Romantopia, A Landscape Of Forest And Stars, The Swan, Hotel Of Stars

“Quirky, fun, and highly recommended”

It’s one of the oddest- named hotels I have stayed in. It lives up to its name, too, with an astronomical observatory, forest walks, a go- kart course, miniature golf, kids playground, cookout stations, a ski slope, Schwebebahn (an in- the- air railway from which the cars hang) and other diversions… more

It’s one of the oddest- named hotels I have stayed in. It lives up to its name, too, with an astronomical observatory, forest walks, a go- kart course, miniature golf, kids playground, cookout stations, a ski slope, Schwebebahn (an in- the- air railway from which the cars hang) and other diversions outside. Inside, there’s a heated pool, a great onsen, karaoke rooms, game rooms and probably more that I missed. It’s great for families and indeed, there were a lot of families and retired couples here. There are eleven cottages down the hill a bit. The views are amazing for a full 360 degrees around the grounds. Most hotels lucky enough to have a view will sell it. Oddly, there are no rooms with a view of the beautiful 1625m Mt Itaki. You can only see it from banquet rooms on 2F and 3F, and from the onsen. Or from a stroll around the grounds. The lady at the check- in was quite adept at speaking Japanese into her iPad and having it spit out the English and we had quite a conversation! Room 312 was a twin bed room with a slightly vaulted ceiling, on the big side for Japan. The closet was large, too, and there were separate closets for the bags, very unusual for Japan – and nice. There was a massive in- room safe. You could camp out here for days. The bedding was good, the bed was firm and it was totally quiet. There is no temperature control – it’s all central – but the room was a good temperature, and the windows open fairly wide, too. The bathroom was – well, modest. It was the classic, old- style biz hotel bathroom with the sink spigot doubling as a tub spigot when swung over to the tub side. The toilet was angled to make it easier to enter (yes, it’s that small.) And, first time I’ve seen this in Japan, the hot and cold water taps for the sink and shower / tub had a label that said, in Japanese, “Don’t drink this.” There was a separate cold water tap for drinking water. As with some hotels with onsen, this one gives you a long, thin onsen towel which you can keep – one more for my collection! There is a spectacular view of Mt. Itaki from the onsen, and the hotel- to- mountain position relative to the sunlight makes a great view most of the day. The onsen has a sauna, a cold bath, a large, indoor spring and a smaller one outdoors. There is a nice showering and dressing area. The dinner / breakfast restaurant was not fancy, but the food was very good, and the servers could not do enough to help! They were great, front desk staff likewise. Quirky, and -- highly recommended.

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“Wonderful place to see, feel, and enjoy the mother nature.”

I visited this place mid of Oct 2016. This is a big resort on a hill with autumn color in October, and surrounded with so many nice apples in the apple trees. Mount Iwaki was really beautiful from this place, and reddish also. There are many facilities in this resort, like playground, barbecue area… more

I visited this place mid of Oct 2016. This is a big resort on a hill with autumn color in October, and surrounded with so many nice apples in the apple trees. Mount Iwaki was really beautiful from this place, and reddish also. There are many facilities in this resort, like playground, barbecue area, restaurant, swimming pool, natural hot spring, cycling, tennis court, mini golf, and even astronomical observatory. Walking inside this resort or go around the resort is nice too. There are hotel rooms and cabins in this resort. I chose the cabin for two nights to get closer to the woods.

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