Chalet Shiga

Our room was clean and comfortable. Whilst old, it met our needs. Very tiny bathroom - even by Japanese standards. Kind and friendly staff. Breakfast: It offered some form of eggs (very sweet), with bacon every morning. There were also pastries and spreads. Two cereals to choose from. Tea, coffee, milk, 2 juice choices, yoghurt. Sometimes french fries which was interesting. fried mackerel and a number of other authentic Japanese offerings. We paid half board which included breakfast and a traditional multicourse Japanese dinner (Kaiseki). This was really lovely. Though a little repetitive after 5 days. We were also confused (and I wish I had asked), as to why one of these plates every night consisted of a protein of some sort, a cherry tomato, a scoop of mashed potato, and a raw floret of broccoli - all cold). Plenty to eat. Note, the hotel is quite a walk from the bus pick up stop. Drop off is very close though. Good access to ski areas.

I would have liked black tea and milk in the rooms. Whilst we were provided with a kettle, there was only green tea.

Close to lift and easy to get to from bus stop. Fantastic meals. Great onsen

Very old fixtures in rooms

I was a bit worried reading the mixed reviews but this place was absolutely incredible. Ski in (straight to front door), ski out (cross the road to ski out, straight down to a chair lift). The staff were so friendly and accommodating. Dinner was absolutely amazing, different Japanese meal sets every night. The buffet breakfast was so much better than I expected, it was a proper buffet with hot and cold food. I was worried about the steam heating that all the hotels in the area use - due to reviews about noise - but it didn’t bother me and I’m a fairly light sleeper. Be on time for breakfast and dinner - this is also a cultural thing. When they say dinner is 6-7:30pm, they mean arrive at 6pm. It seems like some people didn’t know this about the culture based on reviews. We had a western style room with bathroom and it was very spacious with a good amount of furniture. The communal washing machines and dryers were super handy for our longer stay of 8 nights. Super convenient ski rental shop located within the building, we were very happy with the price and equipment. Very handy (free) lockers there for your gear. Vending machines in the hotel, craft beer place downstairs. I don’t know what more you could ask for. I reckon it’s probably a 3.5 star hotel rather than 3 based on all my Aussie stays. This was definitely the highlight of our trip!

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Location is excellent. The room is well insulated and has good size.

It can be noisy with the pipes sounds in the morning. Also, the room is not cleaned on Sunday. We stayed for 5 days and they only removed the rubbish, changed towel occasionally. Have to go to reception to vet my towel changed a couple of time.