Shibu Onsen KOKUYA

Great onsen!   Service is awesome!  Great location.  Very clean.  Close to bus station.

From the moment you enter Kokuya Ryokan, be prepared to leave the real world behind and fully immerse yourself in the experience. You swap your shoes for slippers at the door and don’t see them again until you leave. You will receive a warm welcome from polite and gentle-mannered staff, get taken up to your beautiful room, and once you’ve changed into your traditional yukata, it’s time to let the relaxation begin. The multi-course dinner will probably be one of the best meals you’ve had in your life, with many unusual textures and flavors to try. The futons are comfortable, and your room is kept toasty warm. There are even skincare products to keep you pampered and moisturized between soaks in the onsen. Honestly, you won’t even need to open your suitcase while you’re there. The staff will take you through all the logistics when you arrive, but there are some things that might be useful to know in advance. - The ryokan sends a shuttle to Yudanaka station at about 15:00 to collect new arrivals, so time your journey to take advantage of this benefit. - The ryokan also offers guests the opportunity to catch a shuttle to the Snow Monkey Park immediately after breakfast the next morning. - After you leave the ryokan, they will take your luggage down to the coffee shop opposite the station, so you don’t need to worry about those logistics. - Trains from Yudanaka back to Nagano leave at 12:30 and 15:30. - The ryokan itself has several private onsens that you can reserve for a 45-minute slot. Because the onsens are on the property, you can go in with your partner or travel companions regardless of gender. It’s a boutique hotel, so you don’t have to worry about not getting access to all the onsens you want. - The ryokan is on the main road of the Shibu Onsen town. The hotel will give you a key so you can wonder down the main road, visiting any of the public onsens you wish - however, with so many gorgeous and more private onsens in the hotel itself, you probably won’t have time or the desire for this. - Also, there is a coffee machine in the room! (I was worried about having to survive without coffee, and this turned out to be an unfounded concern). We had an incredible and totally indulgent time at Kokuya. Experiencing a traditional ryokan is a privilege that you should try at least once if you can. And adding the Snow Monkeys in give the trip a double purpose, making it that much more memorable. The only thing that would have made the trip better is if we had been allowed to linger longer over every course of our dinner.

Booked & paid for 4 people. Upon arrival they told us the 4th person would be additional 20,000 yen (for towel & mattress). The food was terrible. The service was non-existent. This is a 1-star hotel. Similar to backpacker hostel. Most of the dinner was left uneaten. We didn’t bother going for breakfast (which we had paid for). Couldn’t leave fast enough. Very disappointed. Total rip-off and tourist trap.

This is a great place to relax and visit / sit in 8 different baths outdoors and indoors. You can have one in your room as well. Baths can be booked for a private use . We selected to be served breakfast and dinner in Japanese style. Incredible experience. My husband who usually prefers western style breakfast , chose Japanese style as it was amazing. Yukatas are provided as well, you can visit other onsens in the vicinity just wearing that.

This is a traditional style hotel built above a natural hot spring so have several private Onsen within the hotel . The rooms are quite spacious will all the facilities you need but as this is a traditional hotel there is no bed just a futon which is made up for you every evening whilst you are having dinner. There is a toilet and wash basin in the room but no shower or bath so you will need to use one of the Onsen facilities which wasn’t an issue for us as we were up early and it was fairly quiet during our stay but imagine it could be problem if is the hotel was full. We stayed Half Board and opted for the western breakfast which was OK but don’t expect too much, the evening meal was a full multi-course Japanese menu which was very interesting to try with a great deal of preparation in the presentation but sadly it was perhaps a step too far for our western taste. The Hotel has a shuttle service to and from the local station which must be pre booked and will also transport you to the Snow Monkey Park but they wont bring you back, there is a local bus back but the timetable is unreliable so we walked back to the hotel which easily done in 30 minutes (from the bus stop not the park entrance). During your stay you have the use of traditional Yukata which can be worn around the village if you wish to use the numerous Onsen dotted around town or just wanted a walk around which most people did during our stay.

Having never stayed in a Ryoken before we didn't know what to expect. We were on a photography tour so this hotel was booked for us as part of the trip. The staff were delightful - every single one of them. We had a Japanese banquet type meal every night and whilst the staff tried to accommodate me being a vegetarian - the food was just about Ok for me. Having just read other reviews I am now surprised to learn that western food was available too. It was never offered to me but I suspect this is more to to with the trip organiser than the hotel. The rooms were very traditional and we slept on futons, very comfy. The private onsens we could use were just gorgeous. Just embrace it and try as they are private... very hot and relaxing too... We loved the staff here - one of the lovely ladies cried when we left... Okini!! If we ever go back to this area we would happily stay here again.