Oyado Fubuki - Vacation STAY 45516v

The staff were very friendly, the place is clean and well maintained, and a free lift to the slopes is just 2 min away. The food is good, though fish for breakfast and dinner every day was too much for me. Inside, it’s freezing everywhere, even around the hot bath. The bedroom heater is enough while it’s on, but it stops after a few hours and doesn’t run overnight. The window insulation basically doesn’t exist, so cold wind comes in. When the heater shuts off in the middle of the night, you wake up to 5° indoors.

Nozawa is a small, beautiful town, and the ski area itself is really good. This place is close to the lifts, though the village is small enough that other lodging options are still within reasonable reach. I came with my family thinking this was a mid-range ryokan. It felt more like a guesthouse, and I wouldn't have booked if I'd known there was no toilet or shower in the room. There are shared toilets, just one men's and one women's on each of the first two floors, so expect to wait at busy times. Showers are downstairs in the public bath on basement level one, and none of the rooms has a private shower. The shared sink area also has the only hairdryer, which meant drying my long hair outside the room. The room had an electric kettle but no fridge, bottled water, or tissues. No one asked about room cleaning or towel changes either. The information about the accommodation was really lacking. I was disappointed with the Korean owner. She offered to lend us a seasonal lift pass, but charged 25,000 yen for four days. I was going to spend that much on a pass anyway, and would've rather bought one at the ticket booth. I also asked about borrowing a ski jacket. The owner said it would be free if I paid the cleaning fee, then charged 10,000 yen for that. Rental shops charge 2,000 to 2,500 yen per day for a jacket, so I wish I'd rented one there. We were a family of four staying five nights and paid quite a bit, which made the service especially disappointing. At that price, laundry in the US doesn't even cost $100. If I'd understood what the rooms were like, I wouldn't have stayed here. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone expecting a mid-range ryokan.

If you only need somewhere to sleep, this is okay. It may not suit Western tourists very well.

The food was good, and the owner was friendly. We had sashimi, or raw fish, and enjoyed it. The hotel is also close to the lift.