151 Hakuba — Restaurant in Hakuba

We chose Aqua because I am coeliac. I read a tripadvisor review over a year ago which mentioned that Aqua was accommodating in providing gluten free food. After having been hungry in Japan before, this was the deciding factor for us!||||We travelled in January 2019 as a group of two families. Two people were at Aqua for two weeks, the rest of us for eight nights. We were in four different rooms.||||The location of the hotel is good. It is a short walk to the closest lift at Goryu but it is up a hill (but down hill on the way home!). We used the hotel shuttle to the lift in the mornings and home again in the afternoons. We also used the hotel’s Friday shuttle to Cortina – a much quicker alternative than the public shuttle. It is a short walk to a variety of other restaurants and bars, both Western and Japanese.||||The staff make this hotel. They are very helpful and friendly. Once introduced, they knew our names and this felt very welcoming. They answered all our questions and were able to provide lots of information about the Hakuba resort. One day I was quite sick and asked Hayden to call me a taxi so that I could go to a chemist for medication. Hayden gave up some of his free time to spend nearly an hour driving me to two chemists in search of medication. Thank you, Hayden, much appreciated!||||I have to thank the two chefs, Randy and Junya, for ensuring I had delicious, gluten free meals. There was gluten free toast available each morning and one morning Randy made me gluten free French toast! Other mornings gluten free berry muffins or gluten free banana bread were available – truly delicious! Given how difficult it is to be coeliac in Japan, I ate dinner at the hotel every night. At first, it seemed a little repetitive – alternate meals of steak and salmon (delicious nonetheless). But Randy and Junya went above and beyond to mix it up a little for me and cooked gluten free pasta for me on two evenings (with Italian meatballs one night and with a creamy salmon sauce another night) as well as a lettuce-wrapped hamburger. I know the extra time and effort gluten free food requires and I am very appreciative of their gluten free meals, thank you so very much!||||As for hotel facilities, we didn’t use the onsen but we did use the laundry room – very handy. You pay 100 yen at the front desk for laundry powder. There are two washing machines and dryers to use for free. There’s a games room, we played pool a couple times. And in the bar we used the chess set a few times and also enjoyed hearing the occasional guest play the piano there. There’s also a lovely fireplace to sit in front of.||||I do agree with a previous reviewer – if you are after upmarket accommodation then, despite the website claim to “luxurious accommodation”, you might want to do some further research. The foyer, bar and dining room are just lovely – look at the photos on the internet. But the downstairs hallways (where our rooms were) and rooms are tired. They need updating and refurbishment. The hallway wallpaper is peeling and stained with black in some areas, hallway carpets are stained, some room furniture needs replacing as does the tatami. However, the beds are very comfortable and the rooms are kept clean. The aircon (heating) was not working when we arrived and did not work for our entire visit. But we were given heaters (oil heater in one room, bar heater and blow heaters in the other rooms) on arrival which kept the rooms warm. Some reviewers mention the “quirky” step up and over into the bathroom. There is a reason for this – a traditional Japanese bathroom is more like a wet room. This step keeps the water inside the bathroom.||||Aqua is a very Australian environment. Most staff are Australian, the food is Western and the rooms (even the tatami rooms) are Western. I think many guests at the hotel wanted this. However, if you are after a traditional Japanese hotel and a very Japanese experience, look elsewhere.||||In summary, we very much enjoyed our stay at Aqua. The staff are friendly and helpful, the food is delicious (especially the gluten free food) and we felt very...

We chose Aqua because I am coeliac. I read a tripadvisor review over a year ago which mentioned that Aqua was accommodating in providing gluten free food. After having been hungry in Japan before, this was the deciding factor for us!||||We travelled in January 2019 as a group of two families. Two people were at Aqua for two weeks, the rest of us for eight nights. We were in four different rooms.||||The location of the hotel is good. It is a short walk to the closest lift at Goryu but it is up a hill (but down hill on the way home!). We used the hotel shuttle to the lift in the mornings and home again in the afternoons. We also used the hotel’s Friday shuttle to Cortina – a much quicker alternative than the public shuttle. It is a short walk to a variety of other restaurants and bars, both Western and Japanese.||||The staff make this hotel. They are very helpful and friendly. Once introduced, they knew our names and this felt very welcoming. They answered all our questions and were able to provide lots of information about the Hakuba resort. One day I was quite sick and asked Hayden to call me a taxi so that I could go to a chemist for medication. Hayden gave up some of his free time to spend nearly an hour driving me to two chemists in search of medication. Thank you, Hayden, much appreciated!||||I have to thank the two chefs, Randy and Junya, for ensuring I had delicious, gluten free meals. There was gluten free toast available each morning and one morning Randy made me gluten free French toast! Other mornings gluten free berry muffins or gluten free banana bread were available – truly delicious! Given how difficult it is to be coeliac in Japan, I ate dinner at the hotel every night. At first, it seemed a little repetitive – alternate meals of steak and salmon (delicious nonetheless). But Randy and Junya went above and beyond to mix it up a little for me and cooked gluten free pasta for me on two evenings (with Italian meatballs one night and with a creamy salmon sauce another night) as well as a lettuce-wrapped hamburger. I know the extra time and effort gluten free food requires and I am very appreciative of their gluten free meals, thank you so very much!||||As for hotel facilities, we didn’t use the onsen but we did use the laundry room – very handy. You pay 100 yen at the front desk for laundry powder. There are two washing machines and dryers to use for free. There’s a games room, we played pool a couple times. And in the bar we used the chess set a few times and also enjoyed hearing the occasional guest play the piano there. There’s also a lovely fireplace to sit in front of.||||I do agree with a previous reviewer – if you are after upmarket accommodation then, despite the website claim to “luxurious accommodation”, you might want to do some further research. The foyer, bar and dining room are just lovely – look at the photos on the internet. But the downstairs hallways (where our rooms were) and rooms are tired. They need updating and refurbishment. The hallway wallpaper is peeling and stained with black in some areas, hallway carpets are stained, some room furniture needs replacing as does the tatami. However, the beds are very comfortable and the rooms are kept clean. The aircon (heating) was not working when we arrived and did not work for our entire visit. But we were given heaters (oil heater in one room, bar heater and blow heaters in the other rooms) on arrival which kept the rooms warm. Some reviewers mention the “quirky” step up and over into the bathroom. There is a reason for this – a traditional Japanese bathroom is more like a wet room. This step keeps the water inside the bathroom.||||Aqua is a very Australian environment. Most staff are Australian, the food is Western and the rooms (even the tatami rooms) are Western. I think many guests at the hotel wanted this. However, if you are after a traditional Japanese hotel and a very Japanese experience, look elsewhere.||||In summary, we very much enjoyed our stay at Aqua. The staff are friendly and helpful, the food is delicious (especially the gluten free food) and we felt very...

Hotel used to be great (2019) - it’s now terrible (2025)|Added capsule accommodation in games room has turn once beautiful lobby into a total mess. There are lockers and bags and personal belongings all throughout. The drying room is now overcrowded. The fireplace was not operational, the private onsen is now a shared onsen. The common area was old and seats/lounges uncomfortable. The ‘free’ breakfast was below average.|The room was filthy and damaged. There were stains on the carpet, walls, linen, furniture. The sofa in the room was ripped & the beds very lumpy and not comfortable - Mattresses really needed to be replaced. The light fixtures were broken, the window couldn’t open as there was a tv in front of it, the ‘kitchenette’ area was mouldy and the bar fridge (that squealed and gargled constantly) was now located next to the bed and froze anything that went into it. The bathroom was not clean (toilet had “stains” on and around seat). Service was non-existent at the counter and you have to pay an additional ¥5000 (AU$50) if you want your room serviced. I had booked for a week - and if there was any alternative accommodation I would not have stayed after seeing the state of the room on arrival. Overall a terrible hotel that I will never ever stay in again, especially since they are still claiming a...