freecia

Any recent nice onsen recs along the Hokuriku or between Nagano and Matsumoto? I'm considering a mid April ~ 6 night trip to Takada castle, Takato castle, Tateyama Kurobe Alpen route, Tonami Tulip, and possibly Kurobe pass. Kind of a mix of sakura and snow. Possibly also seafood as I hear the firefly squid season starts in April.

I've wedged Matsumoto to Toyama around the Alpen route in the middle of my stay, avoiding the weekend, but I'm having trouble planning for onsen stays before and after. A bit surprising since Nagano has plenty. Thinking of starting near Takada castle as their hanami festival lasts until April 17 and peaks earlier instead of Takato which is available until April 30 with light ups. Tonami tulip festival starts on April 21. The Kurobe pass is only partially open before May.

Has anyone been to Yamada onsen (Fujiiso ryokan near Fukeikan) and can compare it to Nozawa, Yudanaka, or Shibu? I favor modern inn/ryokan hybrids over historic ryokan. I prefer smaller quiet onsen towns over the concrete jungles unless the water is really good with a lot of variety (like Noboribetsu). A good rotenburo is a plus.

So far I've looked at Yamada onsen, Shirahone, Kimi above Toyama, Kintaro near Ouzo, Unazuki near Kurobe Pass train. I've been to Hirayu on a previous trip (great onsens) but it might be a bit out of the way. Shirahone could also be a bit tricky without a car and I've heard that the water temperature is a little cool, especially for April?

Yudanaka and Shibu seem to have a lot of foreign guests... I will probably have plenty of shoulder-to-shoulder time on the Alpen route with them/us so I'd prefer something geared more towards Japanese guests. Monkeys are cute but if choosing between a monkey bathing and my bathing, I'd prioritize me

FlitBen

You could look up Hoshino at Karuizawa nearer Tokyo, to start from. I haven't stayed but the area is forested and peaceful, with a free shuttle from the Station.

evergrn

Shirahone onsen is great and they're famous for nigoriyu (milky-colored onsen), but it'd probably be hard to get there without a car. I can't remember what time of the year I went there, but I don't remember it being suboptimal temperature-wise. If you're an onsen snob who craves high quality of the onsen water, then it's worth putting Shirahone on your list imho. But I'm not sure if there's the type of ryokan there that would suit your preference.

There's Asama Onsen near Matsumoto, which I've read has an actual onsen town ambiance. But I've never been there and I don't know that you can get there without a car.

The one place near Matsumoto that you can get to just by train is Kami-Suwa Onsen. There's no real onsen town there per se. However, some of the hotel rooms overlook Suwa Lake and it's a treat to soak in onsen while enjoying the lake view. I like the ryokan Shinyu there. It may meet your criteria of a modern ryokan... it's newish and chic with very good food. But you'd probably want to get one of the rooms with en-suite onsen, because their public bath isn't much.

RichardInSF

I am planning to do the Alpine route on the opening day, April 15, 2017. I hope that opening dats is as reliable as everything else in Japan as I don't have a lot of date flexibility! Will be doing it starting at Shinano Omachi, which is readily reachable from where I will spend the night before, Matsumoto.

Note that apparently details (like schedules) of the 2017 season apparently won't appear on the website until 30 days before the opening date.

freecia

A friend stayed at Keiryuso Shiorie (some rooms have ceramic rotenburo) near Shirahone. She mentioned her visit was quite cold since it is located in a canyon. The Kama tunnel to Kamikochi opens April 17 so the bus routes should connect to Sawatari bus terminal but much of the park will still be covered in snow.

I am getting picky about my onsen water and would also prefer my hitou experience without tour buses. I day visited Nyuto's Tsuru No Yu last year while staying nearby in the more modern Taenoyu. The women's changing room was literally lower cheek to cheek and not a free basket to be had. My pictures of that stop was the gate/sign and the three giant tour buses in the oversized parking lot.

Thanks for the Shinyu recommendation. They include use of the charter bath on weekdays for free and have non-smoking rooms which is much appreciated.

I'm also staying in Matsumoto the night before. The 2017 Tateyama Kurobe Option ticket details are available and can be purchased on April 14, if you will be near a ticket vending point
http://jrtateyama.com/e/ Otherwise an early start and/or a web reservation for the less frequent segments?

evergrn

You're definitely an onsen connoissoir if you're a foreigner (which i presume you are) and know the word hitou, lol.

If you're staying at Shinyu, definitely try to get a room with private en-suite rotenburo. As I said, I think their shared bath is pretty inadequate. Really the only drawback to that place. Yes, the non-smoking is nice. What do you mean "charter bath"? Do you mean charter bus... their little micro-bus tour of the nearby sights? I think I saw a flyer about that, but I've not had time to do yet.

freecia

I mean kashikiri-buro. Shinyu has three small family baths (bottom half of this page) not en-suite http://www.kamisuwa-shinyu.com/spa.html and from the reservation plan pages, it seems they don't charge for it on weekdays. Are the rooms with rotenburo on higher floors? They happen to have the mini suite or the largest suite with rotenburo available.

Most of my onsen forays are solo and many ryokan/hotels don't offer rooms with rotenburo to solo guests. Kashikiri is the next best thing for a peaceful soak.

evergrn

I've only stayed in their "mini suite," but that one is on a higher floor overlooking the lake. Although it's called "mini", it's plenty good. In terms of the size of the onsen tub and the room, it's pretty much on par with just about any other private onsen rooms I've stayed in anywhere else. I'm not sure about their policy on solo guests.

In terms of the quality of onsen, I'd say it's average. Not quite as good as Hirayu or Kusatsu, but certainly better than Isawa or Kinugawa. I've only stayed at Shinyu in the winter time, which was the perfect time from the onsen standpoint. The cool air chills the en-suite rotenburo enough that I can be running the gensen (onsen) faucet at full-go continuously and the bath is kept at perfect bathing temperature. If it weren't cold outside, then I may have needed to cool down the bath with tap water, thus diluting the onsen content.

freecia

@evergrn- I never thanked you for the recommendation of Kami-Suwa. I visited during hanami season earlier this year and stayed at Sui-Suwako, Shinyu's new sister hotel just a few doors down. I had a fantastic stay. The star was the simple Japanese cooking with excellent quality ingredients. All rooms have a private in-suite onsen with lakefront view & large opening windows, plus a communal mixed gender rotenburo on top of the building with full lake view. The in-suite onsen have their own faucets and onsen water comes out seriously hot. The larger rooms also smaller hinoki tub with onsen water faucet in their indoor bath rooms. The mixed bath requires a bathing outfit (provided, of course) and it has a view of the above lake fireworks during the summer. The room decor is all modern clean lines and rooms are non-smoking with a small smoking booth on the bottom floor.

It is facing the main street so there is a bit of traffic noise and the private dining rooms don't really have a lake front view as it is a refurbished building. I'm sure it would be even more expensive if they built this in a quieter area lakeside in an onsen town.

This is also the only ryokan I've stayed in which offered a fountain pen for filling in the hotel registration form.

evergrn

@freecia:
Thanks a lot for the update and review. I didn't know about this place. I had a look at their website. Looks really nice. And very interesting that the shared bath is mixed-gender. It's literally two buildings down from Shinyu. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Shinyu is also entirely non-smoking (at least it was when I last stayed 1.5yrs ago). Meals look quite different than what they serve at Shinyu. Shinyu's dinner course is heavy on creative offerings (eg, yam potage with veggie croutons, lobster baked in a crust of sea salt, sashimi canapes), but it was really good and I would even say I was blown away.

LAX/HKG

Hi OP: where did you ended up staying at?