Biwako Hakodateyama — Hotel in Takashima

This place is a real mixed bag. We visited during the green season for the flower park, and the awesome view of Lake Biwa from above is absolutely stunning and lives up to the hype . Taking the ropeway (gondola) up the mountain was a smooth and scenic start to the day .

The park itself is very child and kid-friendly. There's a great selection of activities like a giant swing, a play zone with trampolines, and in the summer, even a water play area . The zipline was a fantastic and thrilling way to take in the views . The decorative rainbow curtains and the tunnel of rainbow wind chimes are also very pretty and make for great photos .

However, the negative aspects really impacted our experience. You are correct that it's far from the cities. The access is not convenient: the train and bus access is limited, with buses from the nearest station running only about once an hour . This likely contributes to your feeling that not many people come to the park. We also noticed a lack of convenience stores or other shops near the park.

While I found several reviews mentioning restaurants and cafes in the park , I could not find specific recent comments to confirm that the restaurants inside the park are way too expensive. I'll say they're descent.

I've found the place is famous for winter recreation like skiing. Regarding skiing in winter, the resort is generally described as beginner-friendly with rental equipment available and instructors for...

The place is nice, it has a course for beginners and experienced boarders and skiiers. although, the beginner course is a small especially when the crowd up there at the same time. the snow when we got there is artificial because it is raining and no natural snow formation. the food in both restaurant and cafe is tasty and not overpriced. the staff are helpful especially when you are renting items. they have items needed for doing the sport...

The facility itself is good. We still enjoy ourself here despite no snow yet (last week of Dec 2019) only artificial snow but the kids still can do sledding. Transport is a bit inconveniance (option of taxi and bus). Last bus back to train station is a bit early (5pm?) and if you are late (last bus usually crowded and sometimes full), then need to figure out how to go back to...