Kura — Hotel in Suzaka

I had chosen this guesthouse purely on the reviews on Tripadvisor and after our long train journey and 15 minute walk from the station I was hoping that we would not be disappointed. We most definitely weren't. Marina a genuinely nice person. She has the ability to make you feel at ease straight away, which is probably why her friends gather in the living room every evening. ||Although our 12-year-old son really wanted to go to the monkey park, we were apprehensive, thinking it would be a tourist trap. But Marina thought we should go and drove us there, stopping on the way at a bakery where she bought us a delicious chestnut dumpling. She also gave us a tip to go to the onsen by a hotel near the entrance of the park, as we might see monkeys whilst sitting in the onsen, especially since it was raining. It was a brilliant idea. At one point we were surrounded by dozens of monkeys, young and old. They didn't go in the water but drank from it and sat on the edge while grooming each other. We didn't feel the need to enter the park anymore after this exhilirating experience.||The guesthouse itself is a beautiful traditional building. Our room for three was gorgeous and there was an extra private seating area looking out over the Japanese garden. What we also appreciated is how well everything was laid out and organised, like the recycling bins and the washing and drying machines in the kitchen. All very sensible and practical, which added to the overall experience.||I had expected Suzaka to be a village, but it is a reasonable sized town. We didn't have the time to explore it, hopefully next time. Our Japan trip was cut short because of a death in the family and Marina did everything she could to help us. Thank you so much for...

We've never experienced such friendliness and care before. Marina-san is a cool and energetic person, and her staff members are no different. The staff did above and beyond by anticipating all our needs and helping us visit many local attractions. Kura Guesthouse is unique in how it connects the travellers to the local community, so almost every night we got a chance to meet young local people who come to the guesthouse just to hang out and practice English. Marina-san and her staff are the most amazing hosts we ever had. Every night, we talked for hours with them and with other guests. The guesthouse is very accessible, only 40 minutes from Nagano by convenient public transport, and the local towns Suzaka, Obuse and Yudanaka have so much to offer that we felt like we just want to explore more and more. We stayed at Kura for 6 days, did nature hikes, saw beautiful temples and waterfalls, visited art museums and nice cafes, and there's still so much more to see that we couldn't fit in 6 days! Plus, there's a cafe run by Marina's mother and lots of tasty food at...

We've never experienced such friendliness and care before. Marina-san is a cool and energetic person, and her staff members are no different. The staff did above and beyond by anticipating all our needs and helping us visit many local attracttions. Kura Guesthouse is unique in how it connects the travellers to the local community, so almost every night we got a chance to meet young local people who come to the guesthouse just to hang out and practice English. Marina-san and her staff are the most amazing hosts we ever had. Every night we talked for hours with them and with other guests. The guesthouse is very accessible, only 40 minutes from Nagano by convenient public transport, and the local towns Suzaka, Obuse and Yudanaka have so much to offer that we felt like we just want to explore more and more. We stayed at Kura for 6 days, did nature hikes, saw beautiful temples and waterfalls, visited art museums and nice cafes, and there's still so much more to see that we couldn't fit in 6 days! Plus, there's a cafe run by Marina's mother and lots of tasty food at...