Uruoikan

It was near a riverside. It had an indoor and outdoor onsen downstairs. The meals were delicious. The staff was friendly. The workout equipment looks well maintained even though I didn’t use the facility It was hard to find since its sign wasn’t lit up. We wish it was closer to the station.

Meals were excellent. Staff were extremely responsive and caring. Also there is a shuttle from Nagano station to Uruoikan and return about 8 times per day, so we used it to get to and from the station. The futons were comfortable and the private onsen was beautiful and spacious. We also had people with tattoos and they did offer us one reserved hour in their public onsen as a hotel guest, if we reserved the time ahead. The only thing that I did not feel as comfortable with, was their pillow. However, the other two guests did not have a problem with it. It had one soft side and one harder side. I wish I had learned more about the pillow, but I used my travel pillow instead.

We took the room with the private onsen, it was sooooo good. The room is basic Japanese, but have everything you need. The evening meal was amazing, everything was new to us, the flavor the texture. We liked 99% of the many items that were served to us. Three staff was great and even made an extra effort to get us taxi in the busy times. In short Recommended Everything was fine. One recommendation for westerns guests, add a high chair in the room. It will help with so many tasks we use to do using a chair.

We absolutely loved it here! We booked with a private in-room onsen (my partner has large tattoos) and it was so nice to come back to after a long day of walking! A few notes from a U.S. couple: -There was minimal English spoken or seen around the property. It seemed to be an authentic Japanese experience, so I do recommend knowing some key Japanese phrases or having a translator app handy! The staff was kind and patient while we practiced our Japanese when things got lost in translation. -Half board dinner was served in-room! You let them know what time you want dinner and they send it to your room. You don’t need to leave Uruoikan if you don’t want to! We really enjoyed the tastes (and portions) that came with both dinner and breakfast. -The futons are on the floor! After dinner, the staff moved the table in the tatami room and took out the futons to sleep on for the night. The next day, they put away the futons and replace the table. -DONT BE LIKE US! There were multiple signs to take off your shoes when entering the building. Not sure how we missed it, but the staff promptly advised us to remove our shoes. We felt terrible! -A taxi from Nagano Station to Uruoikan ran us ~1500 - 2000 JPY. I rarely leave reviews but needed to share what a gem of an experience this was. I hope you are able to get the room with a private onsen, it was a much-needed relaxing couple of days in the middle of a busy Japan trip. Cannot recommend enough!