Lamp no Yado Aoni onsen

Despite its humble appearance, I still had a very nice experience and would recommend it. The rooms could use some revamping, and the roads leading here, including a sandy or dirt stretch, may be challenging for new drivers. The vents in the rooms are full of kamimushi, if that doesn’t bother you too much. The wooden panels in the onsen also look close to rotting and showing long-term damage. One thing to know: I wasn’t told how to turn off the kerosene lamp before bed, so it stayed on all night. Staff had warned us not to touch it.

This remote inn sits beside a mountain stream below the snowy southern Hakkoda range. There’s no cell reception, and guest rooms have no electric lights, TVs, or outlets. The inn is lit only by lamps, which are brought in lit each evening. In the quiet, silvery surroundings, you can wander between the outdoor and indoor baths scattered around the grounds. The moon shining on the snow at night is beautiful too.

We visited in winter with friends and loved this charming, secluded onsen ryokan. It’s ideal if you want quiet time in a rustic forest setting. A lot of the negative reviews seem to come from people whose expectations didn’t match what this place offers. Its remoteness, rustic feel, digital detox, and very good onsen water are the point. Every night, a staff member brings an oil lamp to your room. Here’s what to know: it’s in the middle of mountain wilderness, and winter access depends on a strict bus schedule. A large bus with special snow tires picks guests up at the stop at the mountain’s base. There’s no electricity or wifi in guest areas, no private toilets or showers, and this is a very local place. The Japanese website has more information than the English one. Staff speak only Japanese, though they’ll try their best to look after you. Heating and lighting use kerosene, which smells, so crack a window while using the heater. If you’re okay with all that, you’re in for a great time. I’d definitely come back.

This was one of the worst experiences my friends and I have had. The staff were rude and unhelpful. We booked through JapanIcan, and the booking site didn’t tell us that winter snow closes the road to the property and that only the hotel shuttle can use it. We didn’t know, so we drove along a long, narrow, unlit, snowy road for 5 km and arrived safely. As soon as we got there, staff made an issue of our car and insisted we call a tow truck to move it, in case it got stuck in the ice the next day and blocked their shuttle on the one-way-width road. There was no cell service at this isolated location, so we couldn’t call or look online for options. We asked to use the hotel landline, but staff were initially uncooperative and told us to use a coin-operated payphone. We couldn’t speak Japanese, which made it impossible to communicate with the local service or arrange translation. It was surprising that, despite the hotel serving many international guests, none of the staff could communicate in English, and some were terribly rude and unwilling to try, especially the manager. After a lot of frustrating back and forth, we finally got staff to help us call the tow service from their landline, even though they had insisted we call in the first place. I don’t understand why they wanted us to use the payphone. We were paying over $150 USD per person for one night, and surely they could help with a simple call. The whole arrangement took over four hours to negotiate and ruined our night. We had to pay $160 for the tow, which was ridiculous. There was clearly a communication lapse between JapanIcan and the hotel. JapanIcan was also terrible at helping resolve things, saying it was our fault for not checking the hotel’s original site, even though its own booking page gave no mention or warning. What frustrated me most was how unhelpful both sides were, and how rude their attitude was.