Ember Lodge - Hakuba

Owner is friendly and has an amazing selection of whiskey. The property is clean an modern. Beds, most importantly are very comfortable especially after a hard day of skiing. Room is warm and the location is perfect to the slopes and an Uber ride to delicious restaurants nearby. You can walk about 8 minutes to the lifts and lockers are plenty at the ski center to store your ski gear. The owner spent some time conversing with us about the culture and life in Hakuba. We went around March 18th for 5 nights and the ski conditions were still good. The pension was very quiet and only a few rooms were occupied. So I highly recommend this if you want to go during the shoulder season for a quiet and casual ski experience. Will return and I think early March would be spectacular for a balance of good snow and fewer people.

The host was really nice to everyone!

Guests' boots in dry room were stinky

Spacious room with good options for food/drinks. Walking distance to snowboard rental places and ski lifts.

Super staff

The hotel is well-located, with Escal Plaza within walking distance. The room is spacious, newly renovated, and well-equipped. There's a cute friendly Golden Retriever.

The breakfast and extra payed dinner is just so so . The slippers could be of better quality, some of them are stinky ！and the service is below average compared to other Japanese hotels.（maybe that's because we didn't order the alcohol or buy other services in the lodge？I hope it's not like that）

Nice community.

property was close to hills, well organized with skiing in mind.

there happened to be a lot of kids there and the communal dining meant we ran into them a lot. no biggie, just a note for travellers who may want to avoid kids.

Do not know where to start: The overall service is great, beginning with the guidance to rental gear and ski lessons. The provided information targets primarily English speakers, guiding one to Australian-run services. We also received our lift passes directly at Ember Lodge. During our stay, they shuttled us to our ski lessons and, on the departure day, to the train station. The location is equally fantastic, within walking distance of one of the three connected ski resorts in Hakuba (Escal Plaza; our ski lessons were a bit further away, in Iimori). We stayed in the double room with its own bathroom, which featured a modern new shower (including a rain function). The room itself was simply furnished, came with underfloor heating and was cosy throughout our stay. A neutral comment (but booking only has like/did not like): If you are used to Japanese hotels providing pyjamas and other amenities, please note that as this is a lodge, you need to bring your own. Hairdryer and towels are provided. Dinner and breakfast times were relatively flexible, but we opted for ca. 8 AM every day for breakfast to ensure we could spend much time on the slopes. Once, the breakfast included Mr Bacon's signature dish (well, bacon), which was delicious, and the other days, a waffle and a tortilla, so that there was variety (plus cereals). We appreciated the excellent coffee and green tea very, very much (we both travel a lot and have been disappointed even by multi-star hotels more than we can count when it comes to their morning beverages, so this was a pleasant surprise). Dinners are reasonably priced and offer variety, too. There are also several board games and a projector with a screen in the common room, which we did not use, however. But would come in handy if one cannot go out. The lodge provides a dry room (where our rental gear was delivered to and later picked up) so that everything is ready again the next day.

The washing basin in the bathroom is a bit tiny, so you spill water everywhere, even when only washing your hands. There are larger basins in the common bathroom area, though, if necessary.