Shiga Kogen Prince Hotel

15th February

The Prince East was good accommodation with great windows to the snowfields and the ski in ski out was perfect. The ski gear for hire was also very good.

Dinner at Prince East was something all guests do only once. Highly overpriced. The bus to and from other parts of Shiga was well used and we tried different places after the first night eating in. Some better than others. Many don’t accept credit cards. Lacked a village atmosphere, all eateries were in hotels.

Fantastic snow and enjoyed skiing from one resort area to another. Many more Australians ☹

Overall we had a great time!!

Thanks so much for your support in organising this for us!! It really was the best skiing I think I have ever had!!

Kind regards

Felicity

1st February 2023

As always we enjoyed our time at Shiga Kogen it is an amazing resort. The Prince Hotel delivered as usual with breakfast a highlight as it was a great way to start the day. Great weather was a bonus with plenty of snow along with very cold temps. We certainly picked a good time to go.

The only negative was that Nagano shuttle no longer picks up direct from the hotel as they used to and expect you to catch the local bus (packed to the hilt) down the hill to Nagano. The way it used to work was in my opinion much better and maybe you can make that comment to them for us.

Your service I must say was exemplary and made everything so easy for us. Your organisation from start to finish was flawless.  We would be pleased if you would arrange next years trip for us. For next year we are thinking of splitting our time between Hakuba and Shiga and look forward to you advising us of the best deals for next year as they become available.

Thank you so much for the service you provided and we look forward to next year

Regards

Darryl Searle

31st January 2023

23rd December 2022

 

Hi Sayuri and the team

 

Thanks so much for your assistance on booking her Japan ski trip.

For Shiga Kogen, I think the Prince Hotel bed and pillows were not very comfortable. Meal options were good. Staff English was an issue.

Thanks

Cellina

 

 

 

 

 

Mid Jan 2020 

Yes we had a great time. This was our 5th trip to Japan. Despite the lack of snow (worst start to season in 30 years) it was still fun.

 

Shiga Kogan was easy to get to. We took the Shinkansen to Nagano, then the bus to the Prince Hotel which goes from right outside the Station. Dropped us off right outside the Prince West hotel.

 

Our twin rooms with ensuites were a big enough size for 12 days and the big wardrobe enabled us to hang our ski gear and get bags out the way. The beds were a little on the firm side. It not the most flash hotel but was clean and friendly. English was less spoken by the front reception so we had some interesting conversations a couple of times. The Japanese are so lovely though and go out of their way to help. 

 

Despite some of the reviews we felt the west wing was the best. It has the onsen – so you don’t need to catch a bus to get one as you do from the other wings. The ability to do laundry was great. washing and drying machines located in the onsen change rooms, male and female sides, were very busy! We took our own boards and the free lockers next to the ski entrance was great. There is rental and tuning available in the hotel, also next to the ski entrance.

 

We had pre-booked the buffet breakfast which was very good. Big enough selection for the 12 days. Dinner was more of an issue. We had a couple of meals in some of the restaurants attached to the main hotel. We had noodles a few nights in our rooms but the rest of the time we caught the free hotel bus to Ichinose (700m away!).  It leaves from the hotel entrance  and just loops back and forth to Ichinose and the 3 wings from about 5 pm.  In Ichinose there were a few more restaurants with good prices. Including one that did crepes! We walked to Ichinose a few times during the stay. An easy 10 min walk. There is very little there, no real shopping to speak of – a couple shops selling ski gear, quite a few restaurants and a convenience store, good for chocolate! We got our boards waxed at SnowCan ski shop in Ichinose which was a lot cheaper than the hotel price. Our son also needed to see a local doctor (GP) who works in the same building as SnowCan – this was great - saving us a long trip to Nagano and back.

 

The mountain attached to the 3 Prince hotel wings had some great runs and good lift structure. The free hotel lift passes were used if we wanted a quieter or half day. The snow outside the main exit was still dry lose powder when we arrived, 3 days after the last snowfall. I was very surprised as many Honshu resorts we have stayed in prior would have been hard packed within hours. The snow at Shiga was definitely drier than Myoko/Nozawa/Madarao.

 

The other parts of Shiga Kogan ski fields were easily accessed. We didn’t use the free bus- you can easily ski around 80% of the resorts by the interconnected runs and lifts. The electronic pass system worked great. You could buy a 4 day plus pass that was good for the rest of the season! So if we missed a few days by using our free hotel passes it didn’t matter. The lift passes were cheaper than other resorts we have boarded at in Japan. Very good value for the huge amount of terrain you have access to. The views at the top of the runs (2000 metres plus) were spectacular. (attached). You feel like you are on top of the world at Shiga.

 

We certainly will go back to Shiga Kogan again. Hopefully next time we will have at least an average snowfall.

 

Thanks Hisae for your recommendation and help, as usual it was spot on. 

 

Rob 

 

 

Mid Jan 2018

 

We really loved Shiga Kogen and the variety of runs spread over the resorts. Each resort has quite different runs and it is a good combination of wide groomers, challenging bumps and some pretty cool tree skiing. The snow was as good as we have seen in Japan, probably the best in our six trips there. The extra altitude certainly makes it al lot colder but the advantage is that the snow stays in excellent condition.

 

The All Mountain Pass is such a bonus in Shiga Kogen. Linking all the resorts by the lifts or shuttle bus it gives you tremendous flexibility to do something different each day. 

 

We stayed one week at the Prince Hotel East Wing and then another week at the Prince Hotel west Wing. We were not expecting too much as everything we read said how old and tired the hotels were and how tiny the rooms are. Well, we were actually quite pleasantly surprised. Yes old and tired and tiny rooms but it was fine. Everything clean, very helpful staff, Pretty good in Room Wi Fi. We felt the South Wing was much better than the West Wing. A bit more intimate with a much better restaurant area.

Rooms were far nicer as well. Not luxury at all but very comfortable.

 

The location just close to ichinose was a bonus and gave some good dining options other than the Hotel which is very overpriced for meals. Get the packages with meals included.

 

As usual Japan Snow Accommodation were excellent. Hisae always organises everything well and never any issues. We would recommend them happily.

 

Here are a few snaps of Shiga Kogen. Beautiful place.

 

As a another quick tip, if you are staying in Tokyo, Shinjuku is a seriously good suburb to stay in. Busy, exactly how you picture Tokyo to be but with superb dining, great shopping,

close to lots of sights and transport to everywhere else from the sprawling Shinjuku station.

 

Cheers

Ben van Dorsselaer
Hobart

 

 

 

 

 

Mid February 2014

Shiga was wonderful. We had forgotten just how good it is. Plenty of variety, good facilities and great snow. Prince west was very good.  It’s location is excellent.  Long, enjoyable runs right on our doorstep.  We like to get out early and enjoy the snow while it is still in pristine condition.  Prince was perfect for this. We couldn’t fault the rooms, staff were friendly and helpful.  The bed and breakfast rate was excellent value.   

View from our twin room was wonderful (attached photo).  We particularly enjoyed the breakfast arrangement.  Everything from traditional Japanese to cooked western to fruit and yoghurt. Only negative comment was the dinner arrangement.  Dinner in the hotel was expensive (4,000 yen pp fixed price), and didn’t look that inviting.  We had dinner next door at the Chinese restaurant or walked into Ichinose.  The walk only took about 10 minutes and was actually quite enjoyable. We certainly plan to return, and will probably stay at Prince West again.  I will be in touch later in the year to get things organised.    I have already recommended the hotel to a couple of people. Thank you for all your help and advice with the holiday, we are already looking forward to next year’s trip.

One Happy Family

January 2014

We had a another terrific holiday skiing in Japan- we all enjoyed it very much. Shiga Kogen and Nozawa are, as you will be aware, very different and so there were mixed opinions within the family as to which place was best. Some of us enjoyed Shiga Kogen best as the quality of the snow was great (we had some lovely powder snow while we were there) and there was good access to a large range of different ski areas.

The rooms at the Prince Hotel (East) were comfortable and had a wonderful view onto the slopes and the hotel is absolutely ski in- ski out. The reception staff spoke reasonable english and were very helpful. The lack of internet in the rooms meant that all the guests congregated in the lobby, which was not particularly comfortable or atmospheric, to get wifi access in the late afternoon/evening, at which time the internet became painfully slow. The hotel food was very nice but very expensive, particularly given that we were travelling with children.

The isolation of the hotel meant that there was no other place nearby to visit easily. We were lucky to have a hire car which meant that we could drive to Ichinose for dinner, but it would have been very frustrating (& expensive!) had we not been able to do so as (inter-resort buses did not seem very frequent). The main criticism of Prince Hotel would be the lack of apres ski activites (no café for a snack, no nice communal gathering area, no easy access to internet). For this reason, if I were staying for any length of time at Shiga Kogen without transport, I might consider accommodation in one of the village resorts.

So, in my view, Shiga Kogen was best for the skiing, and Nozawa was best for the all-round experience. Thank you for your assistance in finding suitable accommodation for us. I have attached a few of photographs of our two are of my son in the powder at Shiga Kogen.

Julia Jago