Shiga Lake Hotel

The location was excellent for access to the ski runs and the ski hire shop. We also enjoyed views in three directions. However, it was isolated from restaurants and other retail outlets.

The meal offerings were limited and repetitive, although the food itself was good and plentiful, and served by delightful staff. The hot water was unreliable but this was offset by the easy access to a very good onsen in the basement. We enjoyed being two of the very few westerners in this hotel and the fact that it was an authentic Japanese experience.

A no-frills, slightly old Ryokan. It does the job well enough, is mostly clean, has a decently-stocked convenience store on sight and a fairly large indoor onsen. Breakfast is not amazing but not bad either. Room size was very good, bed comfy, and all around clean. Accessing Shiga Giant - and from there the rest of the resorts (Ichinose, Yakebi, Okushiga etc.) slopes is very convenient.

At 3850 Yen, dinner is quite expensive. The Wi-fi is straight useless, you can connect but pretty much not do anything with it. The overall atmosphere is a bit dark and lacks warmth.

Location.

No daily room service.

The bloke running the rental shop was an absolute brilliant lad who provided excellent customer service with a smile!

★☆☆☆☆ – Lake Shiga Hotel: A Retro Nightmare If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to time-travel back to a Soviet-era ski lodge, this is your chance. The Lake Shiga Hotel offers a true relic of the past, complete with mould-scented onsens, decades-old ski rentals, and an all-encompassing odour of stale cigarettes. Let’s break it down: Onsen of Doom – You have to pay for it whether you use it or not, and if you do venture in, the overwhelming mould stench will make you question every life choice that led you here. Cigarette Central – The entire place reeks of durries, and the lobby smoking section (crafted from plastic bags, no less) does absolutely nothing to contain the fog of regret. Laundry Woes – Fancy drying your gear? Too bad. Your only option is transforming your room into a laundromat unless you enjoy damp socks. Ski Gear from the Nixon Era – Renting here means embracing the 70s (and possibly splinters) with ancient, battered equipment that looks like it was last used by an Olympic team that no longer exists. Breakfast Sadness – The powdered egg scramble was so uninspiring it made me question whether I was, in fact, eating actual food. Dinner Highway Robbery – The most expensive meal for the least amount of flavour, but with no real alternatives nearby (unless you enjoy foraging in the snow). What to do with the wagyu - The lack of bbq options was very disappointing, despite it being a listed available amenity on the booking.com description. My self and my colleagues found it extremely difficult to cook our meat with a plastic kettle or our room oil heater. In summary, stay elsewhere unless you have a strong nostalgia for cigarette smoke, questionable food, and mid-century discomfort.

Hotel was set up so you can treat it like your home where you can walk around in your hotel provided slippers from your room, to dinner, to the onsen and back to your room for bed. The breakfast buffet was very filling and healthy. The Y3850 dinner is excellent. For those staying here, I suggest just getting the dinner package instead of messing around trying to find dinner elsewhere, or trying to food trucks near by. The onsen was also excellent and conveniently places downstairs. The hotel also has a few vending machines for drinks if you need. What was also not advertised, is the hotel seems to offer snow gear hire, so you don't need to go to the Alpina if you're staying here.

The room did not have hot water (which I docked major points for), so you were forced to shower in the onsen. That's fine if you want the onsen experience, but if you're not comfortable with it, then you are stuck with a cold/luke warm shower at night. The blankets were also covered with this weird cover that only half covered the blanket/doona. The cover slipped out of my blanket constantly and felt a bit unsanitary.