Morino Lodge Hakuba

This was my second visit to Hakuba, and my first stay at Morino Lodge. The staff made us feel welcome as soon as we arrived. The wooded setting gave us lovely wide views over snowy trees at breakfast, and there was plenty of room in the living area to eat or relax on the sofas, watch TV, or play games with the family. Walking into town took around ten minutes, with two routes depending on where you were going. One followed a road through the woods; the other was a dirt path to the Happo One gondola. Carrying skis and gear down that path can be difficult, as I’d read in other comments, though the hotel gave us lifts when they could. We rented a car at the airport and could park right outside the lodge. They provided snow shovels, and we left our keys at reception in case the car needed moving for the snow plough. The lodge also serves tasty, fairly priced pizzas, with delivery to your room or elsewhere in Hakuba. You can bring your own food back and use their microwave. Breakfast had a small basic selection of cereal, fruit, croissants, and toast, plus one hot option each day. We had porridge with cinnamon and apple, French toast with bacon, a BLT, breakfast burrito, and poached egg with avocado. We missed pancake day 😢. Everything we tried was delicious, and they were flexible about changing ingredients. I’d definitely stay again.

We had a great stay with our two kids, ages 7 and 9, and they didn’t want to leave. The lodge staff were welcoming, hospitable, and very helpful. They can arrange pickups and drop-offs within roughly a 10-minute drive of the accommodation, which was one of their best services. The dinners came as huge, delicious pizzas, and breakfast was great too. I highly recommend the place.

The room was spacious, with lots of storage, and the shower was good. But there were no blackout curtains, so exterior lights made it incredibly bright at night. The fridge next to the bed was noisy enough that we moved it. We were in room 2, where the kitchen extractor fan was also very loud and made the toilet door vibrate. Breakfast was almost entirely terrible. French toast was good one morning, but the porridge was particularly bad. On our last morning, the promised English breakfast was cancelled because staff had forgotten to defrost the ingredients, so they offered porridge again. I declined. Coffee often didn’t arrive until 7:30, and it wasn’t worth waiting for. Apart from the one hot item offered each day, there was only a meagre choice of croissants, cereal, and a small plate of fruit. The lodge is poorly located for getting around. In icy conditions it was a 20-minute walk to a lift or restaurant, and the only shop was about 20 minutes away. Staff were generally helpful when asked, but only a couple went out of their way, especially the Japanese lady, who was always friendly and very helpful. Skis had to be left outside in a small rack exposed to the weather.

The changing hot breakfast was a treat, and there was plenty to choose from in the continental spread too. We also loved the pizzas made right at the lodge, especially on evenings when we wanted to stay in. The shared lounge made it easy to chat with other guests and staff, who were friendly and helpful. They even drove us to places around town, which made things much easier.