Hotel Tateyama — Hotel in Tateyama

First of all Hotel Tateyama is a large, tired old early 1970s hotel with no obvious signs of renovations or fresh paint for many, many years. All the hotels's corridor walls are a faded, tired 1970s dark cream colour with all the paintwork badly chipped and worn and the walls are completely featureless (no pictures). On a positive side all the staff were all very friendly and attentive and some spoke a little english. Our room was generally quite comfortable and large (by Japanese standards) with amazing panoramic vistas of the Tateyama range but no manual control of heating/cooling - we had to leave a window open all night as it was just too hot in the room - not a big issue. This tired, old hotel was the most expensive hotel during our whole stay in Japan - and we've stayed at some really nice ryokans too! AUD$1100/night (3pax) but including meals. Unfortunately Hotel Tateyama is $location, $location, $location and there are no other choices (up top) unless you want to struggle uphill along a glacier/snow/ice with luggage for several kms to an expensive backpackers - okay in good weather but a nightmare in bad. We ate lunch, dinner (Japanese Kaiseki) and breakfast here - the meals were good but not exceptional. But we did get to eat the local and unique Toyama Bay Shiroebi (white shrimp) and the Toyama Bay Firefly squid with our dinner - both of which were amazing!||||From what I gather 90% of the rushing, transiting summer tourists on the Alpine Route barely spend any time here at Tateyama/Murodo - just rushing to switch buses and complete the Alpine Route within a day/deadline and tick their bucket list off. I highly recommend you DO NOT DO THAT - as it is just SO laid back and picturesque way up here - also very stunning to watch the incredible transformation of the Alps at sunset and sunrise. On first arrival at Murodo/Tateyama (11:30am) I hiked up the glacier (Japan has 3) to the very summit of Mt. Oyama (~10,000ft) to the monastery then the summit shrine to be blessed by the monk and have by Goshuinchou signed - then completed a loop of the Tateyama range. Beware the sun is REALLY strong up here and you will quickly fry unless you have good sunblock and hat... I fried! There was still a LOT of snow/ice up there in July/summer - although around the immediate hotel has been mostly cleared by crews. During our stay there was a very busy helicopter working all day with a sling re-supplying all the remote huts and the monastery up top along the Tateyama range.||||In the evening a friendly, accomplished astronomer sets up all his telescopes on the hotel rooftop and allows guests free access with help, commentary and information about the stars/planets etc. We had a cloudless, windless night and perfect viewing conditions - so great!||||Note: There is a good drying room for wet boots, socks and clothes in the...

We stayed here in late June, there was a lot of snow still around the hotel but it was becoming much more green with some wildflowers beginning to appear. The weather was very unpredictable, and turned quite bad (cold, rainy and very windy) during the afternoon we were there but we were still able to enjoy many of the tracks during our stay. There are waterproof boots, walking poles etc available to freely borrow whilst you’re there which was very handy. Make sure you pack lots of warm layers and a good weather proof jacket no matter what time of year you go- we went from sunny 33 degrees near the base to about 5 degrees with freezing wind and rain a couple of hours later near the top of the mountains! ||The hotel itself is on top of the Murano station so access is very easy whilst on the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route. It is busy during the day but very quiet once the buses stopped arriving in the afternoon. We ate lunch and breakfast in their Japanese restaurant downstairs and both were a bit disappointing however the meal in the French style restaurant we had for dinner the night of our stay was very good and some good wine options. Breakfast and dinner were both included in the price and I definitely recommend making the French choice when booking. There is also a nice coffee shop with great views and a delicious, giant chiffon cake.||The room was basic, but clean and comfortable. It fit our family of four well. The bathroom was very small, however there were nice public baths available on the lobby level of the hotel. ||A highly recommended hotel! My children 13 and 11 loved it too and it was a great experience. ||If you are staying here I would recommend packing only what you need for the stay and forwarding the rest of your baggage on - this was extremely easy to do from Toyama Dentetsu station and to collect at the final station...

We stayed here in late June, there was a lot of snow still around the hotel but it was becoming much more green with some wildflowers beginning to appear. The weather was very unpredictable, and turned quite bad (cold, rainy and very windy) during the afternoon we were there but we were still able to enjoy many of the tracks during our stay. There are waterproof boots, walking poles etc available to freely borrow whilst you’re there which was very handy. Make sure you pack lots of warm layers and a good weather proof jacket no matter what time of year you go- we went from sunny 33 degrees near the base to about 5 degrees with freezing wind and rain a couple of hours later near the top of the mountains! ||The hotel itself is on top of the Murano station so access is very easy whilst on the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route. It is busy during the day but very quiet once the buses stopped arriving in the afternoon. We ate lunch and breakfast in their Japanese restaurant downstairs and both were a bit disappointing however the meal in the French style restaurant we had for dinner the night of our stay was very good and some good wine options. Breakfast and dinner were both included in the price and I definitely recommend making the French choice when booking. There is also a nice coffee shop with great views and a delicious, giant chiffon cake.||The room was basic, but clean and comfortable. It fit our family of four well. The bathroom was very small, however there were nice public baths available on the lobby level of the hotel. ||A highly recommended hotel! My children 13 and 11 loved it too and it was a great experience. ||If you are staying here I would recommend packing only what you need for the stay and forwarding the rest of your baggage on - this was extremely easy to do from Toyama Dentetsu station and to collect at the final station...