Tazawa Kogen Hotel

The hotel is run by an elderly couple who is warm and hospitable. Place is abit old but still well maintained. Corridor area can be cold but the room and dining hall is warmly heated up. Good breakfast and dinner. Onsen is quite nice though parts of the sink is corroded by the sulphuric water. Offers a view of the lake, but it was obscured by the snow.

This is a quiet 16-room (all Japanese-style) family-run hotel with most (all?) rooms having a side-view of Tazawa-ko. The rooms are on 2nd and 3rd floors and there are no lifts. Indoor hot-spring pool is small (cosy?) and with less rooms/guests, one can often have the pool to oneself at less busy times. Food is good (Jap breakfast and dinner) with a lot of fresh local produce. Choices for meals in the vicinity are very limited and IMHO, it is best to opt for in-house meals during room reservation or upon check-in. Wifi connection is weak/sporadic in the room (3rd floor) but okay in the lobby/reception area. Elderly owner speaks excellent English but other staff don't. You can catch sunset over Tazawako from 1) room (limited view), 2) large car-park about 20m from hotel or 3) cross the road, walk roughly 50m in the down-hill direction before climbing up a flight of staircase to Arupa Komakusa car-park lot for the best panoramic view. During end Oct 2017, the foliage around the side-lanes behind the hotel were superb! I highly recommend checking this out if you are staying at the hotel during the peak autumn foliage period.

I've stayed at this place at least three times. It's not the most fashionable onsen hotel in the area but I keep going back. For a start, it doesn't cost nearly as much as the more up-market places down the street, In addition, the staff are very friendly and welcoming. The dinner service is excellent: good food that uses many local products in a dining room that is non-smoking. They are in the process of renovating the rooms, but so far I have only stayed in the ones that have been completed. They are clean, have good air-conditioning, big glass windows (openable) and nice futons. Sure, the carpet on the steps between floors is a little worn and the outside is starting to show its age (my friend called this hotel 'agreeably shabby' -- he meant it in a nice way), but they've spent money on the most important part -- the onsen itself. The outside bath is great with a good view of the lake. An all round comfortable and resonably priced place to stay in a beautiful area of Japan.