A short stroll from the top base area, great choices of whisky. Only one beer on tap - Yebisu I think. Board games and good chat now owned by CAMP3 Snowboarding club.
Stayed here a couple of weeks ago with my family and we were very satisfied with this cute little hotel! The hosts are extremely hardworking, helpful and thoughtful.
They went out of their way to help us and make us feel welcome. None of us speak Japanese, but one of the managers, Boris, is an exceptional English communicator. He provided great advice, helped us organise a room change and was always offering to help us!
I recommend without hesitation:
Plus
- ski out and almost ski in
- Friendly Japanese and English staff very flexible
- Onsen / Sentou
- Very good dry room
- Filling breakfast
- Spacious room with private shower.
You can ski out there is the small slope with access to lift and ticket counter) and almost ski in (take a lift and if you ski on the side of the road for 10 meters you get back to the hotel)
Staff is so nice and flexible always ready to help. If the hotel is not overbook you can check out even late in the day and use showers for free. Breakfast is not a "all you can eat" but they happily give re-fills extra toast and jam. You don't like orange juice try and ask for milk, it's not officially on the menu but they'll provide. Overall commercial gesture were numerous and it did not felt cheap.
The hotel is clean and room spacious with a small fridge TV usually teapot and hair dryer. Not a high class hotel but not shabby by any means and for the price (at the time 2500 yens per night) it's unbelievably comfortable.
I love the resort itself as well, snowpark and my god so much powder during January it's crazy.
It was our family's first snow holiday and we couldn't have hoped for a better base than that provided by Hakken by Active Life! From the time we first made the booking PK and the team at Active Life ensured our trip was as seamless as possible, quickly responding to our emails and queries.||Upon arrival, courtesy of the free shuttle from Iiyama Station, a couple of our bags that we had sent prior had gone missing. Our host at Hakken, the tireless Dan, and his crew didn't stop until they were found at another resort and brought safely to our door.||We set up camp in the family room, which with the aid of a futon mattress allowed the five us to sleep comfortably in one room. We then used an adjoining room for all of our gear, a set up that worked perfectly.||The rooms were clean and well laid out, although the bathrooms/showers will benefit from an upgrade at some point.||The included breakfast was scrumptious and hearty, and ensured high levels of energy for the big day of skiing ahead. Being novices, we made full use of the included free lessons, which were excellent and had us all up and running by the end of day one.||The kids lessons ran from 9am to 4pm and our kids loved them, with the instructors (in particular Tucker) proving to be way more fun than mum and dad!||The hire gear organised through Active Life at Miyuki was top notch, well priced and easily accessible from the lodge.||The location of Hakken is basically as good as it can be at Madarao. It is a short two minute walk to the chair lifts, and had the snow been deeper we could have easily skied home at the end of the day. There is an excellent range of restaurants and bars within short distance of the lodge. Our personal favourite was Sakura, a hidden gem serving nothing but delicious Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, but the beyond big homemade burgers at Unjaune, the katsu curry at Aki's, the pizza at Rudolph or the hot pot at Malu were not far behind.||Overall we loved Madarao, while the season was apparently the worst in 40 years, for our level of skiing it was fantastic and at times it felt like we had the mountain to ourselves.||Special mention to the Active Life staff and in particular Dan who was the perfect host. Having previously stayed at Hakken as a guest he had great tips and local knowledge, was quick to help out with our gear or to pour the adults a beer. In a previous review he got 100 out of 10, and we'd make it 101 out of 10!||Awesome holiday and we can't wait to get back there.
A really lovely lodge, fantastic location, great hosts. The rooms were comfortable with private bathrooms. Lovely and warm and a nice communal lounge area to hang out in. The hosts we're awesome, giving lots of tips about the area and making us feel at home. We'll be back!
The Hakken is a small hotel which is run by PK and Kaylee whose aim is for you to have a great holiday. The double rooms are very comfortable and have everything that you need. There is a ski room, breakfast room and a bar that serves excellent food .There is a private Onsen,hot tub, which is a great bonus in the evening after a day on the snow.||All the staff were very helpful, made dinner reservations ,helped with equipment hire and and anything else that we needed. The hotel is ski in ski out and is in easy walking distance to most bars and restaurants. ||The free ski and snowboarding lessons are a great bonus. The young instructors were very professional and this was definitely an added bonus that helps the active life group stand out.||We will definitely be recommending this hotel to others and will be back next year .
Unfortunately they will not honor there own refund policy and communication is abysmal .||残念ながら、彼らは独自の返金ポリシーを尊重しません||||We booked in 2020, with a fully refundable policy guaranteed within 24 hours of checking in. In Sept 2020, they confirmed the 20/21 season was off, which is not their fault obviously, and notified us that they were processing our refund. 14 months later they still have not refunded us. They email intermittently every 3 to 4 month and most recently lied to us and said 'booking conditions at time of booking were and remain non-refundable'. We have proof otherwise including the many back and forth emails.||Madarao itself is awesome and will love to go back but I would not risk your hard earned money by staying here, as it is likely they will not honor their own terms of purchase regarding refunds should the likely event of a change or cancellation arise.||||At the time of staying here the staff were friendly and the hotel manager Dan was awesome, and very good at his job. Beers and whisky's after a hard day of snowboarding was great as was the conversations with the staff. Bed was very comfy, boot room was great and it was very close to the ski lift.||||残念ながら、彼らは独自の返金ポリシーを尊重せず、コミュニケーションはひどいものです。||2020年に予約し、チェックインから24時間以内に全額返金可能なポリシーが保証されました。2020年9月、彼らは20/21シーズンがオフであることを確認しましたが、これは明らかに彼らのせいではなく、返金を処理していることを通知しました。 14か月後、彼らはまだ私たちに返金していません。彼らは3〜4か月ごとに断続的に電子メールを送信し、最近では私たちに嘘をつき、「予約時の予約条件は返金不可のままです」と述べました。それ以外の場合は、多くの前後の電子メールを含む証拠があります。||斑尾自体は素晴らしく、戻ってみたいと思いますが、変更やキャンセルが発生した場合、払い戻しに関する独自の購入条件を尊重しない可能性があるため、ここに滞在して苦労して稼いだお金を危険にさらすことはありません。||||ここに滞在したとき、スタッフはフレンドリーで、ホテルマネージャーのダンは素晴らしく、彼の仕事はとても上手でした。スノーボードで忙しい一日を過ごした後のビールとウイスキーは、スタッフとの会話と同様に素晴らしかったです。ベッドはとても快適で、ブーツルームは素晴らしく、スキーリフトにとても近いです。
The staff were amazing! They went over and above. NOTHING was too much trouble. I even received a cup of tea late at night! The collection from the train station was complimentary and so easy. The room was much bigger than I’m used to, clean and spacious. Breakfast options were many, and I was treated more like family than a guest. Manager Dan was fantastic. Would recommend, will return!
Our family really enjoyed our stay at Active Life. The rooms are quite large (especially compared to other accommodation we had been staying in), modern, clean and the beds are super comfy. Having Netflix and YouTube was a bonus!
The drying room for snow gear was awesome - plenty of space for everyone’s gear and heat cranking.
The staff were very helpful and available and it felt more like we were all part of a larger family than formal guests. The atmosphere is very welcoming and relaxed.
Such good value with our booking including breakfast, free yoga classes, use of the onsen and even ski lessons for our 9 year old. The rental facility and instructor quality was top notch.
We were truly blown away by the value and quality of our stay and are already planning a return trip! Staying with Active Life is a MUST when you visit Madarao 🙂
