Grandpapa
Location: Kutchan Yamada 163, Kutchan, jp
Star Rating: 3 Stars
Property Type: Guest houses
About this Property
Ski-in/Ski-out Convenience
Located in the heart of Niseko, Grandpapa offers a free shuttle to the nearby ski lifts, making it a perfect choice for ski enthusiasts looking for easy access to the slopes.
Cozy European-Style Lodge
Experience the charm of a family-owned European-style lodge at Grandpapa. With free WiFi, heating, and comfortable amenities like slippers and toiletries, guests can relax and unwind in a cozy setting after a day of adventure.
Entertainment and Dining Options
From karaoke and games in the common lounge area to Swiss cuisine at the Cheese Fondue Restaurant, Grandpapa provides a range of entertainment and dining options for guests to enjoy during their stay.
Book your stay at Grandpapa now and experience the perfect blend of comfort, convenience, and entertainment in Niseko!
Important Information
For free pick-up from Niseko Hirafu bus station, please inform the hotel of your arrival time in advance.
Policies
Check-in: 03:00 PM - 12:00 AM
Check-out: 10:00 AM
Amenities & Facilities
- Free beach shuttle
- Offsite parking discounted rates available
- Parking
- Non-smoking rooms
- Restaurant
- Family rooms
- BBQ facilities
- Luggage storage
- Ski storage
- Shared lounge/TV area
- Shared kitchen
- Staff adhere to local safety protocols
- Guest rooms disinfected between stays
- Cleaning standards that are effective against Coronavirus
- Hand sanitizer in guest room and key areas
- Cashless payment available
- Fire extinguishers
- First aid kit available
- Sanitized tableware & silverware
- Contactless check-in/check-out
- Invoice provided
- Guests can opt-out any cleaning services during stay
- Smoke alarms
- Shared stationery like menus, pens are removed
- Guest room sealed after cleaning
- Property cleaned by professional cleaning companies
- CCTV outside property
- Process in place to check health of guests
- Access to health care professionals
- Face masks for guests available
- 24-hour security
- Security alarm
- Thermometers for guests provided by property
- Ski storage
- Television in common areas
- Free wired internet
- Self parking (surcharge)
- Free beach shuttle
- Offsite parking discounted rates available
- Internet access
- Ski lift privileges
- Snow sports gear
- Accessible shuttle
- No accessible shuttle
Rooms Available
-
Deluxe Double Room with Shower
The unit offers 3 beds.
Max Occupancy: 3 (3 Adults)
-
Economy Single Room
The unit has 1 bed.
Max Occupancy: 1 (1 Adults)
-
Quadruple Room (with Loft)
4 Twin Beds
258 sq feet
Layout - Living room and dining area
Relax - Fireplace
Internet - Free WiFi
Entertainment - LCD television
Food & Drink - Coffee/tea maker, microwave (on request), and refrigerator (on request)
Bathroom - Shared bathroom, towels, and a hair dryer (on request)
Need to Know - No housekeeping
Non-Smoking
Max Occupancy: 4 (4 Adults)
- Coffee/tea maker
- Fireplace
- Separate dining area
- Free WiFi
- Separate living room
- No housekeeping
-
Triple Room with Shared Bathroom
This triple room offers 3 single beds. This room has a TV, room heating, towels, linen and toothbrushes. A telephone for internal use is provided by the property. Bathroom and toilets are shared. Fans are provided during the summer season.
Max Occupancy: 4 (3 Adults)
- Coffee/tea maker
- TV
- Telephone
- Fax
- Hair dryer
- Refrigerator
- DVD player
- Fan
- Microwave
- Video
- Heating
- Shared toilet
- Slippers
- Dining area
- Electric kettle
-
Quadruple Room with Shared Bathroom
This quadruple room comes with 4 single beds. This room has a TV, room heating, towels, linen and toothbrushes. A telephone for internal use is provided by the property. Bathroom and toilets are shared. Fans are provided during the summer season.
Max Occupancy: 6 (4 Adults)
- Coffee/tea maker
- TV
- Telephone
- Fax
- Hair dryer
- Refrigerator
- DVD player
- Fan
- Microwave
- Video
- Heating
- Shared toilet
- Slippers
- Dining area
- Electric kettle
-
Double Room with Private Bathroom
The unit has 2 beds.
Max Occupancy: 3 (3 Adults)
-
Family Room with Private Bathroom
The unit has 4 beds.
Max Occupancy: 4 (4 Adults)
-
Single Room with Shared Shower and Toilet
The unit offers 1 bed.
Max Occupancy: 1 (1 Adults)
-
Twin Room with Shared Bathroom
This twin room comes with 2 single beds. This room has a TV, room heating, towels, linen and toothbrushes. A telephone for internal use is provided by the property. Bathroom and toilets are shared. Fans are provided during the summer season.
Max Occupancy: 3 (2 Adults)
- Coffee/tea maker
- TV
- Telephone
- Fax
- Hair dryer
- Refrigerator
- DVD player
- Fan
- Microwave
- Video
- Heating
- Shared toilet
- Slippers
- Dining area
- Electric kettle
Guest Reviews
- Nipaporn (9/5): -
- CHIA HAO (7/5): -
- Kyle (6/5): -
- ElisaSch (7/5): - La chambre était sympa Le bâtiment est mal insonorisé donc on entend les gens dans le couloir
Logement cher pour cette qualité mais c'est cher partout à Niseko
- Erin (5/5): - It's some of the only budget lodging in Gran Hirafu. The coin laundry, vending machine and communal eating utensils and glasses were nice. It wasn't very clean, the private rooms or communal spaces. The showers were moldy, and the men's bathroom on the 3rd floor was particularly bad, stunk horribly of urinal cakes, and no bathroom slippers meant urine from the urinals would track everywhere...
- Anne (6/5): -
- Cameron (10/5): Great spot in lower Hirafu - The staff were all lovely, very helpful and spoke English, the room felt quite spacious compared to other stays in Japan, very close to the free shuttle bus stop and a lovely Izakaya restaurant, the hotel shuttle to and from the welcome centre made arrival and departure easy, cheap breakfast and vending machines make life easy Not a problem persay but be aware the property is split over multiple levels if stairs are an issue for anyone you're travelling with
- Philippe (8/5): - There is like 5-6 western staff that are always there to answer your questions.
The place is nice and welcoming to talk to people The shower was old with paint coming off the wall
The blankets were too short for me (I m 6 feet)
- Joshua (9/5): - Really good stay. A simple 10-15 minute walk to the bottom chairlift which was easy. Also provided a free shuttle if up early enough. Facilities met expectations - had shared bathrooms which worked well and was conveniently located near many of the bars/ dinner spots - all within a 5-15 minute walk.
- HowardPH (8/5): A cosy stay in a convenient pension lodge. - Homely lodge in style of Tudor meets Shogun. Friendly staff. Morning free shuttle to the ski lifts. Common bar and dining room for groups to relax. Fondue restaurant is offered at night for groups. Good location in lower Hirafu, with modern onsen nearby, and easy walk to food trucks and supermarket. Friendly owner Kohei dropped me at my bus stop 10 minutes away for my next transfer. Shared bathroom is clean but needs a paint and refresh. 7:30am shuttle is a rush as the standard breakfast is served from 7:00am, would prefer 6:45am.
- Jessica (9/5): -
- Nerea (9/5): -
- Alexander (9/5): - Great location, excellent vibe. Felt like staying at Niseko’s grand Budapest hotel.
- Fernando (5/5): Opción conveniente si tenes un sueño profundo y no te importa soportar ruidos a la noche - Ubicación relativamente cerca de la base Góndola Grand HIRAFU ( aproximadamente 1 km o 20 minutos)
El precio quizás también solo que si lo integro en el total termina siendo no conveniente Pocos baños para necesidades básicas ( estimo en total 4) para un aproximado de 30 habitaciones!!!!
Los espacios comunes de duchas con capacidad limitada a 5 máximo.
El wifi muy pobre y difícil de tener buena señal.
En cuanto a la calidad o bienestar del ambiente es muy deficiente ( a excepción de las personas que saben respetar el silencio de los demás)
Hubo grupo de gente joven que iban y venían por todos lados y hablaban fuerte, el silencio no es respetado después de las 22 Hs y en algunos casos es un descontrol. Incluso dando portazos que a la medianoche y más tarde también parecían truenos.
Los pisos al ser de madera crujen con los pasos, y al bajar las escaleras también que junto con los portazos era imposible conciliar el sueño!!!!
Me quedó la sensación de que no hay autoridad y no se respetan las reglas de convivencia
- Hartley (9/5): - Great community vibe
Service of staff Wifi
- Qiuyi (8/5): - 位置非常好,乘坐hirafu free shuttle只需要走一段台阶,周围几百米有很多人气很高的餐馆酒吧
在住宿的公共区域你可以找到你需要的一切,虽然是大部分东西是共享的,但是一切都很方便
很适合长期住宿,深度体验hirafu的生活
- Ryan (7/5): Not bad, make sure you’re comfortable showering in front of other people - It was close to bars and pretty close to the family run ski lift. It was clean and pretty comfortable. Only place to shower is in one big room with 6+ shower heads. So make sure you’re comfortable showering in front of other people. Also the heater in my room was a bit unpredictable. It’s a gas heater, seemed like sometimes it cranked up and it was so hot then other times it was really cold. Would wake up multiple times a night either really cold or super hot and sweating
- Jason (9/5): -
- 松本 (8/5): -
- David (10/5): Excellent location, friendly staff and clean facilities - Excellent location and everyone was so nice- excellent value
- Cragun (10/5): Exceptional -
- Cragun (10/5): Mr tarl - peaceful and excellent service
- Harrison (8/5): Fantastic, a hoghlight of our ski experience in Japan - The atmosphere was great, I travelled with a partner and we met others to go skiing with. The building resembles a euro style ski chalet. We had one of the rooms with an ensuite bathroom which was nice, however i believe most rooms rely on shared facilities. The staff were exceptionally friendly and from multiple countries. The location is great as far as access to restaraunts and bars. But perhaps too far to walk to the ski lifts for most poeple's preference. There was also a car parking spot available for us. But note they appear to have only six or so spaces available. The property met our expectations, but the facilites are perhaps a little rough around the edges. So this is perhaps not the best choice if you are wanting modern amenities.
- Harold (10/5): Perfect choice for anyone searching for fun atmosphere and good value - Excellent value for money, excellent environment, friendly staff, hard to beat overall. Rooms a bit dusty, but not too bad.
Although it would totally work for families, vibe is more suited to couples and younger travelers.
- Genc (8/5): Good value for money, friendly staff great location. Place needs overall renovations. - Good location, close to free shuttle bus stop, restaurants and supermarket, friendly and polite staff. Noisy floorboards, needs overall renovations.
- Robert (10/5): Exceptional -
- Justwanderin (8/5): Very good -
- Joel (9/5): Superb -
- Zhichao (10/5): Exceptional -
- Vitor (10/5): Best value for money by far. - Best value for money by far.
- Lara (8/5): Very good -
- Ole (6/5): Cheap and good option in Niseko, but with some improvements it could be an epic place to stay! - Super nice location and easy to get in touch with other skiers⛷️ The owner is very nice and service minded. The breakfast toasts are simple, but tasty😊 The place has an incredible potential to be landmark hostel / b&b in Hokkaido! Some work could be done to improve the social atmosphere and facilitate bonding between different groups. E.g the bar wasnt really operating and common dinners would be a nice addition. Also, the general cleanliness was a bit so-so. No biggy, but something that could be improved compared similar places I have stayed.
- Peer (10/5): Excellent cosy stay in Niseko! - Excellent host, went out of his way to be helpful. Clean and practical accommodation, good location and great value given the crazy prices in Niseko. Make sure to rent Kohei's powder skis and sign up for his cheese fondue! The bathroom could use a repaint.
- Henry (8/5): Very good -
- Bryan (8/5): Very good -
- William (8/5): Very good -
- Bastiaan (8/5): Very good - The staff is very kind and the transport to the Gondelier every morning is sharp at 8:30. The toilets and room can be a bit cleaner.
- Yilan (9/5): Superb - Clean rooms and super friendly host. Lucky with the Mt Yotei view. Enjoyed the morning pickup to the gondola and even a powder day skiing day using the skis made by the owner. Hope to come back to ski again!
- Lochlan (10/5): Comfortable, friendly and enjoyable stay. Great location and had everything we needed. Very tidy. - Cozy, warm and clean.
- Fan (10/5): Overall it’s a pretty good experience - Rides to bus stop which is very convenient when you have luggages and you don’t want to drag around. Very friendly and helpful staff, I will def stay here if I ever go back to NISEKO Not I can think of
- Mariana (10/5): Warm Hospitality - It provides a comfortable and cozy atmosphere, with well-maintained traditional japanese shower and bath and common areas. The staff are notably friendly and go out of their way to assist guests, enhancing the overall experience. While not directly on the slopes, the lodge is conveniently located with a bus stop nearby, and well located to dine out. Due to its mostly wooden construction, the lodge can be somewhat noisy, with sounds of footsteps and movement from other guests being more audible.
- Malcolm (7/5): Enjoyed stay overall and somewhat knew what to expect as had stayed at Grandpa's in 2013, however Cu - Quirky character of property and good location for price. Noise late at night when other guests returned from partying. Cleaning of facilities needed improvement at times.
- Luke (8/5): This review is more related to Kohei, we had to cut short our trip and catch a train. Taxis are near impossible to get i - Nice property with great vibe. Local family owned.
- Ella (10/5): Exceptional -
- Paul (9/5): Warm & welcoming old-school style ski-lodge in lower Hirafu Village - With so much of Niseko now fancy new apartment buildings and hotels, Grandpapa is a welcome old-school style ski lodge. Super friendly / helpful staff, comfortable rooms / beds, and a free shuttle bus that gets you to the Hirafu Gondola for 8am. It's also less than 10mins walk from most of the Hirafu restaurants and bars (and 2 mins from the famous Fridge Bar), but on a nice quiet street, so you get the best of both worlds. Very reasonably priced too!
- Robert (8/5): Very good -
- Blake (10/5): Exceptional - The staff at Grandpapa are both very friendly and helpful, they ensured that our stay was very pleasant. The breakfast option served in the morning is delicious and gives you energy for a day on the slopes (¥300 per day). Grandpapa also offers a complementary shuttle service to the base of the mountain ensuring you can make it to the first chair which is awesome. They were also super accommodating when an extra friend decided to join us, upgrading us to a triple room. This is a great place to stay in Hirafu especially if you are a super keen snowboarder/skier who wants a more down to earth/ski lodge stay.
- Hampus (10/5): Perfect setup and base for skiing in Niseko! The place is simple but has more than all you need and has a great atmosphe -
- Chris (7/5): Good - Shared toiletry facilities
- Cristian (10/5): Exceptional -
- Thomson (10/5): Exceptional -
- Brian (8/5): Great value, location and sweet early shuttle to the ski area. Nice place to hang! - Breakfast of an egg on a piece of toast was nice and price was ok. Coffee and tea was great. Quiet times could have been better enforced as the younger crowd were a bit loud late into the evening/morning.
- Nicholas (8/5): Very good -
- Zane (7/5): Grandpapa exceeded our expectations and my friends and I had the greatest experience in Niseko! - Such a great location with close walk to main streets and food trucks and great location to free shuttle (which Grandpapa also has their own daily shuttle to base) but if not still an okay walk to grand hirafu base. Shower room but understand that is normal in Japanese culture.
- Steve (10/5): Exceptional -
- Wyatt (9/5): Superb -
- Claire.b (8/5): Very good -
- Lauren (10/5): Exceptional -
- Tyron (7/5): Good -
- Aleksei (8/5): Very good - The location was good: 2-3 minutes to the lower line of the free shuttle bus, two restaurants nearby.
They have a ski storage and good room to dry out shoes.
There were good services like meeting and drop off at welcome center upon arrival/departure from Niseko. Also in the morning, they transfer you to the gondola lift.
Very calm and comfortable atmosphere, I would say the like in a big house with a huge family. More transparency with services and schedule of morning transfer. One day driver did two runs, the other day only one, we almost missed the ski lesson.
Soundproofing is not perfect, you hear immediately when people start walking on the stairs
- Anmar (8/5): Very good -
- Charlie (10/5): Grandpapa is one of those great hidden gems that are hard to find anywhere, let alone at the world’s best ski resort. - Beautiful building and lovely caring staff. I’ve been at 5 star hotels that have less attentive personnel, so the value here is incredible. Restaurant was fantastic and loads of places to meet people.
- Travis (10/5): Exceptional -
- Anonymous (10/5): Exceptional -
- Justin (9/5): Nostalgic, excellent value - An excellent value. Kohei and his staff were very friendly and helpful to me and my family during our 5 night stay. He personally shuttled us to the lift to beat the crowds every morning promptly at 7:50 and even to/from the Welcome Center for our arrival/departure. A third generation family business - and a former professional ski racer himself - he gets it and wants to ensure you have a great experience. Thanks again Kohei! A little dated, but comfy. This is a legit, old school, family run ski lodge experience, nostalgic and hard to find anymore. If you want bougie, take yourself a couple blocks away, prepare to empty your pockets and get gouged!
- Isabelle (6/5): Pleasant - view of the snow capped volcano very noisy with people talking late at night. And upstairs floorboards that creaks when people move on the floor above us.
- John (8/5): Very good -
- Alexander (9/5): Superb -
- Lucas (10/5): Exceptional - Very helpful and friendly staff!
- Dereck (10/5): Great stay, great staff, great view - The location was amazing. Our window had a perfect view of the sunrise over Mt Yotei. I love the cozy charm of the hotel as well, but the standout feature of this hotel was the staff. Kohei was kind enough to take us to the bus station in the shuttle even though it's out of the way after we couldn't book a taxi. He also shuttled us to the welcome center after hours when it was raining. Moeko was also a fantastic host. She made sure our stay was comfortable and helped us with various things during our stay. She was also great with my children. The only things that could've been better is the wifi was a little unreliable and the location is at the bottom of a hill, so to do anything, you'll be walking up-hill a substantial amount of time, with one section being particularly steep.
- Matthew (9/5): Great place all round, would definitely recommend - Staff were amazing and very helpful. Kohei was great and drove us around and told us best places to go.
- Tristen (10/5): A lodge made by and for skiers and snowboarders - This is a lodge made by and for skiiers and snowboarders. I was expecting a more budgeted hotel but what I got was a very cozy stay with fantastic location and amenities. I really like that the staff shuttles guests to the lift first thing in the morning and there's a storage shed for your gear. Also the lounge and dining room are very comfortable to chill by the fireplace or hang out with friends. Beds are very comfy and you have a great view of Mt. Yotei. Only complaints I have is for the bath and toilets. They're not bad, but you're better off going to the nearby onsen. And the toilet is fine but could use a bidet like most places.
- Olivia (9/5): Superb -
- James (8/5): Very good -
- James (8/5): Very good -
- Estebe (9/5): Great stay and very nice welcoming ataff. I will definitely come back - The owner and the staff were superb. Very nice and very welcoming. I felt like I knew them. The morning shuttle service was essential. Some guests were not clean
- Audrey (10/5): The best!! Brekkie sandwiches amazing and the pickup/dropoff with the van from the welcome centre! -
- Kyle (8/5): for the price you cannot beat the location. free shuttle right around the corner. nice amenities like a kitchen, coffee, - location and price small rooms, bed uncomfortable, thin walls/loud
- Peter (8/5): Had a wonderful time! - The staff was amazing!!! So friendly and helpful! The vibe was good meeting people from all over the world - it's more like a chilled backpackers' place.
Great with an ice machine in the kitchen!
Pretty good location, a 10 min walk to the main street and a 15 min walk from the ski slope at the end of the day. But there are buses too. Breakfast wasn't really provided, only some toast and a vending machine, so we organised our own breakfast. Not quite what we expected considering the many great breakfast buffets we'd had in the past in Japan.
It would have been good if the kitchen would have had some plates (and not just bowls) and some knives.
The two shared fridges are not enough, they were always completely full.
165 Australian dollars per night for a small room for two people (no fridge) with shared bathroom in the corridor (no breakfast included) is overpriced I think.
- Becky (10/5): perfect place to stay for a winter trip - great location, staff were very accomodating, very nice atmosphere nothing :)
- Mackenzie (9/5): Superb - Staff were amazing, good clean facilities, easy ski storage. Free drop offs for first lifts every morning, close to free shuttle bus. Bed were quite hard
- Ian (9/5): The host and his staff were always helpful - Good price. Being taken to the ski tows in the morning was really helpful compared to running the bus gauntlet
- Eva (9/5): We had a nice stay. The stuff was very nice and super helpful and friendly. We would come back. -
- Walter (9/5): Superb -
- Aldo (10/5): Exceptional -
- Jerome (9/5): Superb - Location is great. Close to everything.
Staff is very welcoming and accommodating (special mention to Moeko).
Nice auberge feeling.
You can enjoy a nice fondue as they are also a restaurant. Very tasty. If i am being a bit picky a bit far away from the slopes. You need to take the bus (often full in the morning) or walk a steep road.
A bit noisy but with ear plugs it is ok.
- Claire.b (10/5): Exceptional -
- Julia (7/5): Good -
- Aaron (8/5): Very good -
- Jennifer (8/5): Very good -
- Jefferson (10/5): Exceptional -
- Michael (9/5): Superb -
- Sebastian (8/5): Very good -
- Yu (10/5): good for budget trip - its got everything you need, and the guests and staffs there are all friendly. the lounge is cosy and good to meet other guests. coffee and breakfast from vending machine is good value. the duvet is a but too tiny for people over 175cm tall. beds are not as soft and comfy as I would like. but these should not be a big problem for most of the people.
male toilet on 3rd floor smells quite bad.
- Kanav (10/5): Exceptional -
- Darren (10/5): - great service, nice breakfast, fun and chill time at lounge with games too
- Verified traveler (10/5): Great value accommodation - Staff was super friendly! Home cooked breakfast was amazing! Room heater was a little quirky though but all in all a very comfortable stay.
- Katie and Nick (6/5): Cosy, basic lodge - We enjoyed our stay at Grandpapa but were not expecting the shared shower/toilets. This was fine in the end; however, the walls are super thin and you can hear everyone's muffled conversations and footsteps. Tough for sleeping if the rooms are full. Otherwise, comfortable and clean... very helpful staff and convenient options for transport/getting around.
- Beth (10/5): Loved it! - The staff are fantastic! Very welcoming, we were collected from the bus stop and given a free lift back when we were leaving by Kohei (who also has a great knowledge of back country routes!!). Kohei (another Kohei, I hope I've got the names right!!) was very patient and helpful with us trying to learn Japanese from him. Breakfast was well worth waking up for, thanks to Grandpapa! Great location, with a bus service just up the road that takes you straight to the Gondala. Will definitely stay here again if we head back to Japan.
- Sally (8/5): Perfectly Located Pension - Stayed here for three nights in December 2014. Excellent staff- they organised all of our ski hire for us and took us to and from the welcome centre which was lovely. Located a short walk from the main street close to all of the restaurants and bars. The free shuttle bus that takes you around Niseko stops at the end of the street (like 3 mins walk away).
Only downsides were that it was quite noisy with the wooden floors- could hear other guests moving around the place quite loudly. Also, the beds are quite old and dated but fine if you're just using the rooms as a base to explore the mountain and not spending lots of time in there.
Shared bathrooms were clean
Photos