Aspen Shiga in Yamanouchi

Ski in and out. Great place to stay. Good breakfast and dinners. Their Cafe is open for morning tea and lunch - famous apple pie. Rooms are a good aize and clean. Great in house onsen. Staff are very accommodating and friendly. You can hire ski gear and buy lift tickets here. Full service. Easy to get to - bus from Nagano Station 3,000yen, catch the gondola down (free with accommodation), accommodation is a 3 minute walk at most.

The restraunt had some nice food and the fire place was very nice when there was a snow storm. The rooms were nice with thick blankets and before bed I watched some of the sumo wrestling. It is nice to have the snaw and ski runs next door. The snow was perfect.

Real ski in / ski out accommodation. Great staff and good food for a very reasonable price. Relaxing onsen inside the hotel. Children are welcome and they are treated really well. Thank you to all the staff for their kindness, we had a great stay.

We stayed at Aspen Shiga during the peak Ski season 2017, and booked into a traditional Japanese room. The staff went above and beyond to help us out where possible. While communication wasn’t easy (little English is known by the staff) they would always accommodate any request. The hotel is run by Mr Sato and his family, who after traveling for downhill ski competitions have settled in Shiga Kogen and try to bring a little bit of the 80’s Swiss alps to Japan. The Hotel is located at the end of three runs and has convenient (ski/board) access to around 80% of the lifts and runs of offer at Shiga Kogen.

Be aware that this hotel is traditional Japanese, this means that (depending on the room you’ve booked) toilet facilities are shared, and Onsen is the way you bath. Not all rooms have desks, chairs, and beds (futons mostly), but the rooms are warm, cosy, and offer TV & Tea services.

The humble Mrs. Sato bakes amazing fresh bread and pastries for the afternoon, while the younger generation cook up a wonderful lunch and dinner. There is local beer on offer and vending machines for after-hours service. The atmosphere in the lobby dining room at lunchtime is very friendly and relaxing everyone is on hand to offer advice and help on navigating the slopes, while warm food and drink will feed the soul.

Being humble in your approach, and understanding some of the Japanese customs and nuances will help better your experience. The staff will do all they can when traveling to and from the hotel. While striking up a good repour will open the excursion invite to eat at the Nakano sushi train when the staff run errands in town.

If you are in the area during lunch stop by for the Macha Pan (Green tea bread), and French style pastries they are five star.

Just on the skifield, one minute away from three lifts. Good onzen

Wonderful stay. Friendly and helpful staff. Nice hot spring in the house. Lovely food and desert. Good rental snowboard gears. Great location for snowboarding/skiing because there are 3 lifts in walking distance that you can easily ski-in/out, however, it is not that convenient to go out to other towns.

[Very Good]: The owners are really helpful and go out of their way to make sure you're satisfied with your stay. Excellent location as it's well situated to easily explore all the slopes of Shiga Kogen! Although to fully explore you'll need to take a free shuttle bus. The buffet breakfast is really nice!

[To Improve]: Although the evening buffet meal is really nice the food is very similar every night, so it becomes a bit monotonous after 7 days. The real issue it seems is that all ski resorts close their restaurants to outside guests for the evening meal, so you are forced to eat wherever you're staying.

[Summary]: A great place to stay while skiing/snowboarding in Shiga Kogen!

Went for lunch while skiing - they made us a lovely vegan curry when we explained we could not eat from their normal menu. This lodge really knows how to cook so I would trust anything they made.