Family House Akashiya

Very friendly and helpful elderly Japanese couple who maintain the guesthouse. Guesthouse is about 45 min from Echigo-Yuwaza station on the local bus. Simply stop at asakai-kami (660yen), the second last stop on the bus route, before walking about 500m to the guesthouse in the same direction of the bus route. It's easy to find as the guesthouse is featured on the official echigo-Yuzawa map as well as Google maps. As it was winter and we didn't want to worry about getting our own meals before and after skiing, we selected the half board option on Expedia, and it was definitely one of the best decisions we made. On first day, we had english breakfast with eggs and sausage and delicious Japanese home-cooked meal for dinner; on second day we had Japanese breakfast with rice, fish and miso soup, and shabu shabu for dinner. The guesthouse made our ski trip to NAEBA very convenient as they provided shuttle to naeba in the morning, set us up with ski rental and 2 day naeba/kagura ski pass at a fantastic rate, and pick us up from naeba in the evening at about 5 or 6pm. Public toilets and showers were clean with plenty of hot water. Japanese room is very basic with tatami mattresses that you lay yourself upon check in, plus heater and kotatsu (heating table). But the hospitality and convenience of the guesthouse more than make up for the basic room. Look forward to return soon to Akashiya when we visit Echigo Yuzawa!