Hi — I’m Tabiiku. I travel around Japan with my daughter on the principle that experience is the best thing you can give a child. Akakura Kanko Hotel in Myoko Kogen is a classic Japanese mountain hotel, and after this stay it is the one I want to make our regular ski hotel every year.
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Getting there
You come in via Joetsu-Myoko station. The hotel shuttle only runs as far as Myoko Kogen station, and the connecting train times do not line up well, so budget an hour and a half or more from Joetsu-Myoko to the hotel door.
I would hire a car instead. We used Times Car Share — you press a button in the app, the car unlocks, and you are away, which is enormously more time-efficient. One critical point: you need a 4WD. A two-wheel-drive car will not get up the mountain road.
At the hotel there is a valet service, so there was no waiting at all at either check-in or check-out.
Skiing
Tell the hotel rental shop your sizes in advance and your equipment is ready when you arrive, with no queuing. Walk out of the locker room and you are on the snow — the layout could not be better.
Akakura Kanko Resort ski area suits intermediate and advanced skiers, with only one beginner run. The adjoining Akakura Onsen ski area is the beginner-friendly one, and a free shuttle bus runs between the two once or twice an hour.
Lift queues were essentially non-existent and the mountain was pleasantly quiet.
The room
We took a room in the SPA & SUITE wing with a terrace and private open-air bath. It is spacious and the view is lovely. Because the wing houses the onsen, there is a faint sulphur smell in the room. The communal baths have plenty of washing stations, and both the indoor and outdoor baths are beautiful spaces.
Food
Dinner at Sorbier
A classic French full course. There is a separate children’s menu with soup, pasta, a main and dessert, and the main is a choice of steak or hamburg steak, with toppings to pick for the hamburg.
Breakfast at Shirakaba
A Japanese and Western buffet. Nobody is hurried along because of the crowds, and you are seated without queuing whatever time you arrive. The omelettes are made in front of you.
Cafe Terrace bakery
The cakes here are refined in a way I did not expect — the closest comparison I can give is SATSUKI at Hotel New Otani in Tokyo.
In summary
Access from Tokyo, the quality of the room, the professionalism of the staff, how easy it is to get from the hotel onto the snow, the food — I was delighted with all of it. This is the one I want to come back to every winter.
Book Akakura Kanko Hotel
Check rates and availability on Agoda
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