Ryokan Biyunoyado

This ryokan is the perfect blend of East meets West! Here you can experience the magic of a traditional Japanese village while enjoying all the comforts of home. The rooms are spacious, extraordinarily clean, and have everything you need to relax. You can choose between a Japanese-style room, including futon beds, low tables and tatami mats, or select a western designed room with standard beds and furniture. Both are well appointed, thoughtfully furnished spaces. The staff speaks English, and cannot do enough to ensure that your every need is met. The onsens (traditional hot baths) are a delight! While visiting, you can use one of the beautiful indoor onsens, or splurge for a private rooftop open air experience. Meals at Ryokan Biyunoyado are something you absolutely must include in your stay. The Kaiseki feasts are out of this world in both quality and quantity! This kitchen prepares only the finest, freshest ingredients, and the dishes are incredibly diverse. For example, one such meal will include beef, chicken, sashimi, cooked fish, pork, and far too many side dishes to mention. The presentation is extraordinary, easily the finest we have had in all of Japan! Lastly, this hotel is perfectly situated, offering a wide variety of activities for every guest. The hotel provides shuttles to take you up the mountain for skiing or snowboarding in the colder months, or hiking in the warmer months. Just a few minutes away, you can see the famous Snow Monkeys who bathe in their own onsens! We are experienced travelers who have visited all 50 United States and over 60 countries around the world, and we can honestly say that Ryokan Biyunoyado is an exceptional value and a MUST if you are visiting Japan. It's just a train ride away from Tokyo, easy to get to and impossible to forget. Don't hesitate to visit this enchanting place, come visit the "real" Japan. We promise you won't regret it!

Frankly, we felt catered to in every way and do not have any complaints! One very small suggestion would be to offer coffee at breakfast. We like the local tea, but did miss our coffee by day two of our stay. However, all we had to do was ask and coffee was brought to our table immediately. It was such a joy to stay here.

We stayed 3 nights which I highly recommend to be able to fully experience everything this place has to offer. We had 2 traditional tatami rooms next to each other for our family of 6. While small and a bit hard to fit all our luggage it was what we expected for traditional Japanese rooms in a ryokan. We provided traditional Yukata dress which we wore to breakfast and dinner which was included in our cost. The traditional meals were delicious and so well prepared and served so beautifully in their dining room. The owner was present each evening, greeting all her guests and she even turned up one evening in a beautiful kimono. All their staff were so friendly. We used the private Onsen which were in the rooftop looking over the town. This was truly spectacular and so memorable. We also loved the big open lounge area which had amazing views over Yudanaka town. It was truly breathtaking to watch snow falling while sipping cocktails and hot chocolates from their bar. They also have their own gift shop which had lots of local sweets and biscuits which we loved. They also offer a free shuttle service to the snowfields and to the snow monkeys which was very handy.

We wish there was another later pickup time from the Snow Monkey Park. We felt that the time given between pickup and drop off was not long enough however it was easy to catch a local bus back.

The staff were incredibly helpful. Even driving us to the snow monkey park as we'd arrived earlier than the shuttle. Their english was really good and they were very happy to accommodate our needs. We stayed in the Deluxe Western Room with open air bath. The room was incredible. Reclining lounges, great size, super comfortable beds and personal balcony onsen! Soaked to our hearts content without leaving the comfort of our room! Hot onsen while snow falls is just beyond amazing. Location was nice and close to the station and food. They do station pick up and transfers and also run a shuttle to the monkey onsen park. Just a really great place to stay!

It was all excellent

We loved the experience of Japanese culture and the staff were so welcoming. Businesses in regional Japan are so important for maintaining the population in towns like these and the staff want you to have a great time. We enjoyed the private and public onsen as light snow fell, and delicious food. I would recommend booking for dinner at least in winter as there were few other options and it was cold outside! This area would be stunning any time of year - there are many apple orchards and Obuse half an hour away by train is well worth the visit.

Nothing

Lovely ryokan where they did everything to make our stay as smooth as possible. We had an all-inclusive night, so dinner and breakfast were included, and they were authentic Japanese feasts, really amazing meals. They also took us to the snow monkey park, then dropped us back at the station with our bags for our onward journey. Sometimes ryokans look more expensive than other options, but if you really want to know Japan then they give you a different insight. Oh, and the private rooftop onsen is a very romantic experience that I highly recommend!

It’s definitely an experience to stay at a traditional ryokan! The room was spacious. Facility in general seemed a little dated but maybe that was supposed to give it some character? It’s nice that they have shuttle services to Snow Monkey park. We payed for breakfast and dinner - overall the food was delicious, some food items my non-Japanese partner did not like. The food is traditional and highlighting the fish dish.

Very appreciative that they offered shuttle services but it seemed little rushed. We leave the ryokan by 830am and the next pickup is at 1020am. It takes about 25-30 minutes to walk up to the park and then another 25-30 minutes back down to the pickup area. Yudanaka is a small town so not much to do (in our opinion). If you want a difference experience from busy city life, you will definitely get it. We stayed for 2 nights and thought that was more than enough. We were mainly there to see snow monkeys. If you want to save money and don’t care for traditional Japanese ryokan experience, you can do a day trip instead. You can always stay in Nagano station and take a train to Yudanaka for the snow monkey park (I think it was only an hour from Nagano station).

My girlfriend and I were traveling to Japan in January and wanted to go skiing at Shiga Kogen, the largest ski resort in Japan. We originally wanted to stay in Shiga Kogen but after staying in Yamaguchi at Ryokan Biyunoyado we’re so glad we didn’t. Ryokan Biyunoyado is the best ryokan in the area by far with amazing facilities and even better staff. They provide dinner and breakfast - dinner onsite is a must since you’ll most likely be tired after a long day! They also provided transport to and from the station, to see the snow monkeys (for free), a public Onsen, and a private rooftop onsen!! Not to mention they had a famous Japanese drummer and lion dance performer on our last night FOR FREE!! This could not have been more worth our money spent!! From a corporate event planner that stays in hotels over half the year, I rate this a 10/10!!

The hospitality is unmatched. The food and service was incredible. All amenities were clean and excellent. I can’t believe they went above and beyond even cleaned the snow off our vehicle before sending us on our way. I loved the private rooftop onsen as well. 10/10 amazing experience. Did not disappoint.

The only negative was I felt like I was struggling to get water throughout my stay. I wish we had access to drinking water in the rooms. :) it wasn’t until I was leaving that staff pointed out there was water near the lobby at the bar.

The on-site onsen and included breakfast were great. The whole experience felt very special. They also provided a shuttle up to the Snow Monkey park and to the train station at Yudanaka.

The air conditioning seemed under-powered for the room size. Although there was a return shuttle available from the Snow Monkey park, the timing of it would have only given us a brief time at the park. It would have been nice to have 2 or 3 options for shuttles to get back to the hotel instead of calling a taxi. We ended up walking back, which was fine because it was only 4.5 km and almost all downhill.

Our room felt like home…. Specifically, a traditional Japanese home! Our 2 nights offered us a glimpse of respect, love and comfort. It was such an honor to have stayed here! Food was outstanding! Attention to detail was impeccable! Staff was extremely helpful, friendly and cheerful. The best we have seen during our 7 weeks and 8 country holiday…. Including better than our 5 star hotels in Saigon & Hanoi. Rooftop thermal bath was a surprise hit! Must do again!!

In hindsight, wish we had planned more nights!