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. RISONARE is the Hoshino Resorts brand aimed squarely at families, and having now done both, I think Yatsugatake beats Atami.
If you only do one Hoshino Resorts property with children, make it this one.
Hoshino Resorts RISONARE Yatsugatake
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The short version
Two reasons to go:
- The activity programme is genuinely strong
- The whole property is beautifully finished (with one exception)
Three things that let it down:
- The communal bath is poor
- The food is ordinary
- It is a fair way from Tokyo
Activities
We got up early, arrived on the morning of day one, and played straight through to lunchtime on day two.
Cake decorating
First up was cake making, at Marusa Marche Cooking Studio on Piiman Street. It was not anyone’s birthday — my daughter simply loves cooking, so we made a whole cake.
The sponge is baked for you; you cut it, cut the fruit, and do the cream and the decoration. My daughter worked away with great concentration, building a face out of it. At six she can do most of it herself, so the parental role is to hold a coffee and watch. It filled about sixty minutes.
They also run tart making, parfait making and chocolate making, so check the website for what is on.
The climbing wall
My daughter had recently started bouldering and arrived determined to clear the lot.
Sessions are fifteen minutes and cost 1,000 yen for hotel guests. You are fitted with a harness and given a safety briefing before you start. The difficulty varies by hold colour, so even after topping out once there is something different to try.
She used the technique she had learned in bouldering, reached the top several times, and was extremely pleased with herself. Note the 110cm minimum height — a child in the last year of kindergarten is around the cut-off.
The treetop walk
We did the equivalent at RISONARE Atami and the Yatsugatake course is similar.
Children of seven and under must be accompanied, so parents go up too. There are four levels: 1 and 2 need 110cm, level 3 is eleven and over, level 4 is thirteen and over. My daughter did 1 and 2 — still five to seven metres up, and quite thrilling. There is a zipline at the end.
You can go round as many times as you like within the sixty-minute slot, and she kept going right to the end.
There is also a Kids course, open from 90cm. You get the same harness treatment but it is 1.5m up, so the thrill is dialled down. We came here when she was three, and I would say three to four is the sweet spot for the Kids course.
Horse riding
We did this on the morning of day two, at a riding club that partners with the hotel. They collect you from the front desk by car, so families arriving by train can do it too.
Helmets on, then warm-up exercises. The first half is on their own ground learning the basics — squeeze with both legs to go, pull the reins to stop, pull right to turn right — and you practise each one as you learn it.
Then you go out onto the roads around the club for a loop, guided by an instructor, with a stop for photographs somewhere the mountains look their best.
It was my first time on a horse and I fell completely for them. Strongly recommended.
Whoever masters the activities masters RISONARE — and mastering the activities means booking early. The popular ones fill immediately, so book your activities in the same session as the room.
What is available changes by season and by age, so check the website.
The property and the room
One of the real strengths here is how well finished everything is.
Piiman Street is the heart of it. The decoration changes with the season, which is lovely — when we went in early April the theme was wine, and the whole street was hung with wine glasses.
The street is lined with places to eat and shops, all of them busy: flower arranging, cafes, a cheesecake shop, a bakery, all worth wandering into. I have lost count of how many Maruyama Coffee lattes I drank.
We had lunch on day one at VINOTECA, the Italian, and my daughter became so attached to the pizza that we went back for lunch on day two.
The indoor pool
The other outstanding facility is the indoor pool, which hotel guests can use as often as they like and which works for every age.
The green area on the left is the kids’ zone, with a small slide and water features. The large central pool has a fifteen-minute BIG WAVE session every hour. At three my daughter found it frightening; at six she was counting down to it.
Rings are 1,500 yen for unlimited use of any of them. You can manage without, but it is far more fun with. You can hire beach balls too — use them.
The room
There are a lot of room types; we took one with a loft. Why are children so drawn to high places? My daughter spent most of her time in the room up on the platform above the bed with snacks and a drink.
The communal bath
This is RISONARE’s weak point. There is a facility called Mokumoku-yu a short distance away, but the bath’s capacity is far too small for the number of guests, so it is packed. The washing stations and the changing area were both crowded and there was no chance of relaxing.
Food
The second disappointment. Honestly, this is true across Hoshino Resorts in my experience, so the trick is to go in with modest expectations.
Breakfast is at YY Grill and it gets extremely busy. If you are set on the buffet, be there first thing — five minutes before opening. We arrived before opening and there was already a queue.
The range is fine. The taste is… well.
Getting there
It is about two hours from Shinjuku to Kobuchizawa, the nearest station, with no changes. No changes is a real plus, but two hours is a lot for a small child. At six she can manage two to three hours, so parents of younger children just need to hold on a little longer.
One warning: the Azusa from Shinjuku to Kobuchizawa has become very busy. Booking a week ahead, we could not get seats together and travelled separately. Book as early as you possibly can.
So — RISONARE Yatsugatake. Access aside, I think Yatsugatake beats Atami. Tell me if you disagree.
Hoshino Resorts RISONARE Yatsugatake
Check rates and availability on Booking.com
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