Hoshino Resorts Oirase Keiryu Hotel - Towada

Excellent! I have been to many of Hoshinoya's other hotel/resorts and this place is just as good. We got a spacious room that had an excellent view of the Oirase Keiryu and we could hear the water flow when we opened the window. There was also a lot of different activities you could try, and I tried a few like the lamp making class. Loved it, was an excellent trip. Will go again if possible.

A picture perfect onsen visit over the weekend. Highly recommended especially in 6ft of snow. Awesome outside onsen.

The staff is professional and they provided great services. The hotel has water proof shoes for guests with no charge, so I was able to walk along the river. The breakfast by the river was so refreshing.

The hotel give guests old, smelly, hair oil stinked pillows to use. I asked to change pillows twice that night but all are about the same. The blanket inside the cover was also old, smelly and yellowed. Couldn't sleep due the foul smell. I had to use a bath towel as a pillow. But when I told the staff next morning, the manager along with a English speaking staff told me 'sorry' in a not surprised manner. They said because they wash the pillows cyclically, not daily so unfortunately I used it on the last day. So at the pillows in their worst condition, dirtiest.... The pillows will be washed today.... And that's the end of it. Nothing else. What kind of logic is that??! Even cheap business hotels have clean pillows and blankets!! We paid over 33000 yen each person for a night stay +2 meals for such quality? We will never visit another Hoshino resort. Do not recommend!!!

Very understaffed place. Check-in can take 30 minutes or more. One onsen for hundreds of guests means that you can expect to be shoulder to shoulder with fellow guests. They even have a website to tell you the current overcrowding status of the bath (hint: from 7 PM on its permanently red). This is a very child friendly resort. If you have kids, you will feel right at home. Small children are running everywhere. The 5000 yen buffet is overpriced and very very average. Best dish is the beef stew (no joke, my group tried almost everything). Expect to be seated in a very narrow sliver of a space and bump around the food area with dozens of others all aiming for the salad bowl before it is empty. If this review hasn’t convinced you to book a different hotel for your “luxury” Aomori experience and you wind up here, best to cancel the buffet and have dinner in the bar area in the basement where very acceptable looking seafood bowls and ramen can be had for a fraction of the price and much more enjoyment. The nightly show was billed as included (aka free) but when you arrive at the location you will find that the entire front area before the stage is roped off and they expect 2500 per person to sit there. There is a semi-private lounge on the lake that actually resembles Hoshino “quality” but you need to make a reservation in advance. Guess what? All the best slots are already reserved well in advance. Also, it costs 1500 extra to use, if you can get a reservation. This resort is already expensive; nickel & diming feels wrong. Not being able to use the onsen in the evening because of overcrowding is also rediculous. Good news: rooms are clean, large and modern. Windows are dirty, but it is probably hard to clean them as they don’t open.

Overall it's worth the price. I recommend the room that has a private onsen! It is large and very nice on the inside. For context, I went in December during snow season. This is a very busy time for this resort. The pillows in the room however are sort of of hard, but the bed is very comfortable. The refrigerator had complimentary drinks (alcohol cider and beer) which were a nice addition. The room is very clean and the bathroom was too. The only problem with the bathroom is that there is a step that is very easy to trip on if you do not see it. In the middle of the night, we almost tripped over it twice. The interior of the resort is very nice and the complimentary welcome drink area was a good visit. The store inside the hotel has a lot of different items and food/drink options. You can also rent boots if you need them here which is helpful in the winter time as their is a lot of snow! The staff at this hotel is also very friendly and helpful. There is a lot of activities at the hotel too. Some bus tours (day and night) which stop by some locations in the forest such as Oirase Gourge and some waterfall spots/icicle spots. These tours were included in our stay. Some other activities you will need to pay for. We went to the breakfast and dinner buffets. The food spread looks really large, but honestly the buffet seemed to be quite lacking. Not many meat options and some of the food was quite bland. Overall, 4/5.

This is a conveniently located hotel perfectly positioned for sightseeing. You can visit all major locations within one day, so a two night stay is a solid choice. Breakfast on the terrace is highly worthwhile. I also recommend trying the massage parlor and ensuring you visit the outdoor baths. There are only two things holding the hotel back from an excellent rating. One is that on arrival there was no service to take my luggage, and the distance to my room was considerable. It was not a comfortable arrival after a ten hour drive. The second is that if you arrive later in the day there is no room service option, so you will have to ensure you bring food with you. At this price point the first issue should definitely not exit.

had stayed twice with my family. Really beautiful place and cozy room. Friendly staff and traditional spring water. Amazing experience. Free bus shuttle to the oirase stream. The apple kitchen provides healthy and yummy food. Apple juice is awesome. I will definitely want to come back after the pandemic.