Green Pal Yugawara

Getting there is the main drawback. You'll probably need a car or cab, and the road up is narrow. Even so, I'd be very happy to come again with my family once Go-To Travel starts up again. The staff were friendly and the service was great. Our room was really big, though it was hard to get, so I can't say what the other rooms are like. The food was excellent and there was more than enough. I even put on a few pounds finishing the kid's portion. The hot spring was nice, and the vacation was very relaxing.

In January, our second-floor room was clean, though a little old, and we could hear some noise from upstairs. The inn is on high ground, so it gets quite windy and staying long in the open-air bath would be difficult. Sharing the bath with other guests wasn't a problem. The meals were filling and tasty, and the small team worked efficiently, with two people at the front desk and three serving. What gives me pause about returning is something I read this month in another person's Rakuten review. The owner reportedly said the inn didn't provide a shuttle during the heavy snowfall on February 8th because the owner didn't have snow tires. The review also described too few signs and some people being injured. It appears to have been deleted, and I was disappointed that unfavorable feedback was removed without a response or any improvement.

I got good value for the price, about 15,000 yen per person, with the food and hot springs provided. It's not a luxury inn, so I had no complaints considering the cost of the stay. The food may not satisfy younger guests, and the stews and tempura weren't piping hot. If you're looking for spiny lobster, crab soup, grilled abalone, lavish dishes, or freshly prepared food like you'd expect at a high-end inn, choose somewhere else. For the price, that kind of meal isn't to be expected. The foreign staff were kind, polite, and well trained. I don't see the problem with having foreign employees. Modern hotels couldn't function without them, and while places with many Japanese staff do exist, they tend to be expensive. Good service matters more to me than whether the staff are Japanese or foreign, and I felt like cheering the staff on as they did their best in Japan. I booked through Rakuten and stayed in a Japanese-style room on the day of the heaviest snowfall in decades. Since hotel mattresses can vary in firmness and often don't suit me, I usually pick a Japanese-style room with a futon when staying somewhere for the first time. The view from the room looked out over Yugawara's hotel district. The inn sits on a hill and has only a few parking spaces, which need to be reserved.

It was a relaxed crowd and a good place to take it easy. I brought my one-year-old, and the staff were kind and helpful, making the child feel comfortable. There were slides, picture books, and a baby bathtub. The food was tasty, the hot springs helped me unwind, and I was very satisfied.