Hakken Whisky Bar (by CAMP3 Snowboarding) — Restaurant in Myoko

It was our family's first snow holiday and we couldn't have hoped for a better base than that provided by Hakken by Active Life! From the time we first made the booking PK and the team at Active Life ensured our trip was as seamless as possible, quickly responding to our emails and queries.||Upon arrival, courtesy of the free shuttle from Iiyama Station, a couple of our bags that we had sent prior had gone missing. Our host at Hakken, the tireless Dan, and his crew didn't stop until they were found at another resort and brought safely to our door.||We set up camp in the family room, which with the aid of a futon mattress allowed the five us to sleep comfortably in one room. We then used an adjoining room for all of our gear, a set up that worked perfectly.||The rooms were clean and well laid out, although the bathrooms/showers will benefit from an upgrade at some point.||The included breakfast was scrumptious and hearty, and ensured high levels of energy for the big day of skiing ahead. Being novices, we made full use of the included free lessons, which were excellent and had us all up and running by the end of day one.||The kids lessons ran from 9am to 4pm and our kids loved them, with the instructors (in particular Tucker) proving to be way more fun than mum and dad!||The hire gear organised through Active Life at Miyuki was top notch, well priced and easily accessible from the lodge.||The location of Hakken is basically as good as it can be at Madarao. It is a short two minute walk to the chair lifts, and had the snow been deeper we could have easily skied home at the end of the day. There is an excellent range of restaurants and bars within short distance of the lodge. Our personal favourite was Sakura, a hidden gem serving nothing but delicious Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, but the beyond big homemade burgers at Unjaune, the katsu curry at Aki's, the pizza at Rudolph or the hot pot at Malu were not far behind.||Overall we loved Madarao, while the season was apparently the worst in 40 years, for our level of skiing it was fantastic and at times it felt like we had the mountain to ourselves.||Special mention to the Active Life staff and in particular Dan who was the perfect host. Having previously stayed at Hakken as a guest he had great tips and local knowledge, was quick to help out with our gear or to pour the adults a beer. In a previous review he got 100 out of 10, and we'd make it 101 out of 10!||Awesome holiday and we can't wait to...

It was our family's first snow holiday and we couldn't have hoped for a better base than that provided by Hakken by Active Life! From the time we first made the booking PK and the team at Active Life ensured our trip was as seamless as possible, quickly responding to our emails and queries.||Upon arrival, courtesy of the free shuttle from Iiyama Station, a couple of our bags that we had sent prior had gone missing. Our host at Hakken, the tireless Dan, and his crew didn't stop until they were found at another resort and brought safely to our door.||We set up camp in the family room, which with the aid of a futon mattress allowed the five us to sleep comfortably in one room. We then used an adjoining room for all of our gear, a set up that worked perfectly.||The rooms were clean and well laid out, although the bathrooms/showers will benefit from an upgrade at some point.||The included breakfast was scrumptious and hearty, and ensured high levels of energy for the big day of skiing ahead. Being novices, we made full use of the included free lessons, which were excellent and had us all up and running by the end of day one.||The kids lessons ran from 9am to 4pm and our kids loved them, with the instructors (in particular Tucker) proving to be way more fun than mum and dad!||The hire gear organised through Active Life at Miyuki was top notch, well priced and easily accessible from the lodge.||The location of Hakken is basically as good as it can be at Madarao. It is a short two minute walk to the chair lifts, and had the snow been deeper we could have easily skied home at the end of the day. There is an excellent range of restaurants and bars within short distance of the lodge. Our personal favourite was Sakura, a hidden gem serving nothing but delicious Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, but the beyond big homemade burgers at Unjaune, the katsu curry at Aki's, the pizza at Rudolph or the hot pot at Malu were not far behind.||Overall we loved Madarao, while the season was apparently the worst in 40 years, for our level of skiing it was fantastic and at times it felt like we had the mountain to ourselves.||Special mention to the Active Life staff and in particular Dan who was the perfect host. Having previously stayed at Hakken as a guest he had great tips and local knowledge, was quick to help out with our gear or to pour the adults a beer. In a previous review he got 100 out of 10, and we'd make it 101 out of 10!||Awesome holiday and we can't wait to...

Nice sky holiday in Hakken at Madarao. |In Madarao ski resort itself I was disappointed because the mountain top lifts were never opened whilst the snow looked perfect and thus was very inviting. Some (young) people even walked up the hill to go down the powdery slopes (@abitjealous). ||Hakken hotel has pluses and attention points. ||On the plus side |- surely the very friendly staff, especially Dan who takes care of all the client relations all day long, answers calls and mails, serves breakfast and mans the bar. He is great but our hotel rating suffers from this understaffing. |- immediate hot water and good heating system in the room|- good quality beds|- strong WiFi and Netflix in the room|- close walking distance to the slopes |- warm ski room with good space for storage and drying wet material/clothes||Attention points for us|- based on the website we thought (a) this was a ski in/out hotel but it’s not the case (b) there was a restaurant and a spa but it’s in another hotel of the same company some 10’ walk away|- when it snows you really need winter tires on the car to get there (and especially leave again) [they come and pull you out if needed though!]|- there is no parking at the hotel (but there is one back up the hill at 500¥ per day)||Negatives for us|- there is no place to just go and have a coffee or a tea during the day ; the bar only opens at 5pm (see above about Dan having to handle too many things) and it serves only alcohol drinks ; in the room is no couch so there neither you can sit ; so if you’re not out skiing all day, this hotel is probably not best choice ; our solution was to go to Chill bar which is located almost on the slope (only decent coffee we found in Madarao)|— suggestion to Hakken: turn the underused bar into a lounge area with vending machines that also sell coffee and tea and where you can sit all day (low investment solution for client comfort). If you want to open the bar for alcohol drinks in the evening, it’s always possible. |- breakfast was the same every morning (can be tricky for a longer stay)|- there is no closet to put some clothes, so pack wisely to avoid a total mess|- to reach the ski room you must go down a steep stair and face a glass door ... not practical and risky||Conclusion: all in all a good family holiday in a nice hotel saved by it’s super...