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. Tateshina Tokyu Hotel in Nagano is not one of those places where every booking is a fight. It is quiet, old-fashioned in the good sense, and it suits a certain kind of trip very well.
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Getting there
From Tokyo, take the Azusa limited express from Shinjuku to Chino, the nearest station. The Azusa has become very popular and seats go extremely quickly — if you want a particular departure, or seats together as a family, book through Eki-net from one month out.
Chino to the hotel is thirty to forty minutes by car. The hotel runs a free shuttle bus that loops around several points including the Harvest properties and the nearby ski area.
A warning, though: that bus gets extremely full — we were there over new year — and you cannot reserve. If you fill time elsewhere and stroll up to the stop at the last minute, you will not get on. We watched a family be turned away and told to wait for the next one. Get to the stop about fifteen minutes early and queue.
The building and the rooms
The hotel is over forty years old and the interior has a lovely old-school character to it.
There is a warmth to the timber that reminds me a little of the US East Coast. One caveat: the fire is kept burning constantly, so the smell of woodsmoke is everywhere. Some people will not like it, and I would not wear an expensive coat — a ski jacket is about the right level.
The rooms are old-fashioned too: immaculately clean, but you can feel the years. I had read reviews mentioning unit bathrooms; ours was a standard grade room and had a proper bathtub.
The facilities are not extensive, and there is no onsen or communal bath in the hotel itself. There is a heated pool and an onsen at the Harvest Annex about three minutes’ walk away, but in that cold, going outside for it is a chore, and I wished the two were joined by a covered walkway.
Activities
Skiing
Skiing is the winter draw. The ski area is about three minutes by car, or seven to eight on foot, and the shuttle will take you for free. We took the bus up (it is uphill) and usually walked back down.
The ski area is very small, so I would not recommend it for advanced skiers — it suits families with young children and beginners. Almost everyone there is staying at one of the nearby hotels. There is only one lift, so a queue forms quickly, though it is only ever about five minutes.
There are only two runs, and one of them was closed when we went, so effectively one. Top to bottom is around 600m — three to five minutes of skiing.
We are a family that skis reasonably well, but this was our first outing of the season and it made a good warm-up.
Full equipment rental is available, and for such a small operation a lot of the gear was new, which I appreciated. There is one restaurant, full at lunchtime, with a menu running from ramen to takoyaki — plenty children will eat.
Laser tag
On the second morning I went looking for something quick to do and found laser tag, with wide-open availability. You are lent guns with laser sensors and a space, and you play as teams. In winter it is indoors only.
Honestly, I would not recommend it — because indoors or not, there is no heating and it is bitterly cold. We could not last the hour and gave up after about forty minutes. In spring, with a big family group, it would probably be great fun.
Winter is really about the skiing and there was not much else on offer, but in summer there is an adventure course, fish catching and fishing, so I would be tempted to come back in the warmer months.
Food
Dinner is at a restaurant called Fragrant. You choose a Japanese or Western course; I took the Japanese and ordered my daughter the Western course for primary-school children and up. The staff were wonderfully attentive and the cooking lets good ingredients speak. I liked it a great deal.
Breakfast is in the same restaurant, as a half-buffet: drinks, salad and fruit are self-service and unlimited, and you pick a Japanese or Western main. I had the Western. My daughter has allergies and they brought out a dressing made to suit her, which I found genuinely moving.
The one disappointment is that this is a hotel with a great many families in it, and some of them had no manners at all.
For lunch or a cup of tea there is the Azalea lounge. While we were there they were serving s’mores, which delighted my s’mores-obsessed daughter — you skewer the marshmallow yourself and toast it at the fire pit. I had a cake set too, which was simple and good.
So — Tateshina Tokyu Hotel. Unlike the places where everything has to be fought over, time moves slowly here. If you like thorough, honest, old-fashioned service and a classic atmosphere, I would recommend it.
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