Tokachidake Onsen Ryokan Kamihoroso

From 3:00 PM to 10:00 PM, the Lounge offers a good selection of complimentary beer and highball. The food choices are limited, and they may not be replenished after 7:00 PM. The traditional tatami room and soft futon bedding were comfortable, and the magnificent onsen baths were lovely after a day out. Being high up in Daisetsuzan National Park means peaceful mountain views and a real break from city life. I booked through Agoda, and the standard reservation didn’t include breakfast. You can’t buy it at the hotel on the day, either. It has to be booked ahead and availability is limited, first come, first served. If you don’t have a meal plan, there’s a microwave for food you bring yourself. There’s no convenience store nearby, so stock up on snacks and meals in Kamifurano town.

The dinner was spectacular, with sashimi, wagyu to cook yourself, a ramen station if you were still hungry, and desserts. The dinner staff were amazing, spoke great English, and even printed an English menu explaining what was served. After the bath, I went to the lounge for cold beer and snacks, all free. I picked Kamihoroso for its secluded mountainside location because I didn’t want to stay in the valley. I got there at 1pm, before the 3pm check-in, changed into hiking clothes, and drove the km to the top of the road. From there I did the roughly 1.5-hour round trip to the steaming crater. At the end of the main trail, after descending the ladder, you can follow the yellow arrows right toward Mt Furano for a longer outing, or keep left up the riverbed. It’s not really a trail, but picking your way across the scree slope gets you to the crater’s modest steam vents. At 3 I checked into a perfect Japanese tatami room with a private bathroom. It was spotless, and the wifi and air conditioning worked great. The onsen has beautiful large wooden indoor and outdoor baths, a remarkably cold plunge, and nice views down into the valley. The property may look dated at first, like many in Japan, but it’s meticulously maintained and spotless. If you’re a foreigner looking for a traditional Japanese experience and aren’t impressed by this place, you’ve got a screw loose.

The onsen was great, and so were the restaurant staff. Beyond those, we didn’t have a good experience. There was a problem with our booking, which can happen and would have been fine, but the two male receptionists were unhelpful and made us feel as if we’d done something wrong. The food wasn’t up to the price, our room was uncomfortable, and we felt very unwelcome. The atmosphere seemed very strange.

The onsen was good, and the outdoor pool was amazing, but the rest of my visit fell well short of what I’d expected from this ryokan. The food was okay, nothing more. The room was small, as expected, and very old, though it wasn’t too bad for one night. They call one area a "lounge," but it didn’t feel like one. Beer was the only thing I could get there. They should redo it, and I think the whole place needs a lot of renovation.