Hotel Astoria — Hotel in Yamanouchi

Our family of five thoroughly enjoyed the gracious hospitality of this hotel. From Nagano Station, you take a bus run by Nagaden Co. to the bus stop called Shiga Kogen Yama No Eki (about a 90 minute ride, 1700 yen per person). The bus runs 7 times a day (first run is at 0900 and last run is at 1725--from January 4-March 22, there is a 2100 bus). Once we got on the bus, we called Hotel Astoria and they picked us up from the Yama No Eki stop. They graciously let us order dinner even though it was after 7pm--an a la carte menu that was a lot cheaper than food on the slopes. We then made a reservation for both breakfast and dinner for the rest of our stay (excellent food, great price). They shuttle you whenever you would like to go the Hasuike lift and rental area--we rented snowboards and skis through the hotel and it was 2500 yen per person per day. This is a family run hotel and although their English is limited, they have an English menu and we communicated fine. It is in the middle of a wintery forest and after skiing it was great to relax in their onsen and eat their delicious food. There is no restaurant that you could walk to in the winter, but in the summer, the walk to the Yama No Eki stop is about 10-15 minutes and there is a small store and Mexican restaurant there. There is no Family Mart/convenience store in walking distance. We did not need a car because they drove us everywhere when we wanted to go (they have a large shuttle van). If you want a wonderful forest setting and hospitable service, I recommend this hotel. I look forward to returning here whenever we ski at Shiga Kogen (an awesome ski mountain with great snow and not as...

This place is a little secluded from the ski area (up around the lake) and makes for a nice quiet stay in the woods. The hotel will drop you off/pick you up at one of the ski areas, but we drove and didn't need to use them. It is too far to walk, for sure.

There isn't much around for dinner in Shega Kogen unless you are eating at a hotel or at the ski resorts or unless you want to leave the mountain (we didn't want to have to drive that far) so we ate at Astoria hotel.

They do a pre fix menu if you buy dinner or breakfast included in your stay when you book the reservation. We had bought breakfast, but not dinner, but they have a little menu and you can just sit down (between 6-8pm) and order what you want. They had tempura, udon, Soba, french fries, salad, rice, and a few other things, plus wine, beer and sake.

The place has a little bath house (separate male/female) in the basement.

Overall, I really...

We had a lovely stay at this, family run, small Hotel. Travel is easy. You can get the Bus from Yudanaka bus station to Hasuike. And from Hasuike it’s a 12min walk. I put up Bus times in the photos attached! They were very helpful and understanding of one of our Vegetarian diets. Dinner was delicious home-made style cooking, and filled us up! Breakfast was equally as delightful and we recommend booking a room with both included, because there is not much nearby. We also had a beer here from the local Brewery. The location is remote and within the forest. Making it quite, peaceful and the bedroom view was fantastic! The view from the private bathhouse in the basement is also stunning. Getting to the Monkey park with Bathing Apes was easy on the public bus, as was getting to the slopes, with a lift from the Hotel Owner. The slopes are all around this area. It has a charm, I’d love...