Urabandai Lake Resort - Yama District

Hotel is average in terms of room and food. But easy access to some of the hiking paths around and you can easily spend some good time there.

Facilities are great, huge space of Onsen, and There are two Onsens for you to choose, the one in the main building and a smaller one on the left-wing of the resort.The rooms are great with plenty of space.

This hotel provides good accommodation however there is no free wiFi in the hotel room. It is only available at the hotel lobby. there is an open air spa over looking at the lake, part of the lake view is blocked by the pine trees. There is a guided tour of a mountain hiking at the hotel lobby counter. The mountain trail is an easy path. A 66 yrs old man could walk thru the trail in 1 hr. There is no big deal hiking thru the trail. Many school children following their Teachers thru the mountain path with ease. WiFi is only detected when you are nearer to the starting or ending point of the mountain trail.

This resort is a little bit from the train station, but well worth the $50 cab ride, upon arrival we were greeted by some of the staff that helped bring our luggage inside, while checking in, some of the staff speak English, made it more easier, the whole staff are so hospitable and go out of their way to help you, as for the resort they have many things to keep you busy, onsen, karaoke, simulated golf, hiking the Goahiki Nima trail, water activities depending what time of the year you visit, the food is excellent, comes with Buffet breakfast, have to get there when they open, 6:30 am, as for the dinner buffet, it will cost 5000 yen, well worth it, have a very nice spread. And I did not mention, the cab company has a deal with the hotel cost is 5000 yen, regular price is around 7,500 yen, so you have to ask. Score jumping in the cab, we needed 2 cabs, and one of them did not want to do the deal, so our driver found a second cab for us.

-Perfect location ( five colour lake 5 min walk) -big room - big toilet - friendly helpful stuff - the price is good - Big Onsen with beautiful view - cafe inside the facility - free wifi - souvenir shop inside the facility ( card available) - high speed lake boat station next to the resort ( only cash ) - No ATM machine in the resort so bring some cash with you I highly recommend it if you are coming to this area

Beware of SPA TAX! The staff are really polite, respectful and helpful but all speak very little English (they really need to hire at least one fluent English speaking person if they want more westerners to visit here). The food options are plentiful but the food is average and if you’re there for a week or more, you may become tired of eating the same foods everyday. Use the 7/11 as an added option to stock up on alternate foods. The hotel amenities are rather expensive so be sure to look elsewhere before getting sucked into a massage or a night in of pool, darts and golf! My partner got a 1 hour aroma massage (Y11,000) and I opted for a 30 mins relaxation massage (Y6,000) and costing us almost AU$200, it was not that great to be honest. We are in the heart of Tokyo right now and each went for a 1 hour gentle massage earlier today and it was amazing, and cost Y2,400 each (AU$30 each). The rooms are of an older style but do the basics and have good heating. Their pillows however, are super hard, and were pretty uncomfortable to sleep on. We did ask for softer pillows but they had none (or didn’t understand our question). Their onsen is a nice experience but be aware that you will be charged about Y150 per person in your party for each day of their stay here (known as Spa Tax). If you need any snow gear hire, I would suggest renting gear at each mountain that you choose to go to. The quality of the gear is way better than the rental shop at the hotel (don’t waste your time there) and we found most resorts offer cheaper rental than what the hotel can offer. The internet is good in your room and is pretty quick. Bear in mind that you will be in a foreign country, and all the tv channels are in Japanese. The TV’s are not smart TV’s so they have no Netflix options, so be sure to bring your own iPads/iPhones with Netflix already loaded on them. As a first time here, we were expecting a lot more from what they call a 4 star hotel. We have marked this down as ‘an interesting experience’ and will probably look elsewhere the next time we want to visit Japans snowy mountains.

We only used the onsen. I don't see all that well without my glasses, and even I could tell that the outdoor onsen (which is somewhat small) had an awesome view (of the lake). There's also a "soft steam" sauna in the indoor onsen. The water is brownish, which according to the website is due to the high iron content in the water. Pretty good facilities for the price, and the view is a whole bunch of cherries on top.

Clean and welcoming resort. The coffee shop is convenient and a nice touch. Loved the onsen, the only complaint would be the sauna. You need earplugs if you want to use it. You’ll what I mean if you go there ?‍?