Accommodation in Tōno

Nice place. Quiet, clean, comfortable. Great people. I bow respectfully for their friendliness. And a special thanks for the evening folk stories.

Booked over a holiday weekend when a lot of accommodation all around was booked out, so we did not have high expectations, but well... the level of friendliness and hospitality was amazing. We contacted the hotel by mail a day before to advise them of our Check-in Time. I had read somewhere that they offer a shuttle service to Tono Station, so I enquired and we were told that we could be picked up before 17.00 - which was excellent news, since we arrived in the dark and there are extremely few buses, and the weather wasn't great, either. We communicated in Japanese, and I am not sure English is spoken, but the staff was extremely welcoming and can use translation apps if you wish to communicate in English. Our room was smallish and in the Japanese style in a very quiet side building with lovely views. There is also a nice sitting room and a huge onsen bath which is open to the public in the day time but was always deserted in the evenings. We pre-booked breakfast and ate dinner in the on-site restaurant, which were good and very reasonably priced. To our great delight, we were offered shuttle service into Tono the next morning, and we were picked up there after our sightseeing, too! Rooms were cleaned daily, and the staff was absolutely lovely. As one would expect with a Japanese Inn, everything was spotlessly clean, there was plenty of good tea and sweets in the room, and there is a small shop on site for omiyage and snacks and drinks - which closes at 20.00. So everything closes quite early. It's the countryside. You could use the onsen until late, probably after midnight, and it had drinks vending machines. We didn't really explore the grounds of the hotel, but I hear they are quite beautiful - we just spent two nights there, and went into Tono