Fujio pension Madarao Residence room & Restaurant — Restaurant in Iiyama

We spent the Christmas here and it was the first time for my 5-year-old daughter to Ski. Takeshi really took care of every guest there. For dinner, definitely have at least 2 dinner while staying there. The western course menu and shabu-shabu were absolutely great for the taste and value (the menu alternates). For our 3rd night, Takeshi offered to make a reservation for us and we had great dinner at Rudolf per his suggestion. ||||Takeshi was super fast to pick us up when we called from the slope, I would say he arrived in 3-5 minutes. The slope and pension are very close, about 8 minutes walk without ski gear. Takeshi has many regulars and it is easy to see why when you stay there. As for the room, we booked one with a bathroom and shower in there. Do notice that despite what Booking.com says "an en suite bathroom and mountain views", the room with bathroom does not have mountain views but facing the tree line on the small street instead. Also, Booking.com says "Breakfast is included in the final price" but the breakfast was not included for my daughter so I had to pay 1000 yen extra per night for her breakfast. I did not mind but the description should be fixed in Booking.com.||||When staying in Fujio, Takeshi will give you discount voucher for ski rental (about 1000 yen less per person) and you can also buy discounted lift pass from Takeshi. ||||I was surprised by how quiet Madarao was during Christmas and I highly recommend to visit during this time. Takeshi said that not many Japanese travel during Christmas. An Australian told us that Madarao is a sister ski resort with Mt Buller in Victoria, Australia now so expect to see more Australian visiting this place (they can use Mt Buller season pass for 3 free lift pass in Madarao). I hope Madarao can keep its charm and not overrun by tourist. Australian seem to start business there already. Other than Rudolf, we had a good Gyudon (beef rice bowl) and Pizza at 今井処 (search on google map), it is very close to Rudolf and next to drop-off bar. ||||From Tokyo, we took a Shinkansen from Ueno to Iiyama. From Iiyama station, take Chikumagawakuchi station exit to bus stop #1 (next to the tourist information center). The small bus costs 500 yen per person and took about 30 minutes. The bus dropped us in front of the Madarao Kogen hotel and before I called Takeshi to pick us up, he was already there. ||||On the way back to Tokyo, we took a bigger bus for 700 yen instead to Iiyama (better if you have big luggage as you do not have to carry it up to the bus). From Iiyama, we took a bus to Snow Monkey park for 1000 yen per person one way, it took about 35 minutes. We left our luggage in Iiyama station locker for 500 yen. We went back to Iiyama after that, retrieve the luggage and headed back to Tokyo. The bus to/from snow monkey park has limited schedule, so check in advance in the tourist information center or with Takeshi. The same bus also goes from/to Nozawa onsen.||||The Iiyama information staff actually advised us to take our luggage to snow monkey park and to store it in the information center there, then took a bus directly from snow monkey park to Nagano and took the Shinkansen from Nagano to Tokyo because Nagano is closer to Tokyo than Iiyama is. I found that to be slower and more expensive as the bus from the snow monkey park to Nagano is about 90 minutes but Shinkansen from Iiyama to Nagano (Tokyo bound) is just 10 minutes (Bus from snow monkey park back to Iiyama station took 35 minutes).||||Overall, it was a wonderful stay and would love to come back for another ski or during summer in Japan. Thank you very...

We spent the Christmas here and it was the first time for my 5-year-old daughter to Ski. Takeshi really took care of every guest there. For dinner, definitely have at least 2 dinner while staying there. The western course menu and shabu-shabu were absolutely great for the taste and value (the menu alternates). For our 3rd night, Takeshi offered to make a reservation for us and we had great dinner at Rudolf per his suggestion. ||||Takeshi was super fast to pick us up when we called from the slope, I would say he arrived in 3-5 minutes. The slope and pension are very close, about 8 minutes walk without ski gear. Takeshi has many regulars and it is easy to see why when you stay there. As for the room, we booked one with a bathroom and shower in there. Do notice that despite what Booking.com says "an en suite bathroom and mountain views", the room with bathroom does not have mountain views but facing the tree line on the small street instead. Also, Booking.com says "Breakfast is included in the final price" but the breakfast was not included for my daughter so I had to pay 1000 yen extra per night for her breakfast. I did not mind but the description should be fixed in Booking.com.||||When staying in Fujio, Takeshi will give you discount voucher for ski rental (about 1000 yen less per person) and you can also buy discounted lift pass from Takeshi. ||||I was surprised by how quiet Madarao was during Christmas and I highly recommend to visit during this time. Takeshi said that not many Japanese travel during Christmas. An Australian told us that Madarao is a sister ski resort with Mt Buller in Victoria, Australia now so expect to see more Australian visiting this place (they can use Mt Buller season pass for 3 free lift pass in Madarao). I hope Madarao can keep its charm and not overrun by tourist. Australian seem to start business there already. Other than Rudolf, we had a good Gyudon (beef rice bowl) and Pizza at 今井処 (search on google map), it is very close to Rudolf and next to drop-off bar. ||||From Tokyo, we took a Shinkansen from Ueno to Iiyama. From Iiyama station, take Chikumagawakuchi station exit to bus stop #1 (next to the tourist information center). The small bus costs 500 yen per person and took about 30 minutes. The bus dropped us in front of the Madarao Kogen hotel and before I called Takeshi to pick us up, he was already there. ||||On the way back to Tokyo, we took a bigger bus for 700 yen instead to Iiyama (better if you have big luggage as you do not have to carry it up to the bus). From Iiyama, we took a bus to Snow Monkey park for 1000 yen per person one way, it took about 35 minutes. We left our luggage in Iiyama station locker for 500 yen. We went back to Iiyama after that, retrieve the luggage and headed back to Tokyo. The bus to/from snow monkey park has limited schedule, so check in advance in the tourist information center or with Takeshi. The same bus also goes from/to Nozawa onsen.||||The Iiyama information staff actually advised us to take our luggage to snow monkey park and to store it in the information center there, then took a bus directly from snow monkey park to Nagano and took the Shinkansen from Nagano to Tokyo because Nagano is closer to Tokyo than Iiyama is. I found that to be slower and more expensive as the bus from the snow monkey park to Nagano is about 90 minutes but Shinkansen from Iiyama to Nagano (Tokyo bound) is just 10 minutes (Bus from snow monkey park back to Iiyama station took 35 minutes).||||Overall, it was a wonderful stay and would love to come back for another ski or during summer in Japan. Thank you very...

Just came back from 5 days of skiing at Madarao. While the snow was very poor by Japanese powder standards (temperatures were above freezing the whole time we were there and Takeshi said it was the worst winter season in his 40 years of staying at Madarao), it was still acceptable.||What made our trip excellent was Takeshi's hospitality and Kimie's cooking. Fujio Pension doesn't have luxury facilities but like all Japanese lodges we have stayed in, it is spotlessly clean. The lodge is about 600m (2 mins drive) from the slopes but the van shuttle that Takeshi operates any time you want to head to the slopes or restaurants and back makes the lodge essentially ski-in ski-out. We are not surprised that there were so many repeat guests at the lodge.||The slopes are uncrowded (did not experience more than 1 min queue even on the weekend) and if you are into tree skiing, it is officially allowed in Madarao, though the snow was so bad, we only tried the simplest Rabbit course. I'm sure the tree runs would have been awesome in deep powder.||Ski passes (you can get discounted passes from Takeshi) are really cheap at about ¥3,300 a day if you buy a 4-day pass. You can upgrade it to an All Mountain Pass that covers Tangram Ski Circus with an additional ¥500 a day. The ski infrastructure is pretty old though - only 2 fast lifts and the ski pass is in paper form, hence if you have a ski pass holder, bring it along.||Overall impression - if you want big ski areas where you seldom repeat the runs, then go to Shiga, Niseko or Hakuba. Madarao (even including Tangram) is a small resort you can ski in 1 day. But if you want a small quiet resort without crowds or noisy apres ski, then it's a good place. Definitely stay at Fujio Pension and take the half board option. We got to ski with Takeshi on 2 mornings and he gave us free lessons and even free ski waxing. Thanks for the hospitality...