Hotel El Mayo

Beautiful large and spacious traditional tatami room with foyer area for shoes between the bathroom. Comfy pillows and fluffy fluffy Japanese blankets. We booked a twin but I could see a traditional room was available those dates but booking.com wouldn’t let me pick that one and I emailed the hotel and they kindly were able to switch to traditional for us. The rooms have bathrooms which is rare for a traditional style accommodation. The onsen was so nice after a hard day of skiiing. They have a large kotatsu common area downstairs in the lobby which is nice to sit and have a drink with friends or a coffee in the morning. Owner carried our bags to the room. They have some cute kitties but they were a bit shy haha. They were so nice it was my birthday when we arrived and we found a lovely note and a large bottle of Kirin Ichiban in the room. They have breakfast for not too expensive. There is a liquor/convenience store just down the end of the street. There is a bus stop next door otherwise they have their own bus to happo one and echoland base camp isn’t too far away just around the corner 5min walk. You can walk to echoland for dinner 5-10mins or happo town (7-10mins) good spot in the middle. Recommend stopping at The Lab for a drink or walking to happo town haha otherwise hanabi bar with food trucks is fun in happo town. The owner and his wife I think it was were so lovely! One morning he came out as we were leaving for a bus and asked if we wanted a lift instead. Didn’t care where to. Also drove us back to the bus terminal on last day. Also called a restaurant we had booked for dinner for us to confirm a pick up. The lady/wife we only saw on the last day but greeted us and gave us cookies souvenirs to say goodbye and waved and bowed at us as the bus drove us away. There is a coin laundry, you can get soap for 50yen from the owner.

There is no tea or coffee or kettle in the room. There is coffee, coffee chocolates and water down in the lobby/ kotatsu area but no tea. There wasn’t any Yukata to wear down to the onsen. No tissues in the room or in lobby. The onsen walls had some surface mould and you had to take the plastic cover off every time to use onsen. The futons were a little hard. Hot water takes a bit to heat up in the bathroom in the room and shower nozzle on forceful setting stings like little pins. There’s no fridge in the room but there’s one in the hallway to share or you can put your stuff on the windowsill in winter in the snow. There’s no elevator only stairs. The drying room wasn’t that warm and my ski boot insides didn’t dry over night. Wifi did cut out once but was otherwise good.

The owners who are so friendly and accomodating. The lifts in their own bus to happo and goryu/47 each morning. The location which provided an opportunity to eat at restaurants along the olympic road as well as only being a 5-10 min walk to Echoland. The lovely japanese breakfast each morning along with thick toast. Free coffee available all day. A nice hot public bath.

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