Nature Cottage Akabeko

The location is amazing. Akabeko borders on the national park, you are very much surrounded by forest. The layout of the place is that there is a lodge at the top of the hill, where you check in and that also houses a restaurant. Sloping down the hill behind the lodge are a few dozen cottages, some stand alone, and some seem to be chalet or apartment type. If you are traveling with dogs, and most guests seemed to be, then the dog run is down at the bottom of the hill and is a good sized area, about the size of two tennis courts. We traveled with two dogs and the cottage could have easily accommodated a whole family, there is a kitchen, a second floor bedroom, and a tatami room with a kotatsu. We didn't even use the upstairs bedroom as there are futon, blankets and pillows in the tatami room. If you are skiing or boarding at the nearby resorts, the living room is spacious and the heaters are powerful enough to dry anything overnight. Many windows with views in all directions allow natural light throughout the day. I really loved having a kitchen to prepare food for the dogs and ourselves, and while you can choose to eat up at the lodge restaurant, we opted to have dinner in the cottage, the warm, and friendly staff delivered a set to make sukiyaki, and on the second night, seafood nabe. This was the winter menu, I believe the warmer months offer a BBQ. Both meals were delicious, and the volume was more than enough for the both of us. There is free parking right outside every cottage, if you are traveling in winter, the staff plow the access road every morning. We , I guess, unusually, traveled by train, the nearest station being Inawashiro, it's about 16km away from Akabeko, and the staff very kindly came to pick us up. I'm not sure if it's a shuttle service they regularly offer, I think they were just being kind. They also dropped us off back there after we checked out. This all being done on icy, mountain roads too. I couldn't have been more impressed and grateful. The alternative would be to take a bus up to the top of the mountain, or a taxi. I never expect anything fancy when I travel with the dogs, I'm just so happy that we can take a holiday together, so I'm not bothered if the place we stay at has anything but basic facilities, but this place , for the location, and the price is far and away the best place we have stayed together. We all had a great time there. My partner, and I both wished we could have stayed longer, and are looking forward to going back in the Spring.