5 Star Hotels in Noboribetsu

We had a 3D2N stay in this sleepy town although many others had merely a day trip. The hotel staff have been properly trained and provided excellent service quality throughout our stay. The room was well upkept, and even we booked a smaller sized room, it is actually enough for 3-4 pax, with extra futon in the closet. The food variety at buffet breakfast and dinner was splendid, and guests were spoilt for choice. Unfortunately the dispenser for plain water was spoilt and we were unable to drink some plain water, amidst all the sweetened drinks and caffeine. We stayed at the West building which was located above the Great Bath (大浴场) which is rather convenient, but could be a little walking distance from the dining hall. The escalator leading from lobby to west building was damaged since 5th Oct and could be a slight challenge for those who need help with heavy luggage or walking, although there is a fire lift next to it, but with limited capacity. The restaurant on level 5 is a must-try at affordable prices, with service that make you feel like a king (or queen)! Must book early for dinner reservation to avoid disappointment. Our check out was a little dismal, as we had booked a taxi to bring us and our heavy luggage to JR station to make our way to Hakodate. The desk staff had overlooked our booking and we had to rebook our transport! As our train was scheduled to depart at 1058hrs, we nervously looked at our watches while waiting for our taxi to arrive. Alas, no taxis came even at 1025hrs, but a staff dressed in blazer, name 深田，volunteered to drive us personally to the station and we made it to the station in time! All in all, the hotel is highly recommended for people who wish to take it slow and relax, with onsen readily available and the walk to the nearby Hell’s Valley.

Traditional Japanese ryokan. Charming in an old style. Food is great, from the aspects of ingredients selections to presentations. The location is good too, closed to shopping street, next to the hell valley.. so near that we smell sulphur all the time. We had 2 traditional kaiseki dinners which were adventurous and amazing. However, we were put off by shark fin soup in one of the appetizer dishes. It is sad. Onsen water was genuine from my opinion. It made my skin and hair so soft and straightaway! Magic! However, the public onsen room was quite old and looked slightly unclean. This could be improved I think. The room was tiny. The shower/bathroom was also tiny. According to the size, I think our stay is overpriced.

The tatami 10 room was too small for 4 adults. We felt compressed when there was no area for walking after the mattresses were laid down. The service staff knocked our door and came in straight to lay down the mattresses for us, dust flying around during the 5 mins process as they flipped around. There were leftover strands of hair found on pillows, mattresses etc. It is a commercialised hotel, so Liberty restaurant that served snow crab leg dinner buffet looks like a canteen. The onsen has at least 8 pools indoor plus outdoor which was very relaxing that helped to compensate the above.

This is a belated post. I stayed 1 night in this hotel in May 2018 and it was unforgettable. Each room is as big as an apartment, complete with lounge and private onsen in the bathroom. But I must warn that the bathroom windows have no shades and it looks out to the car park and forest (depending on which side of the hotel your room is). Overall, the rooms are big, beds are comfortable and bathrooms are luxurious. The breakfast is also delicious!

夕食ブュッフェのアジア料理、ステーキなどどれも味付けがよく美味しかったです　お寿司も握り方がとても上手で箸がすすみました 朝食も漁師茶漬けやフレンチトーなどもありバラエティにとんでいました 風呂は種類は少なかったですが、泉質は良くサウナとあわせて入り肩の疲れがとれました 朝の風呂上がりのしそジュースも美味しかったです 料理など子どもむけのサービスも充実しているようでした 従業員の方達もおおむね親切でよかったです ただ、帰る際は最後の挨拶はもうすこししっかりしていただけるとさらに好印象になるのですこし惜しいかもと思いました　全体的にはよいホテルで楽しく過ごさせていただきました コスパがよいので登別の温泉めぐりの拠点に良さそうです

Noboribetsu, Hokkaido Prefecture. Filled with the mists of the North Pacific Ocean deep in the forrest valley lies the home of the thermal volcanic “hell valley”, all-natural hot springs, lakes, and the cuddly Bear Mountain Park. This is a tourist’s escape from whatever burdens them in the city, into the natural wonderland of mountains, hot spring streams, and warm local hospitality. The Noboribetsu Grand Hotel was opened in 1938. What was the Noboribetsu Guest House now revolutionized and expanded into a 300 plus room hotel with a finished off with a hot spring spa. Now a popular holiday getaway for the tourists both from Japan and abroad, this hotel packs itself to the brim both during the hot summers and the freezing winters. As part of our adventures down and around Hokkaido, we experienced this hotel and here’s our honest review of the Noboribetsu Grand Hotel: Our stay occurred from July 22nd to 23rd, this was our first night in Hokkaido after a long flight from Shanghai. A long hour drive from the highly trafficked New Chitose Airport would lead you to the Grand Hotel. Upon driving up, you would see how old the hotel is with its grey tiled walls and white drive up area. Greeting us at the hotel were the bellmen bowing as they would in the Japanese-style etiquette as you enter the lobby filled with one of Noboribetsu’s gift shop, monster figures, and marbled front desk area. None of the staff members spoke much English, so our lovely tour guide helped us in translation. Our check-in agent guided us through the specific details of the hotel facilities, breakfast facilities, and tatami installation times. We were given a 4-person Japanese-style “VIP” room, which consists of an at most 30 SQM space with a tatami floored living/bedroom space combination, a sitting room, a toilet room, a sink area, and a compact bathroom with separate shower & bathtub facilities. During the daytimes, living room acts a place for dining and seating with tatami chairs and a table. The TV stands at a corner. At around 7PM, the room attendants would turnover the tatami beds by moving the tables and chairs into the closet space and setting up the tatami beds. The tatami beds were rather inconvenient for us because of the size of the pillows that made of the tatami rather hard to sleep on. Don’t get us wrong, tatami beds are an efficient sleeping beds for families, but a single small sized pillow per bed makes the difference between authentic Japanese comfort and discomfort. Much of the challenge during the sleeping process was making sure your body stayed on the mattress when getting used to the firm yet small bean-filled pillow. I would recommend rooms that they provide that caters to a more westernized style with full beds. The tatami issue is a situation the hotel needs to revamp on. If they can start providing extra pillows in the closet or thicker sized pillows, it would be a great turnaround. The Japanese Hot Spring SPA concept is quite bizarre. Unlike mos

We stayed on a tour of Trapix. Noboribetsu Onsen seems to have several hotels of the same affiliation, among which it seems to be a hotel of a convenient rank. It was a little far from the hot spring town, but it was about 15 minutes walk to ”Hell Valley”. The hot spring is located further down the stairs from the first basement floor, but I thought that the five bathtubs had different spring quality hot water, and it was a hotel built on the source of Noboribetsu Onsen. This hot spring was the best. At the restaurant, the table was assigned to each room for the tour guests, so if I went in time, I could eat without being crowded. It was snowing outside the window and there was a taste. Dinner was a buffet, but all-you-can-eat crabs seemed to be on sale, but the shrimp was better. Squid somen and shrimp tempura were also delicious. There are many Hokkaido dishes for breakfast, and it seems that you can have a cup of rice with just squid sashimi from the morning. I thought that the dessert mango and almond tofu were similar to high-end Chinese restaurants. It was nice that the room had a large size of a Japanese-style room and a Western-style room, but it is dry even if it is humidified with an air purifier, so be careful in winter.

We stayed on the second day of the 2 night 3 day tour. A big fresh flower at the entrance. There are two baths. There is also an open-air bath, so I stretched my limbs and put them in. The room is a tatami mats and twins. It was a waste of space alone. The meal was a buffet for both evening and breakfast, but there were many items and all were delicious. Each was also written with a brief explanation, notation in English, and allergies. It seems that there was a bingo tournament in the lobby at night. The tea pack of tea was in a corner on the first floor.

We wanted a more private ryokan experience with dinner served privately rather than a buffet so we chose this ryokan. It was a great experience although it cost a lot, I think the price is a bit steep for services or food provided. The good: the location is central, on the shopping street itself and very walkable to the Hell Valley. We arrived by car and there is free parking just across the ryokan. The ryokan is smallish so more personal. We were served dinner in a private room, very cozy and intimate compared to buffet with lots of other tourists in bigger hotels. There was no non smoking room but I was pleasantly surprised by the very clean air. The onsen is small one outdoor one indoor but we were the only people using it - just me and my three daughters and my husband next door in the man side - fantastic since it was our first onsen experience and we were worried about being in our birth suit. The shampoos etc was very good in the onsen. The not so good: It was quite hard to locate as the sign is not in English. It took us a while. The main course of the dinner was a disappointment, the grilled mackerel was dried and not piping hot. The same dish served at Onsen Ichiba just up the road was so much better. The other main course choice was pork which was average. The sashimi was a standout but for my hubby who doesn’t eat raw food the dinner was very mediocre despite the high price. Overall it was a great first onsen and ryokan experience.

I have always wanted to stay in Kyo Takinoya ever since I visited Noboribetsu for the first time in 2015. That’s why we have decided to stay here during our honeymoon. We booked a Japanese style room with private onsen for our stay. We drove for around 2 hours from Niseko. Upon arriving the parking lot, we are greeted by the hotel staff. They guided us to a parking spot and helped us to carry our luggage to the room. Before we can set foot in the hotel lobby, we need to take off our shoes. Once we finished checkin. They took us to the hotel lounge where we were served some tea and Yokan before they took us to our room. Our room was spacious, clean and very traditional. Overall, it was quite well maintained considering the history of this hotel although we do see some wear and tear on the cabinet door. You can decide whether to set up the tatami in the living room or bed room area. A staff came in and set it all up while we were having dinner. Speaking of dinner, it was all served inside our room’s dining area at a selected time. We just need to sit in the dining room and wait for the dinner to come. A female staff politely asked to came in from the dinning area’s backdoor on time. The food was delicate and delicious. We are overall very satisfied and we especially enjoy the sashimi. The living room is only three steps away and we just rest there after dessert. After the table was cleared, they put a pot of iced cold water there for us. It was a great addition and thoughtful after the hot in-room onsen. There were 2 public onsen in the hotel. The onsen on 5/F is quite small but it had a nice mountain view. There were only 2 showers and I had to wait in line for shower when I visited it around 5-6pm. We visited the another Onsen in the morning before we checked out. It is located on B2/F. The onsen area is a lot larger and there are way more showers.