Komao

Our summer training camp used this lodging, tucked deep in the Kiso Mountains beside a large music hall. The lawn outside is spacious and beautiful, with a striking sweep of color against the mountain range. Some parts of the building have no air conditioning, so summer can get quite hot. I heard cooling costs are high, and think groups planning camps or similar events should budget for those extra facility costs. There’s a drugstore nearby and a 7-Eleven a few minutes away by car, so most necessities should be available. The shampoo and body soap in the bath are the old-fashioned, watery kind, so I’d bring my own.

A basic Japanese-style room hostel, but the service was exceptional. We weren’t happy with dinner, and they did all they could to find options for us, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian.

Every summer I go to Kisokoma Highlands with three families. Our own mountain huts can’t fit one family, so we have to stay at Komao. For summer accommodation in Kisokoma, it’s very cheap, which helps, but getting the timing right for a reservation is difficult. The facilities aren’t hotel-perfect, and the place feels more like a training camp. Still, there are rooms with bathrooms and toilets, and if you’re lucky enough to reserve one, the cost makes it tempting.

The food was delicious, but the room is old, so don’t expect much. The rental fee is cheap, so that’s the compromise. It’s been three years since my last visit, and the system seems to have changed a lot. The inn says guests make their own futons as an infection-prevention measure from the COVID-19 pandemic, but there weren’t even instructions for folding the futon afterward. I’ve stayed at plenty of cheap inns and hadn’t encountered that before. At night, the hallways and bathrooms were dark, and you had to find and switch on the lights yourself. The switches weren’t easy to locate, so that needs improvement. These days I’d also expect Wi-Fi at a minimum. They said LAN cables for PCs were available, but I doubt many guests bring their laptops.