Biwako Omi-Maiko Nakahama Beach — Local services in Otsu

Such an amazing place! My favourite beach ever. There is a lot of shade and during weekdays there is hardly a soul there. The water is beautiful and turquoise I didn't expect that here. It's also sweet water so much safer. A few notes, it's a pebble beach with a little sand so we were very happy we took our sandals/ flip flops. When we were there, on a Thursday in June, there were no stalls for food, no conbini's anywhere, not even at the station. So bring food! Probably in the weekends they're open but I'm still not sure if they'd have regular lunch. There are toilets, but very primitive and there is no toilet paper. Also, there was some glass and other sharp objects on the beach. It's not Japanese clean, but still for the beaches I've seen, this is a pretty nice one! Seems like you can...

Wonderful beach in July! Shade of the pine trees gives respite from the hot rocky sand. Water was cool and shallow, good for kids with the ropes off area. BBQ area was vast and busy. Paid parking (or free if you’re at the accommodation nearby, such as J-hoppers Biwa, which was excellent. Lots of foreigners come here. It’s a 10 min walk from omi-Maiko station.

My only con was the bathroom facility was terrible. As are most beach places. Only squat toilets and pretty filthy. Impossibly to know what’s on the floor. And since people were washing feet in the central drain, the outside area was kinda flooded with sandy water.

Nice beach. Water ski...

Maybe us coming from Australia are spoilt when it comes to the definition of nice beach and a great spot for swimming. Visited in late August on a hot mid-week day and there have been a lot of people (almost all of them in their early 20s). Lots of noise from nearby jet skis, loud music from some groups. The entire area appeared really run down with no proper facilities and the atmosphere resembled more like a hippie camp than anything else. Parking was expensive too. Its concerning when people say this is the best place to swim on Lake Biwa, yet it is such a huge lake. Would not go back and would not recommend,...