Hotel Matsumoto, Nagano, recommendations

Hi!

I want to stress now, I am not double or more booked anywhere. I do however have a booking for my one night in Matsumoto at a hotel (Thursday) and another 1 night booked in Nagano at a hotel (Friday), but I am rethinking my selections. Since I still have a little bit of time, I am debating canceling one or both of my bookings and trying somewhere new. Should I think about spending 1 night in Karuizawa instead of Nagano? The disadvantage of that is I am meeting a friend in the afternoon (Saturday) in Tokyo, so I will not have all that much time in Karuizawa, so is it even worth it? Should I switch to one of the many ryokan in the Matsumoto area. There seem to be a plethora of places.

We will be in Kamikochi the preceding two nights.

We will not have a car because I am not sure I want to drive on the opposite side of the road.

This is a Summer trip, so I didn't think the monkeys in Jigokudani would be all that interesting so have not been looking at Shibu onsen or Yudanaka onsen.

Thank you in advance

Hi!

At Matsumoto we like Hotel Buena Vista, especially on the executive level. Also the Richmond Hotel there is a bit cheaper and surprisingly good and modern. We are back in Matsumoto in October and have taken Buena Vista again, it has a great french restaurant at the top and a really good chinese one at the bottom.

At Karuizawa we always stay at Tsuruya Ryokan, it is really awesome up the top of the shopping street where the trail starts to the lookout.

We're actually currently booked at the Richmond. It seemed nice and is in a good location, but there just are so many interesting ryokan in the Matsumoto area that I wonder if I shouldn't try one of those instead. Most of our 2+ week stay is currently in hotels. The Matsumoto/Nagano section is the easiest to move around as there are more options.

Has anyone here stayed at the Oiwakeya in Matsumoto? It looks lovely, I've also looked at the Tamanoyu and Shoho. They all seem to be within 5 kms of the station, which just isn't so far in the grand scheme of things.

Last time we stayed in Nagano, we cheated and booked the Dormy via Hotels because their Hotels listing allowed children while for some unknown reason that branch on the hotel's website/elsewhere does not. They've now changed it, so we're currently booked at the Metropolitan. And while I like the convenience of being right at the station, and the price is insanely low, it just seems so non-descript.

I do like Nagano, we missed the temple last trip and my daughter would like to see it. (I've been already and spent more extensive time walking the city and surrounding area before she was born.) I'd sort of like to see Ueda again, but I am not sure it will work this trip.

BTW has anyone done the JR East shinkansen pin rally? We're attempting to figure out how to get more than just the Nagano pin this time around, since we have 1 last JR Pass day after we arrive in Tokyo.

first about the monkeys: i think they are as same interesting in summer as in winter. people might expect that they only go in the onsen in cold winter, but that is not true. those monkeys love warm water just like people and go there on daily base, even if it is hot outside
actually i think in summer it is even better, cause not soooo many people there.

in matsumoto: in case you dont mind to be a little outside of the city-center (but still perfectly reachable with public transport) you may consider the ryokans around biwa onsen. many of them are almost same price as business hotels and you more for your money. i havnt been in all of them (cause i live quite close), but for example Izumiso ˜a�òäµ is quite good ratio for price / value

Hmmm thank you for the information about the monkey park. I like using onsen year around but I didn't know the monkeys feel the same way.

And yeah, Tamanoyu is in the same area as Izumiso. It doesn't seem all that far from sights, just 3kms, which is even walkable.

Thank you, I appreciate hearing from someone who lives in the area.

The Metropolitan is the "best" in town (for Nagano - my inn keeper friend thinks so), and while I haven't stayed there for a while I recall it was fine, but I don't remember the room specifically - too many places I've stayed since. My staff took guests there earlier this year and there were no complaints and generally on that trip they were at the more luxury/pricy end of accommodation options.

As for the monkeys, I like the summer visits - the walk through the forest is nice, and watching the monkeys do monkey stuff is what you get. If they are in the onsen or not, that is a bit like seeing Mt Fuji - hit and miss. The day is more about getting out to Jigokudani and seeing the countryside.

Secretly, I prefer luxury and pricey hotels, I just can't always afford them. We want to have time to see Matsumoto Castle, the Art Museum and walk around Matsumoto and time to visit Zenkoji. It's just fitting all the pieces together in the best possible way.

Hmmm, I might keep things as is, since it is the easiest and I have everything all set. I don't really need a particularly large or impressive room since we're only 2 people and most of our luggage will be waiting for us in Tokyo. The nice thing about the two hotels is they are so close to the train station, making transport super convenient.

I like the idea of the walk to see the monkeys better in Summer, I am just not sure I want to travel all that way to see monkeys... perhaps we will get lucky and see some in Kamikochi. I've had some amazing luck with Fuji and have seen it multiple times from Tokyo, but have never actually seen it from Hakone despite going there 3 or 4 times.

lol - I also like nice hotels, and the rooms at Metropolitan Nagano (part of JR) are not so expensive when you compare with their similar properties in Tokyo. I recall it being nice and have no complaints about my stay - drinks in the lobby was comfortable and relaxed, but as for the actual room, can't remember so probably pretty standard cookie-cutter layout. Wasn't there much - too many other things to do in the city.

Thank you I really do appreciate the review.

The truth is I expect we won't be there much either. We'll probably come back post dinner, sleep, and then get up the next morning and either head to Tokyo or see Zenkoji if we've not yet. I am sure as a tour operator you understand this, it's just hard sometimes trying to figure out the correct pace for other people. I know what I would do by myself, but it's me and my 7.5 year old. I'm not the sort of parent who just wants to drag them places they don't want to be, but I also don't want to make this trip just about things a child typically wants to do. I like to try to pick things either we will both enjoy or take turns. And while I get the pleasures of just walking around a city, it can be a lot less pleasurable doing the same thing with a grade schooler in tow.

I've actually only stayed the Tokyo Station Hotel of the JR connected hotels, and it's quite lovely and expensive. Though now that I think on it, I might have stayed in the Metropolitan in Morioka, but it was so long ago, 1999, I don't really remember.

We shall see how this trip goes.

Thank you, it is encouraging to think the choices I currently have booked seem reasonable enough. :)