Top Hotels in Kitashiobara-mura
Top Restaurants in Kitashiobara-mura
10 hotels in Kitashiobara-mura: Best hotel deals for 2023
Discover the best hotels in Kitashiobara-mura, Yama-gun, Fukushima Prefecture, Tohoku including Active Resorts Urabandai, Urabandai Grandeco Tokyu Hotel, Urabandai Lake Resort Goshiki no Mori, Urabandai Lake Resort Nekoma Rikyu, Pension Hanakirin, Urabandai Grandeco Tokyu Hotel, Pension Fraisier, Mori no Gorilla, Saizu Resort Hotel Urabandai, Pension Buddy.
Restaurants in Kitashiobara-mura
1. Active Resorts Urabandai
Overall Ratings
3.5 based on 178 reviews
In Japanese, "Urabandai" translates as "the back of Bandai". Mt Bandai sits as one of the main mountains in Fukushima Prefecture, and thus the name "Active Resorts Urabandai" is born. As you can imagine, this comes with its own perks! Mt Bandai is renowned for its ski slopes and sees many snow sport fans pass through during the winter. This is highly recommended for skiers who want to try out Japan's famous powder snow. However, Urabandai's real highlight lies in the changing seasonal scenery. Goshikinuma has many hiking trails which look over the local lakes, known for their various hues of blue that change with the seasons. If hiking is a bit too much, this can all be enjoyed from inside the hotel, either from the rooms or from the Goshiki open air hot spring.
Dated but functional with exceptional service
Reviewed By Diane DLarge hotel that needs an update. Huge rooms with lounge areas. Only twin rooms available which is interesting for a couple but usable. Fabulous onsen downstairs with amazing outdoor hot spring. Every shampoo etc you could want available. Breakfast is Japanese buffet which is ok. Dinner in main dining room is excellent albeit very expensive buffet. The smaller ala carte grill is also quite good and Mori Mori restaraunt outside is also pretty good. Free bus daily to Grandeco ski resort and other resorts if you pay (or have the bus tix included).
2. Urabandai Grandeco Tokyu Hotel
Overall Ratings
4 based on 194 reviews
Urabandai Grandeco Tokyu Hotel is an excellent choice for travelers visiting Kitashiobara-mura, offering a family-friendly environment alongside many helpful amenities designed to enhance your stay. Guest rooms offer amenities such as air conditioning and a refrigerator, and guests can go online with free wifi offered by the hotel. The property also features a pool and an on-site restaurant to make your visit even more pleasant. Guests arriving by vehicle have access to free parking. When you’re feeling hungry, be sure to check out En cafe, which is a cafe that is popular with locals and out-of-towners alike. If you are interested in exploring Kitashiobara-mura, check out a garden, such as Herb Space Bandia. Enjoy your stay in Kitashiobara-mura!
A great ski getaway for beginners and families, food is pricey though...
Reviewed By Rein BMy girlfriend and I have been involved in something called "The Aizu Program" for 2 years running now which is operated by a travel company called "All Japan Ski" who are based in Sydney, Australia. This hotel is part of that program so we stayed here for a week in February 2020. The hotel is very remote and therefore many options for food and other activities (besides skiing/snowboarding) are limited and it can get pretty expensive if you are new to the area. HOTEL: Overall - 4 out of 5. The hotel is like most other the hotels in the region, dated but clean and close to Gradeco snowfield. The rooms, however, are very generous in size and spacious. We stayed in a Deluxe Twin room. Note - all of the rooms come with twin or double beds. There are no queen or king beds that we are aware of. We ended up pushing the two beds together and each day, the staff who serviced our rooms remade the beds in our preferred, arranged format, which was lovely. You can see layouts of their room types on their website. The hotel is large and has outdoor onsens, 2 restaurants, a gift shop, a snow rental store, a massage parlour, a tea station and a laundry facility. This is a ski in ski out resort so you can simply strap on and ski/board down to the snowfield or ask the concierge for a ride and be instantly transported to the snow entrance inside a nice, heated hotel minivan. Need to go back to the hotel? Easy! Simply ask reception at the mountain station and they will radio for a driver who arrives outside the front of the snowfield within seconds, ready to take you back to the hotel, all complimentary. FOOD: Overall - 2 out of 5. The hotel has 2 restaurants, a French one and a Japanese one. You have to book reservations for these in advance. When we found this out, we spent almost 30 minutes with the staff at check-in, planning reservation times for which evening's we wanted to have dinner. We discovered that both restaurants run set menus for dinner ranging between AU$80-$100, per person, per night (and that is excluding drinks). Both restaurants do not operate every single night either, so on some days, your only choice is one of the two and that's it. There are no other hot food/dinner options in a 15 km radius. The food looks fancy when it is presented but it is average tasting at best. We did find one external restaurant which was about 20 mins drive from the hotel called "Mori-Mori" which we highly recommend. The owner is a true local, his food is tasty and the cost of one dinner at the hotel restaurant can easily feed a table for 4 at Mori- Mori and then have some change left over. The hotel can also call you a cab which worked out to be about AU$40-$50 each way. We discovered a 7-11 about 300 meters from Mori-Mori, so while we were out that way, we stocked up on food supplies for the week at a much more reasonable cost than what the hotel restaurants were offering. Oh, and just so you know, the foods at Japanese 7-11's are also amazing and nothing like our crappy, factory processed foods that we have at our convenience stores, here. The hotel proves a buffet breakfast which is served each morning and luckily, was included as part of our holiday package (I heard that breakfast charges are around AU$35 per person each day). They had both Japanese and Westerner options. The food here is plentiful with lots on offer from cereals to muesli and yoghurts, eggs, bacon, sausages, pancakes, a selection of croissants and bakery treats, jam and other spreads, tea, coffee, fresh fruit, salads and so on, they have something for everyone so you shouldn't have any issue there. If only their dinners were the same..... The gift shop has packaged foods too (like noodles) if you need a snack and there are some 24-hour vending machines near the laundry area as well (we found these machines were mostly out of stock of most items though). They really need to pick up their game in the food department. STAFF: Overall rating 5 out of 5 The staff are the highlight of this hotel. They made our stay worth every minute. They will give you a 110% service every time and expect nothing in return. We had bought a selection of Tim-Tams (a popular Australian chocolate biscuit) which we brought over with us and when we gave some to the staff to say thank you, one of them ended up in tears (happy ones) as they felt so blessed by our small gifts. They really are the kindest and most humble folk you will ever meet. They also have some automatic translation devices (like google translate) at reception, so when they have trouble understanding you, they simply pulled out those devices which helped speed up the conversations. SNOW: Overall - 5 out of 5 This hotel is one of the highest (if not, the highest) in its region so the snowfall is plentiful here. We visited in early February 2020 and prior to our arrival, the staff were keeping us updated, telling us how bad of a snow season they were having. We were shocked when we arrived to see SO MUCH SNOW, that we couldn't understand what a "bad snow season" they were talking about. For beginners and intermediate folk, you will fit right in here. The runs are wide, long, lots of gentle and smooth runs, a mini-park with some jumps and boxes and the mountain was pretty much empty for the most part (we were there during the week though). If you are looking for steep, fast, advanced or black runs, you might want to look elsewhere. There are many food options on the mountain, all of which is reasonably priced. The hot chocolates are awesome too! SUMMARY: Overall - 4 out of 5 Besides the lack of food options and poor taste at the hotel and the extortionate price tags that come with it, the hotel is great for families, couples or folks who like peace and quiet and want to learn or improve their skiing/boarding abilities. If you are wise and use the food options we mentioned above, you can actually have a really great time here without breaking the bank. If, however, you are an adrenalin junkie looking to "shred that Japow-pow" or looking to team up with the boys on a snow adventure of partying, bars and nightlife, look elsewhere as this is a remote, quiet town with a few small local restaurants, one set of traffic lights and a lot of expensive, slightly dated hotels with amazing snow, with mainly green and blue runs. Hakuba and Niseko will probably get you covered for that sort of holiday. Something to note: 1. The rental ski shop at the hotel can be very pricey. We had some friends who joined us this year, both who needed to rent all their snow gear (boards, boots, clothing etc). The rental shop wanted around AU$1400 for a 5-day ski rental hire for 2 people. The rental shop down at the mountain base was about half that price. 2. All of the TV channels are in Japanese, there are no English channels at all. The hotel does not offer any English TV channels at all. They do offer complimentary wireless, internet, but the connectivity is pretty bad in the rooms. Even trying to watch a show on Netflix somedays were unwatchable.
3. Urabandai Lake Resort Goshiki no Mori
Overall Ratings
4 based on 34 reviews
See why so many travelers make Urabandai Lake Resort Goshiki no Mori their hotel of choice when visiting Kitashiobara-mura. Providing an ideal mix of value, comfort and convenience, it offers a family-friendly setting with an array of amenities designed for travelers like you. Rooms at Urabandai Lake Resort Goshiki no Mori provide air conditioning, and guests can stay connected with free wifi. In addition, while staying at Urabandai Lake Resort Goshiki no Mori guests have access to a 24 hour front desk, room service, and shops. You can also enjoy a sauna and an on-site restaurant. Need a place to park? Free parking is available at Urabandai Lake Resort Goshiki no Mori. While in Kitashiobara-mura, you may want to check out some of the restaurants that are a short walk away from Urabandai Lake Resort Goshiki no Mori, including Maple (0.0 mi), Dining Bandai (0.2 mi), and Oshokuji Omiyage Murabito (0.1 mi). If you are interested in exploring Kitashiobara-mura, check out a garden, such as Herb Space Bandia. We’re sure you’ll enjoy your stay at Urabandai Lake Resort Goshiki no Mori as you experience all of the things Kitashiobara-mura has to offer.
Good service hotel
Reviewed By ArataTaThey prepare the bag to go to the hot spring inside the hotel and also prepaer the pinch to let you know which sandal is yours. This kind of the pretty good service is the first to to see for me. We go to the Grandeco Ski Area staying here, it's little far (15 min drive) but the hotel itself is really good hotel.
4. Urabandai Lake Resort Nekoma Rikyu
Overall Ratings
4 based on 174 reviews
Located within the Bandai-Asahi National Park at Lake Hibara, the largest in the Tohoku highlands, this resort delights visitors with scenic hiking trails, iron-rich hot springs, and hearty breakfast and dinner buffets.
Money Stolen from The Room
Reviewed By elisesmuQuite a lot of money stolen from the room and the hotel would not do anything about it without the police (which is understandable), but they only operate during the day (very much doubt that, it's Police after all), so on top of missing money I would have had to miss a full day of skiing. Some other people had some items taken from their rooms as well
5. Pension Hanakirin
Overall Ratings
5 based on 7 reviews
Attractive wooden mountain lodge very close to some of Japan's most beautiful lakes
Reviewed By Christopher MArrieved with no pre booking (in mid October) to this charming pension, where our host ( who's name I have sadly forgotten) was extremely welcoming and accommodating. We initially asked prices for one nights stay with no evening meal and then proceeded to price check other pentions around the area. We found hanakirens price to be the fairest (cheapest) of them all and opted to stay two nights. We decided to go self catering and were allowed to bring in our own supplies of food and more importantly, wine into the lounge. This suited us because of dietary needs and budget. However there are no cooking facilities to use because, like most pensions, evening meal and breakfast are provided for extra cost. There are two private onsens and even a massage chair to help recover from a days hiking around some spectacular lakes and mountains. It's the little touches that make this place special, a well thought out family home who's host is genuine, friendly and generous. Highly recommend to families and couples. Would recommend having your own transport to see maximum amount of national park.
6. Urabandai Grandeco Tokyu Hotel
Overall Ratings
4 based on 194 reviews
Urabandai Grandeco Tokyu Hotel is an excellent choice for travelers visiting Kitashiobara-mura, offering a family-friendly environment alongside many helpful amenities designed to enhance your stay. Guest rooms offer amenities such as air conditioning and a refrigerator, and guests can go online with free wifi offered by the hotel. The property also features a pool and an on-site restaurant to make your visit even more pleasant. Guests arriving by vehicle have access to free parking. When you’re feeling hungry, be sure to check out En cafe, which is a cafe that is popular with locals and out-of-towners alike. If you are interested in exploring Kitashiobara-mura, check out a garden, such as Herb Space Bandia. Enjoy your stay in Kitashiobara-mura!
A great ski getaway for beginners and families, food is pricey though...
Reviewed By Rein BMy girlfriend and I have been involved in something called "The Aizu Program" for 2 years running now which is operated by a travel company called "All Japan Ski" who are based in Sydney, Australia. This hotel is part of that program so we stayed here for a week in February 2020. The hotel is very remote and therefore many options for food and other activities (besides skiing/snowboarding) are limited and it can get pretty expensive if you are new to the area. HOTEL: Overall - 4 out of 5. The hotel is like most other the hotels in the region, dated but clean and close to Gradeco snowfield. The rooms, however, are very generous in size and spacious. We stayed in a Deluxe Twin room. Note - all of the rooms come with twin or double beds. There are no queen or king beds that we are aware of. We ended up pushing the two beds together and each day, the staff who serviced our rooms remade the beds in our preferred, arranged format, which was lovely. You can see layouts of their room types on their website. The hotel is large and has outdoor onsens, 2 restaurants, a gift shop, a snow rental store, a massage parlour, a tea station and a laundry facility. This is a ski in ski out resort so you can simply strap on and ski/board down to the snowfield or ask the concierge for a ride and be instantly transported to the snow entrance inside a nice, heated hotel minivan. Need to go back to the hotel? Easy! Simply ask reception at the mountain station and they will radio for a driver who arrives outside the front of the snowfield within seconds, ready to take you back to the hotel, all complimentary. FOOD: Overall - 2 out of 5. The hotel has 2 restaurants, a French one and a Japanese one. You have to book reservations for these in advance. When we found this out, we spent almost 30 minutes with the staff at check-in, planning reservation times for which evening's we wanted to have dinner. We discovered that both restaurants run set menus for dinner ranging between AU$80-$100, per person, per night (and that is excluding drinks). Both restaurants do not operate every single night either, so on some days, your only choice is one of the two and that's it. There are no other hot food/dinner options in a 15 km radius. The food looks fancy when it is presented but it is average tasting at best. We did find one external restaurant which was about 20 mins drive from the hotel called "Mori-Mori" which we highly recommend. The owner is a true local, his food is tasty and the cost of one dinner at the hotel restaurant can easily feed a table for 4 at Mori- Mori and then have some change left over. The hotel can also call you a cab which worked out to be about AU$40-$50 each way. We discovered a 7-11 about 300 meters from Mori-Mori, so while we were out that way, we stocked up on food supplies for the week at a much more reasonable cost than what the hotel restaurants were offering. Oh, and just so you know, the foods at Japanese 7-11's are also amazing and nothing like our crappy, factory processed foods that we have at our convenience stores, here. The hotel proves a buffet breakfast which is served each morning and luckily, was included as part of our holiday package (I heard that breakfast charges are around AU$35 per person each day). They had both Japanese and Westerner options. The food here is plentiful with lots on offer from cereals to muesli and yoghurts, eggs, bacon, sausages, pancakes, a selection of croissants and bakery treats, jam and other spreads, tea, coffee, fresh fruit, salads and so on, they have something for everyone so you shouldn't have any issue there. If only their dinners were the same..... The gift shop has packaged foods too (like noodles) if you need a snack and there are some 24-hour vending machines near the laundry area as well (we found these machines were mostly out of stock of most items though). They really need to pick up their game in the food department. STAFF: Overall rating 5 out of 5 The staff are the highlight of this hotel. They made our stay worth every minute. They will give you a 110% service every time and expect nothing in return. We had bought a selection of Tim-Tams (a popular Australian chocolate biscuit) which we brought over with us and when we gave some to the staff to say thank you, one of them ended up in tears (happy ones) as they felt so blessed by our small gifts. They really are the kindest and most humble folk you will ever meet. They also have some automatic translation devices (like google translate) at reception, so when they have trouble understanding you, they simply pulled out those devices which helped speed up the conversations. SNOW: Overall - 5 out of 5 This hotel is one of the highest (if not, the highest) in its region so the snowfall is plentiful here. We visited in early February 2020 and prior to our arrival, the staff were keeping us updated, telling us how bad of a snow season they were having. We were shocked when we arrived to see SO MUCH SNOW, that we couldn't understand what a "bad snow season" they were talking about. For beginners and intermediate folk, you will fit right in here. The runs are wide, long, lots of gentle and smooth runs, a mini-park with some jumps and boxes and the mountain was pretty much empty for the most part (we were there during the week though). If you are looking for steep, fast, advanced or black runs, you might want to look elsewhere. There are many food options on the mountain, all of which is reasonably priced. The hot chocolates are awesome too! SUMMARY: Overall - 4 out of 5 Besides the lack of food options and poor taste at the hotel and the extortionate price tags that come with it, the hotel is great for families, couples or folks who like peace and quiet and want to learn or improve their skiing/boarding abilities. If you are wise and use the food options we mentioned above, you can actually have a really great time here without breaking the bank. If, however, you are an adrenalin junkie looking to "shred that Japow-pow" or looking to team up with the boys on a snow adventure of partying, bars and nightlife, look elsewhere as this is a remote, quiet town with a few small local restaurants, one set of traffic lights and a lot of expensive, slightly dated hotels with amazing snow, with mainly green and blue runs. Hakuba and Niseko will probably get you covered for that sort of holiday. Something to note: 1. The rental ski shop at the hotel can be very pricey. We had some friends who joined us this year, both who needed to rent all their snow gear (boards, boots, clothing etc). The rental shop wanted around AU$1400 for a 5-day ski rental hire for 2 people. The rental shop down at the mountain base was about half that price. 2. All of the TV channels are in Japanese, there are no English channels at all. The hotel does not offer any English TV channels at all. They do offer complimentary wireless, internet, but the connectivity is pretty bad in the rooms. Even trying to watch a show on Netflix somedays were unwatchable.
7. Pension Fraisier
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 9 reviews
8. Mori no Gorilla
Overall Ratings
5 based on 3 reviews
Loved it- great owners and a great experience
Reviewed By oliverAustraliaThe two owners of this property were delightful. They treated us like family members, cooked delicious food for us and generally made the experience very special. We are travelling in Japan for seven weeks and staying in a variety of three, four and five star ryokans, hotels and guest houses. Staying at More no Gorilla has been one of the best experiences mainly because of the owners. The room with twin beds was small but comfortable, there was lovely music playing in the background, the food was delicious and it was good value.
9. Saizu Resort Hotel Urabandai
Overall Ratings
4 based on 5 reviews
連泊は辛い
Reviewed By it336レトロのまとめられたHotelに３連泊した。Twinは狭いが設備はOK、眺めも良い。温泉風呂も小さいがある。お隣の温泉センターと経営が同じで無料で入れるが、広いだけで清潔感に欠けた。朝は和食で毎日同じ、夕食は洋食でこちらもほぼ毎日同じ。連泊は辛い。お財布にやさしくホスピタリーもいいが、一工夫欲しい。楽しみにしていたスリランカ人シェフは昨年暮れに帰国。
10. Pension Buddy
Overall Ratings
4 based on 3 reviews
裏磐梯の撮影ガイドがオーナー
Reviewed By chutaro写真撮影仲間6人で裏磐梯の撮影旅行に行くことになりこのペンションを選びました。オーナーが撮影ガイドであり、とても親切。猪苗代駅まで迎えに来てくれ2泊3日の撮影プランをすべて彼がアテンドしてくれました。食事も洋食と和食をだしてくれ、アルコールも色々あり大満足。撮影に必須の長靴も無料でレンタル、しかもサイズも豊富で助かった。
