AB Hotel Shiojiri

Free parking and enough facilities to stay comfortably. It’s also close to one of the train stations with connections to Matsumoto.

The indoor Onsen was beautiful, and the service was very good.

The breakfast was delicious, and I ate more than I meant to. Since it’s included in the price, it feels like a good deal, especially when even a convenience-store breakfast with coffee can cost over 500 yen. I hope they start serving it at 6 so I have time to get to work. The staff were so kind and helped me out in lots of ways. My one concern was the large public bath: there was quite a bit of scale floating on the water. The water is circulated, so I’m sure it’s clean, but a tube to clear the surface, like you sometimes see in public baths around town, would make it better. The convenience store at Rich is a bit of a walk. Having one right across the street would be ideal.

It’s handy being so close to a highway exit, and having a car makes the nearby supermarkets and convenience stores easy to reach. The unit bathroom was clean, though there was hair left in the tub. Most of the other facilities were fine, but the humidifier was broken. I just filled the tub with hot water instead, so it wasn’t an issue. The large bath felt cramped, with only four faucets and very little space between them. The person beside me got shower water on me, and I probably splashed them too. Breakfast is complimentary, but one extra item would have made it more satisfying.