Hot Springs Hotels in Nagano Prefecture, Japan

I highly recommend this onsen hotel, ranked among the top 30 in all of Japan, to anyone visiting Matsumoto! The room views, hot springs, food, and service are all impeccable. Having stayed at many Japanese onsen hotels, this one truly offers excellent value for money. Service: The hotel is a 20-minute drive from JR Station and provides a shuttle service. When you arrive at Matsumoto Station, you can leave your luggage at the ACE Hotel, part of the same group, freeing you up to explore. ACE then delivers your luggage to Shoho by 4 PM, which is a very thoughtful arrangement. The front desk service is warm and friendly. A gentleman named Ito helped us book a restaurant in Ise for the next day, making several calls until he finally secured a reservation, for which we are very grateful 🙏. Ambiance: The 56-square-meter mountain-view room is spacious and comfortable, with views of a small town nestled beneath snow-capped mountains right outside the window. The sunrise and sunset are absolutely beautiful. The large public baths on both sides offer unique scenic experiences and are both worth trying, especially the snow mountain view bath, which provides expansive vistas. Facilities: The room is very well-maintained and fully equipped. The hotel also has a souvenir shop, and complimentary drinks are available in the afternoon. Dining: The half-board plan includes a multi-course kaiseki dinner and a buffet breakfast. The variety is extensive, the food is delicious, and it's well worth the price. If you opt not to include meals, there's a ramen restaurant in the hotel, catering to various budgets.

It was a really lovely stay but communication with staff was rather difficult. Overall a lovely hotel with great service to ski resorts but please not there there are no convenience stores or services around the property. Food however on site was amazing! Love the bus schedules to the different ski resorts!

It was a great stay. The staff was super friendly and spoke English. The had parking vallet, provided an outfit to change into and roam outside. The hot springs was super relaxing and great for the feet and body. We tried five of their private hot spring rooms out of the many more they had, some had super hot water while others were warm. The outside room hot springs were beautifully decorated. They gave us access to the 9 public onsens that had different minerals in the  for body healing. At night it was even more beautiful with the night walk and the town puts on a beautiful show and night market. Super glad we booked the stay.

This ryokan is the furthest from Main Street. But I love the hospitality from the owner and the authenticity of this place. There is a private onsen available in the ryokan, just need to pre register. They provide access to shibu onsen as well. Recommended to book your dinner with them. Restaurants in shibu onsen either close very early or not open regularly. We missed our dinner, but the owner is kind enough to prepare a simple oyakudon for us. Though this place is at the beginning of forest trail to snow monkey park. But it is close during winter. Just take note.

📍 Hotel Keigetsu 信州昼神温泉郷 日長庵 桂月 @ Hirugami Onsen, Nagano 🇯🇵 We stayed 3D2N from 13 November 2025 at Hotel Keigetsu (日長庵 桂月), and it turned out to be one of the best choices for our Nakasendo trip. The ryokan sits in a peaceful corner of Hirugami Onsen, surrounded by nature and traditional Japanese charm. There is a designated parking area exclusively for guests, accommodating around 15-20 cars of all sizes, making it very convenient for self-drive travellers. We chose a Japanese-style room with a private bathroom, and the highlight was the beautiful wooden bathtub — perfect for a relaxing soak in complete privacy. In the mornings, the view from our room was calm and peaceful, with gentle bird chirping adding to the serene atmosphere. Our stay included breakfast and dinner, and both meals were exceptional. Each dish was beautifully prepared using seasonal ingredients, and the servers were patient and friendly, taking time to explain each course and share stories about local flavours. Their warm hospitality truly enhanced the dining experience. The ryokan is within walking distance to the Morning Market, just about 10 minutes away, making it an enjoyable little morning stroll. There is also a FamilyMart right beside the ryokan, just a short walk away — extremely convenient for drinks, snacks, or last-minute essentials during your stay. The staff also introduced several nearby activities and hiking trails, and the routes are super visitor-friendly, making this ryokan an ideal base for exploring the Nakasendo area. The onsen baths were another highlight — soothing, clean, and filled with Hirugami’s famously smooth, skin-friendly hot spring water. Perfect for unwinding every evening. Overall, Hotel Keigetsu offers excellent food, warm service, relaxing onsen, comfortable rooms, and unbeatable convenience, whether you’re here for onsen relaxation or the Nakasendo trail. Highly recommended for a peaceful, authentic, and memorable ryokan stay in Nagano. ♨️🍁🌿✨

The location is convenient, with a shuttle bus service between the hotel and Prince Outlet shopping mall and the train station. There's a bit of a distance between the East and West wings of the hotel; the East wing is closer to the children's play area. The jungle adventure is suitable for both kids and adults. The breakfast was quite average, possibly because there were too many guests. You need to call a day in advance to reserve the number of people and time for breakfast the next day. During our stay, we could only choose between 6:30 AM or 9:30 AM. The 'please clean my room' sign was very confusing; instead of simply stating 'yes' or 'no', it had a lengthy message that was open to misinterpretation.

Absolutely impressed! It truly lives up to its reputation as a resort town – peaceful, beautiful, and with amazing views. The rooms were incredibly clean, the service was excellent, and the onsen was a perfect 100. The classic-style rooms were clean and cozy, with high-quality furniture. I would definitely return if I have the chance. Parking is free for those with cars, and the hotel also offers a shuttle service for train travelers. The food is high-quality, and the restaurant, rooms, onsen, and views are simply stunning.

We really enjoyed our week long stay at Hoshikawakan in Jan 2026. We have been driving around Hakuba for 4 weeks to visit various ski resorts and spent our last week at Hoshikawakan to visit Shiga Kogen. The room was spacious and clean with a small toilet like most Japanese hotels but there was a large public onsen and 2 smaller private onsens that can be reserved once each day for 30mins so you could always take your shower in the onsens like the locals do especially later at night about 10-11pm where I was the only one in the public onsen. The hotel had a lovely buffet breakfast spread with local soba, Japnese curry, cold minced sashimi fish, grill fish station, fried eggs station that will keep you adequately fed for the day's ski trip - it even has a hot drink station with free oden daily at 3-5.30pm which we enjoyed as a snack after a hard day of skiiing. The service was excellent too with the staff helpfully arranging to ship our ski equipment directly to Hanade Airport, daily clearing of snow off the carpark and new towels provided daily. The location in Yudanaka is great too especially if you drive as it is between Shiga Kogen (25-35mins drive) and Kita Shiga Kogen (15-20mins drive) with many attractions like Shibu Onsen, Yudanaka Brewery and Snow Monkey Park within 10-15 drive. There were also ample dinner options nearby within 10-15 mins walk but you may need to try and make reservations by walking in on your first night. The only downside was that the WiFi network is poor and patchy when overloaded by a lot of guests over the weekend but otherwise it was good.

Location - requires abit of walking from the train station, it is not the worst compared to other Onyado/Dormy Inns and was manageable for us. (The worst in my opinion, is the one at Sendai. The one in Kanazawa would require a taxi/bus ride from main JR station.) Reception staff - service attitude differs. In general, they do try their best. Some elude warmth and it reminds me of how Japan was before it was crowded with tourists. 1 or 2 individual younger staff look at tourists and our bags with an expression that seems like a combination of exasperation and derision, and that made me feel uncomfortable. Different Onyado(s) has different rules, this one does not require us to pass locker keys to the front desk which is great. All Onyado(s) tend to have this odd layout in the rooms whereby the TV is NOT aligned with our beds. We ended up not using the TV! I appreciate how this Onyado took note of my request for more pillows and they were ready in the room when I got there. (See picture - pillows in black bags.) The extra pillows are extremely essential because Onyado/Dormy Inn pillows tend to be extremely flat & provides little/no support. Breakfast spread was a little disappointing - there was very little fresh seafood (e.g. no mentaiko). Beef was too overcooked and the drink machine ran out of oolong tea the night before and was still not replenished at breakfast. Across the different Onyado(s)/Dormy Inns I have stayed at, breakfast at this one can be skipped.

Had a really pleasant stay overall. The place was very clean and well-maintained, and the location was convenient for getting around. Service was excellent 👍 staff were friendly and helpful throughout our stay. Amenities were also complete and comfortable. Would definitely recommend for couples looking for a smooth and enjoyable stay.