Ezo Fujiya Niseko House

3 stars not the 5.0 they give themselves below We liked that it was available after another place was inadvertently canceled. Google only showed us 2 restaurants in the area. It turned out that one block away is "Restaurant and Bar Street" We found it by accident and it was great! More restaurants than we could possibly visit. Most wanted reservations made by your hotel - presumably to charge no shows - but going at 6 p.m. when they open gave us no problems getting a seat. Adequate kitchen and a grocery store down the street made breakfast easy. Nice boot dryer. Washing machine. Caught the city bus easily but managing skis or suitcases on it is a hassle. Between walking to the bus and to get our skis at the rental shop each day at Grand Hirafu we walked about 2 miles. We caught the early bus (7:50) and the 3:37p.m. bus to return to bypass the worst crowding.

Google had a hard time finding the address. Our private car hire dropped us 8km from the location at 10p.m. in a very cold storm. The number to help us could provide no help at all. It was so cold our phones were not working right. We managed to flag a taxi after over an hour and the driver figured out the address. So we had not looked at the whole check in besides reading the address and very small print warnings about water etc. The link to what you need is very small and unobtrusive especially in the cold and dark. Snow was 8' high around the building and we parked to get out on the dark side street where the "white" lock boxes designated with keys were positioned. The white box for key number 2 was open. Key number one (our designated key) was not in a white box. Instructions were emphatic about checking the room number before opening the doors. We used key #2 to open the main door and went upstairs. Nobody was on the second or third floor. There are NO room numbers. Fortunately, in one of the unoccupied rooms, there were pictures of room doors. These are also in the link which our cold phones were being fussy about opening. Room 1 was street level around the corner - not well visible at all unless you walk around the building. After that awful start it was good. There is no room for much in this tiny apartment - no drawers, no place for suitcases etc. A little creativity is needed. The mini-split heater had trouble deciding if it wanted to heat or not. The front door opens directly on to the main street which felt weird when leaving and people are standing at the crosswalk just outside the door. It feels like a converted little store front. Despite positive tourist sites about the transportation to the Niseko slopes - It cost 500Y each, one way to ride the city bus - everyday. The free shuttle only ran after 5p.m. and would often be full and beyond crowded. If full, you have wait another hour for a possible next try.