Shibu Onsen Ichinoyu Katei

What a gem! Shibu Onsen Ichinoyu Katei is an experience in itself. A short ride from Yudanaka train station, this tradițional ryokhan is excellent. As soon as you arrive you will be greated by the hotel manager (okamisan) who is attentive and will answer any questions. Dinner and breakfast were included in the price and the food was amazing. Traditional food was prepared with attention to the details and served by lovely staff. Be punctual. Dinner at 630 and breakfast at 730. There are nine public onsen which can be accessed by a key you will receive at the hotel and the hotel has its own onsen, one inside and one outside with a view of the montainous horizon. Room is trafitional japanese. Confortable sleep. The snowmonkey park is not far and you can get a lift from the hotel and will be dropped off nearby the park. You will the walk about 15 min to the entrance, hiking through the gorgeous forest with extremely tall trees and hot springs. The snowmonkeys are adorable. Amazing memories.

We stayed at Ichinoyu Katei for one night and had an excellent experience. Futons were very comfortable, the breakfast in the morning was in the traditional Japanese style. There are two areas on the upper floor (gender-separated) with two hot baths, one indoors and one outdoors in each area. We were given the key to visit the town's public baths. The staff were very friendly and took care of us. They do speak sufficient English. Would definitely stay again.

This is our first trip to see the snow monkey park at Yudanaka-Nagano, along the way we decided to include an onsen stay . This hotel at Shibu Onsen Inchinoyu Katei offers free roundabout shuttle from/to Yudanaka station and hotel. However, you will need to make call arrangement with the help from the native jap staff from tourist information counter located at Yudanaka station. Do make use of google translate to help you in the process as the native jap has minimum understanding of english. You can also pay a visit to the snow monkey park using the bus service (for snow monkey 2 days pass) and it is a short bus journey. For convenience of travelling light, it is recommended that you temporarily deposit your bags at station and it is 500 yen for baggage deposit. Note that you will need to walk up the trekking pathway to snow monkey park and it will be 40 mins on foot from where the bus alights you at the bus stop. The overall experience for the hotel onsen is an eye opener as you get to experience local traditional jap food and culture. The food is more to a healthier diet and taste. Service is excellent from a warm welcome by front desk to the servers at their kitchen. They provide extra mile service and care to the customers. Do enquire with them on the do's and don't 's for first timer use of onsen. Do not overly soak yourself in the hot waters as your body might not be able to take it.