Resort Pension Yamanoue

I slept incredibly well on the comfortable futon in my cozy, peaceful tatami room. It was well maintained, and the large heater warmed the room quickly. The bathroom is spacious and beautiful, with lots of sinks for getting ready in the morning. Takashi-san, the manager, is kind and friendly. His English is limited, so knowing Japanese or having an easy translation option is useful, though he has ready-made cards with common questions in English and Japanese. The guest house itself has no shower, so the connected Onsen is the only place to bathe. I had unlimited Onsen access for one day and used it the night before leaving. I hadn’t realized that meant I couldn’t shower there the next morning, which was inconvenient since I prefer morning showers. Showering the night before is more common in Japan, though. The location was very convenient for the places I wanted to see. Hyoubaku Matsuri was a two to three minute walk away, and the Kurodake mountain ropeway was even closer. I had a very nice stay at this comfortable guesthouse.

For 18.000 yen, this really wasn’t worth it, even though we slept well. The location is good and the welcome was friendly, though English was limited. Hotel Yamanoue’s facilities are very basic: there’s no Wi-Fi, the onsen is across the shopping mall, and the owners seemed completely surprised when we simply wanted to sit and read in the common area. Dinner’s sashimi was still frozen, which capped off the experience. The only reason the price can stay so high seems to be that Sounkyo has no other places to stay. Do yourself a favor and drive the short distance to Asahikawa or Kitama.

The hosts are friendly, and both dinner and breakfast were good. Staying here also gets you a free pass to the public onsen in Sounkyo, right next door. It felt a bit like a dormitory, but the place was comfortable and very quiet at night. Better than I expected, and I’d stay here again.

The rooms are comfortable, and the bathrooms are shared. There’s no shower, but guests get free access to the onsen, which has a hot water bath, sauna, and cool water bath. It’s close to the ropeway and a few restaurants. There are hardly any breakfast options in the area, so I’d recommend booking breakfast at the hotel.