26th February 2023

Our travelling party enjoyed our stay at the Hoshino Resort, Alts Bandai (Bandaisan Onsen Hotel). 
 
The hotel staff were very friendly and welcoming. The buffet at Kisse Kisse was superb, with a great selection of traditional Japanese and western options, nobody walked  away hungry!   We enjoyed being surrounded by Japanese families on vacation making the most of the hotel hospitality, in a relaxed and pleasant environment. 
 
The hotel onsen (Modern Japanese style) with its pine and apple floaters is very well looked after and a perfect end to a day on the snow. 
 
The Ski in Ski out location at the base of Alts Bandai Ski resort lifts is perfect. 
 
The Nekoma link walk is magical, however if Nekoma is not running a sign in English advising would be useful.
 
Overall we had a great stay. Alts Bandai is highly recommended particularly for families where there is enough terrain for beginners through to advanced skiers to have a memorable ski holiday. 
 
 
Gulliver
 
 
 
 

 

13th february 2023

Thank you for your email and the opportunity to write a review of our stay in the Bandasian Onsen Hotel in Hoshino.

This is my partner and I’s third trip skiing in Japan at Aizu

Every trip has been a wonderful cultural experience not to mention the amazing snow.
 
This year we stayed at the Bandasian Onsen Hotel.  It was a wonderful hotel - staying right on the snow. So ski in and out was great.  We had a lovely room overlooking the snow fields.  Skiing conditions were good plenty of good snow.  Little if any queues for lifts, in fact one lift we called our own as often we were the only ones using it. 
 
My partner is just learning to ski and I don’t like any black runs -so there is plenty of runs to keep us happy at this resort.
 
The hotel its self was perfect.  It had an Onsen, Swimming Pool and Sauna. We had the buffet breakfast every morning which was very good and a few nights we took the buffet dinner which had an amazing array of food.  
 
There is also a shuttle bus which runs every evening to take you into town where can eat at a number of local restaurants and bars.  We did this on a number of nights and really enjoyed the cultural experience mixing with the locals.
 
I highly recommend Ski Japan and the Alts Nalbandian ski resorts. Book us up again next year!! 
 
Anne
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12th February 2023

Had a really Good Holiday .
 
Fantastic Hotel close to lift and ski centre Ideal for family adventure.
 
Hotel pool and Onsen were fantastic after a day on the slopes .
 
Breakfast and dinner at the restaurant were very good .
 
Looking foward to doing it again next year.
 
Brian
 
  

  

30th January 2023

Just wanted to let you know we have returned from Alts Bandai and had the most fantastic time! The Hotel and resort are just brilliant and we couldn't have asked for anything better. 

The only advice we would have liked to know before going was the need for a car as there is no way to get to any of the other 20 resorts on the lift tickets. Maybe this could be something mentioned when others book with you. 

We did manage to find a car to rent in Aizuwakamatsu, which then allowed us the freedom to go to other resorts and out to Inawashiro for dinner etc.  What a great ski region. I think my favourite is Gran Deco now!

May I please ask if the Ambassador deal will be available next season as we are very keen to go back, around the same dates in January 2024.  Please let me know.

Thank you so much
Lesley
 
 

 

22nd January 2023

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So much snow, no lift queues, awesome accommodation, if there is another Ambassador program for 2024, book me in. 
 
Cheers 
Darren Thomas

 

 

15th January 2023

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Just returned from a great first trip to Japan including 1 week skiing at Alts Bandai/Nekoma and I'm writing this review from the viewpoint of an experienced intermediate skier, having skied in several countries over the past 40-or-so years!

We took advantage of the amazing Aizu Ski Deal, staying at Hoshino Resorts Alts Bandai where 3 of us (mum, dad and teenage daughter) had a fantastic time. The deal is amazing value for Aussies as we got nice accommodation, breakfast and lift tickets for much less than the price of just the lift tickets when skiing in Australia! We booked through Japan Snow Accommodation in Australia and they were very helpful with the whole experience, also offering to book transfers for us.

The quality of the snow was excellent, plenty of it although not a lot of powder, but it did snow most days that we were there. There is a reasonable variety of runs, a couple of steep ones (by our terms), mostly short, say 1-2 minute runs but a couple much longer. I'd say a week is probably a bit long for experienced skiers, although you do have the option of walking over to Nekoma when it is open, about 4 days of the week. (The walk takes about 15 minutes and it's a bit clunky walking so far in your boots through deep snow and over a few small hills but they do lend you a strap to carry your skis over your shoulder, which is a nice thought)

Oh yeah, and NO CROWDS! We were there from Monday to Saturday in mid-January and I think we had to queue only once and for less than 10 minutes. Most of the time you ski straight into the lift entry. Also very few Europeans/Aussies, which is pretty unusual for Japan at that time of year.

It's a long-ish trip by train from Tokyo but the train connections are good and there is a free shuttle bus from the nearby Bandaimachi station. We actually travelled there from Kanazawa - 2 shinkansen, the local train and shuttle bus took about 4-5 hours and we didn't wait longer than 15 minutes for any of the connections, which seems to be pretty typical of travel within Japan in general.

Here is a list of what we found to be good and bad:

The Good
- nice, mostly groomed slopes and plenty of snow across the 2 sides of the mountain
- great value accommodation and lift tickets - the hotel throws in a lot of freebies, including delicious soup when you come in at the end of the day, unlimited free tea and coffee, a free beer or sake at happy hour, free shuttle into town in the evening (although a lot of the staff didn't seem to know about this - see below!), free shuttle from the nearest train station, nice ice blocks/lollies when you come out of the onsen, some entertainment with a traditional singing and dancing show each night
- decent lunch options at both resorts including a huge free lounge/dining space at the bottom of the slopes and at 2 other locations on the slopes themselves
- very friendly, helpful staff
- wonderful onsen for a great hot bath at the end of the day
- the breakfast buffet is great with a LOT of choices including for western tastes - I've never seen such huge chunks of bacon!
- there is a really well-stocked store with heaps of gear over at the resort centre and prices are the same as in Tokyo, which is pretty unbelievable coming from Australia. I picked up a good pair of gloves for a great price. ANd rental equipment is also very good.

The Bad (although not bad enough to not recommend going here!)
- we were a bit surprised to find that all lifts except for 2 don't have safety bars, which is pretty unusual for an advanced country like Japan. You do get used to this but it does feel unsafe at first. The lifts at Nekoma are pretty old and not really padded or comfortable like lifts everywhere else I have been.
- have to get a new lift pass every day, involving walking about 100 metres to the ticket counter and back at the start of the day when you just want to get out there on the slopes - this is just annoying and every other resort we have been to give you one pass for the whole time you are there
- hotel check-in process and ski rental process are too slow, complicated and time-consuming
- ski rental prices are very unclear and it took a LONG time for the staff to calculate the price when we extended for 1 extra day
- the dinner buffet is expensive and we really could not eat so much food so it would be nice to be able to order a simple ramen or set for dinner but you have to take the shuttle bus to town - about 45 minutes away for other food options
- strangely most of the front-desk staff don't seem to know about the evening shuttle bus to Aizu Wakamtsu. We had to explain this to the staff a few times as they only knew about the day trip to town, even though it is mentioned on one of the brochures.
- there is a ski map in English but the hotel doesn't stock them - we found them at the ski information office
- it's a bit of a struggle trying to communicate if you don't speak Japanese so you need to use Google translate, or actually take some lessons before you go (which I really should have...). But if they are really trying to attract westerners then they need to work on this a bit.
 
Tony
 
 

 

3rd January 2023

In short, the hotel is very nice. The facilities were very nice. The food was excellent, although non buffet options  are needed.

The ski equipment rental standard was very low, especially for Japan. My 16 y/o is an advanced skier. Only beginner gear was offered and it was very old and worn out. There were top quality skis available to rent in another shop within the resort, however they didn’t offer ski boots. We had to taxi 30 mins away to get good boots. 
 
We had two 11 year olds in the group who had never skied. It was very difficult to book lessons for them at the next door Alts Bandai resort. We were eventually able to book some group lessons but they were grouped with much younger children so were frustrated a lot. The lessons were also in Japanese, which wasn’t actually an issue..
 
At the snow expo last May, the expectation regarding the rental and lessons was set to be very different. These aspects were the only downers for the stay, albeit they caused much angst, and wasted time and money.
 
To contrast, on this trip we also stayed at Naeba Prince Hotel. The rental equipment looked brand new, and there were ample lessons available, both private and for groups. 
 
We made our decision to not bring our own ski equipment based on prior experience in Japan as well as the advice we got at the Aizu stand at the Snow Expo. Naeba lived up to expectation, whereas Aizu failed on the rental and lesson front.
 
Would I stay at Aizu again? Definitely. The ski runs are great, and the hotel is too. We would just not rely on the rentals there and would try to book lessons in advance.
 
Thanks
 
Julian Lyth 
 
 

 

Early Feb 2019

Thank you Hisae for organising this enjoyable week. We spent 5 nights at Alts Bandai in early February. Our package was for a western twin room that included breakfast, dinner and lifts. Access was easy from Tokyo to Koriyama and we caught a resort bus from Koriyama Station. First impressions were good with a lovely foyer, lounge area and smooth check in. Staff were friendly and helpful. 

The hotel is modern, clean and well maintained.  Breakfast and dinner were both buffet style and there was a good variety of delicious food. We especially enjoyed the local delicacies highlighted daily. A dinner reservation time slot is required to ensure you don't have to wait too long for a free table. 

The resort is relatively new with modern facilities and there are plenty of lunch options at the base as well as equipment rental. 

Unfortunately, we didn't get any fresh snow during our trip and the conditions were at times quite icy. Despite this we made good use of the sunny weather to look around, and made good use of the hotel's onsen and pool. Definitely worth a return visit though especially after fresh snow.

Janne

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