after checking out - too much anxiety.

Pro tip:

If you only have one day here and came from Sapporo, book a room at Mahoroba, catch the shuttle and use the onsen both in the evening and in the next morning. On the next day head to Takimotokan and buy a day onsen pass (2250 yen). Do some sightseeing (e.g. Jigokudani) between more onsen dips and leave the town by the end of the day, warm, relaxed and smelling like a rotten egg. That way you get the most out of what Noboribetsu...