Outdoor Sports Club Ópal — Local services in Otsu

We went for the Kayak ‘tour’. We’ve kayaked around other areas in Asia and loved it but we found this quite disappointing for a few different reasons…

It was very expensive (in comparison to others). We felt a bit unsure and unwelcome upon arrival at what is quite a large ‘industrial’ looking site, and the guide didn’t know what we’d actually booked.

The guide was friendly but couldn’t really communicate with us about the location, history or how to improve our kayaking (given the price, you’d reasonably expect to have a guide that can do this). The tour itself was just a straight line back and forth to a small nearby temple on the lake which we didn’t even get out to see. Last but not least, the tour was interrupted and cut off by about 50 speedboats. Obviously it’s not an issue that locals want to use the lake, but you’d expect Opal to know about this and to avoid areas and times where you’re going to be cut off and effected by it. It was a pretty big hazard. Afterwards we just brought in the kayaks and that was that - no real interest or recognition of any of the issues we’d faced… Really disappointed as going onto Biwa was something we were really...

Absolutely loved our calm outing to Lake Biwa! The staff here are fantastic, especially Emily their lovely English speaking staff 😌👍 Highly recommend the SUP rentals, and kayak rentals! There's a large section of the lower lake set up for kayaking and if you're lucky, you'll see cranes and herons! The facilities are beautiful, they have showers, lockers, AC and changing rooms. They also have a restaurant on the property, but be aware it closes at 2:30pm. They are quick and efficient with email responses for bookings, and provide clear and easy to follow instructions for everyone in the group. Simply bring your swimsuit, a towel, sunscreen and a hat and you'll be set! We cannot wait to come back with our friends....

Me and partner had a great experience on the full day bike and kayak experience. It was easy and convenient to get to from Kyoto on a quick 20 min train. I would say any foriegn tourists coming to Japan MUST try this tour - how can you come to Japan and not visit one if its lakes?! And lake Biwa is japan's largest! Our tour guide Emily was very friendly and gave us great tips on where to go with our e-bikes (including a winding tree path and floating pavilion as highlights) the back to Opal for a bento lunch break followed by kayaking around this serene lake. Shiga is an amazing part of Japan to visit. Can't stress enough how much fun we had and it was great to see this different...