Name: Fujio pension Madarao
Address: Madarao Kogen 11492-236, Iiyama, Iiyama, Iiyama, 389-2257, Japan
Rating: 10

Air conditioning

Smoke-free property

Heating

Garden

Terrace

Reception desk

General

Family room

Rooms

Laundry

Safe-deposit box

Concierge services

Luggage storage

Services and amenities

Coffee/tea for guests

Breakfast

Restaurant

Snack bar

Vending machine

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Transfer services

Transfer

English

Japanese

Languages Spoken

Barbecue grill(s)

Hiking

Barbeque

Sun Deck

Recreation

Free parking

Parking

Playroom

Family/Kid Friendly

Kids

Ski storage

Ski-to-Door Access

Skiing

Winter sports

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Additional measures against COVID-19

Health and Safety Measures

Location

At the guest house

Fujio pension Madarao

Iiyama

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

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4-beds

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9-beds

king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

Fujio Pension is a wonderful place to stay for a couple or family. Takeshi and Kimi are warm and considerate hosts. The pension rooms have all been newly and tastefully renovated as self-contained apartments with a very functional kitchen and lovely bathroom. All rooms are spacious with lovely views.

The onsen is a real bonus for tired legs. While it is shared with other guests, it has a door lock and families are encouraged to use it together rather than there being separate male and female onsen.

For those who hate walking in ski boots, Fujio is perfect for you! Takeshi drives guests the two minutes up the road to the lifts and collects you at the end of the day as soon as you ring him using the skifield wifi.

Kimi is a fabulous cook, so I definitely recommend eating in at least one or two nights. We will definitely return.


Perfect Pension for an authentic Japanese ski holiday experience - door to door ski service included

In 2011, we first discovered Fujio Pension in Madarao and were so impressed, that we have returned every possible year since. ( We missed two seasons due to covid border closures.)  
This year we stayed 10 days and it was even better. The pension has undergone a huge refurbishment throughout, changing to a modern & stylish apartment hotel. 
The same wonderful owners Kimie and Takeshi work tirelessly to make sure all guests have a great time. Service is exceptional and Kimie's dinners, should you decide to dine in, are delicious.  
We are already planning our 12th visit, next year.

Superb Fujio

Takeshi and Kimi are lovely people and great hosts. The location is great, and is effectively ski in/out, as Takeshi drops off and picks up. (You can call via free wifi when you’re ready and it’s a 2 minute drive) Evening meals are available if you book and are delicious. Otherwise you can prepare something in your apartment, or Takeshi is happy to book something locally. This was our first time since the renovations. They have changed the pension to more of an apartment hotel. The new apartments are beautifully appointed.

Authentic Japanese hospitality, perfect ski experience.

Another great visit. The food by Kimmie and Takeshi San as host is the best. Hot pot is still the best in Japan. 
For an absolutely fuss free skiing trip, you can’t beat it. Have dinner in each night, 4 courses. Shabu shabu every Saturday night. 
You can bring your beer and keep it in the fridge or just go to the vending machine before dinner. Takeshi has sake, beer, bottles wine fir purchase with dinner. 
I’d comeback again and again. No where else like it In all our travels. 

Best place, great hosts

Just came back from 5 days of skiing at Madarao. While the snow was very poor by Japanese powder standards (temperatures were above freezing the whole time we were there and Takeshi said it was the worst winter season in his 40 years of staying at Madarao), it was still acceptable.

What made our trip excellent was Takeshi's hospitality and Kimie's cooking. Fujio Pension doesn't have luxury facilities but like all Japanese lodges we have stayed in, it is spotlessly clean. The lodge is about 600m (2 mins drive) from the slopes but the van shuttle that Takeshi operates any time you want to head to the slopes or restaurants and back makes the lodge essentially ski-in ski-out. We are not surprised that there were so many repeat guests at the lodge.

The slopes are uncrowded (did not experience more than 1 min queue even on the weekend) and if you are into tree skiing, it is officially allowed in Madarao, though the snow was so bad, we only tried the simplest Rabbit course. I'm sure the tree runs would have been awesome in deep powder.

Ski passes (you can get discounted passes from Takeshi) are really cheap at about ¥3,300 a day if you buy a 4-day pass. You can upgrade it to an All Mountain Pass that covers Tangram Ski Circus with an additional ¥500 a day. The ski infrastructure is pretty old though - only 2 fast lifts and the ski pass is in paper form, hence if you have a ski pass holder, bring it along.

Overall impression - if you want big ski areas where you seldom repeat the runs, then go to Shiga, Niseko or Hakuba. Madarao (even including Tangram) is a small resort you can ski in 1 day. But if you want a small quiet resort without crowds or noisy apres ski, then it's a good place. Definitely stay at Fujio Pension and take the half board option. We got to ski with Takeshi on 2 mornings and he gave us free lessons and even free ski waxing. Thanks for the hospitality and memories !

Excellent trip to Madarao

A unique pension where the owners, Kimie and Takeshi, treat you as guest rather than a customer. Kimie prepares delicious Japanese/western fusion meals and Takeshi goes to great lengths to accommodate his guests needs and requests. As well, he provides free pick up and drop off at the ski slopes, restaurants and bus stop all day with only a few minutes wait. The hotel is strictly non smoking. 
Fujio is a wonderful, comfortable place where people from all over the world can gather after skiing or dinner, socialise and make new friends.

Amazing service.

What brings us back year after year?  Simply the hosts, Kimie and Takeshi. Kimie's scrumptious food and Takeshi's accommodating service have remarkably not diminished in all that time. We've made so many new friends at Fujio, that we often find ourselves socialising and skiing together with others. Big hotels just cannot deliver that same warm, personal and thoughtful touch. Thanks again Kimie and Takeshi.

Our 9th visit.

Fujio Pension is a well located ski lodge 2 mins from the main slopes at Madarao. The owners Taky and Kimmy are absolutely delightful and will accommodate your every need, in true Japanese style. During this season they had Grant from Perth working at the lodge, and he was equally obliging in every respect and made us feel right at home. The pension is very comfortable with a communal lounge/bar area, dining room and casual eating area adjacent, female and male onsen/shared bathrooms, ski drying room and laundry. Taky will get you to the slopes and pick you up at any time, assist with restaurant suggestions and bookings and drive you to and pick you up from dinner. Kimmy’s breakfasts are delicious and a real highlight of our trip was the Shabu Shabu (Japanese hot pot) which is available on a Saturday night. Our stay here was a perfect way to visit and ski Madarao mountain and we look forward to being able to return to Fujio, Pension.

Experience Madarao with truly memorable Japanese hospitality

We spent the Christmas here and it was the first time for my 5-year-old daughter to Ski. Takeshi really took care of every guest there. For dinner, definitely have at least 2 dinner while staying there. The western course menu and shabu-shabu were absolutely great for the taste and value (the menu alternates). For our 3rd night, Takeshi offered to make a reservation for us and we had great dinner at Rudolf per his suggestion. 

Takeshi was super fast to pick us up when we called from the slope, I would say he arrived in 3-5 minutes. The slope and pension are very close, about 8 minutes walk without ski gear. Takeshi has many regulars and it is easy to see why when you stay there. As for the room, we booked one with a bathroom and shower in there. Do notice that despite what Booking.com says "an en suite bathroom and mountain views", the room with bathroom does not have mountain views but facing the tree line on the small street instead. Also, Booking.com says "Breakfast is included in the final price" but the breakfast was not included for my daughter so I had to pay 1000 yen extra per night for her breakfast. I did not mind but the description should be fixed in Booking.com.

When staying in Fujio, Takeshi will give you discount voucher for ski rental (about 1000 yen less per person) and you can also buy discounted lift pass from Takeshi. 

I was surprised by how quiet Madarao was during Christmas and I highly recommend to visit during this time. Takeshi said that not many Japanese travel during Christmas. An Australian told us that Madarao is a sister ski resort with Mt Buller in Victoria, Australia now so expect to see more Australian visiting this place (they can use Mt Buller season pass for 3 free lift pass in Madarao). I hope Madarao can keep its charm and not overrun by tourist. Australian seem to start business there already. Other than Rudolf, we had a good Gyudon (beef rice bowl) and Pizza at 今井処 (search on google map), it is very close to Rudolf and next to drop-off bar. 

From Tokyo, we took a Shinkansen from Ueno to Iiyama. From Iiyama station, take Chikumagawakuchi station exit to bus stop #1 (next to the tourist information center). The small bus costs 500 yen per person and took about 30 minutes. The bus dropped us in front of the Madarao Kogen hotel and before I called Takeshi to pick us up, he was already there.  

On the way back to Tokyo, we took a bigger bus for 700 yen instead to Iiyama (better if you have big luggage as you do not have to carry it up to the bus). From Iiyama, we took a bus to Snow Monkey park for 1000 yen per person one way, it took about 35 minutes. We left our luggage in Iiyama station locker for 500 yen. We went back to Iiyama after that, retrieve the luggage and headed back to Tokyo. The bus to/from snow monkey park has limited schedule, so check in advance in the tourist information center or with Takeshi. The same bus also goes from/to Nozawa onsen.

The Iiyama information staff actually advised us to take our luggage to snow monkey park and to store it in the information center there, then took a bus directly from snow monkey park to Nagano and took the Shinkansen from Nagano to Tokyo because Nagano is closer to Tokyo than Iiyama is. I found that to be slower and more expensive as the bus from the snow monkey park to Nagano is about 90 minutes but Shinkansen from Iiyama to Nagano (Tokyo bound) is just ~10 minutes (Bus from snow monkey park back to Iiyama station took ~35 minutes).

Overall, it was a wonderful stay and would love to come back for another ski or during summer in Japan. Thank you very much, Takeshi.

Great 3 night stay, love to comeback. Thank you Takeshi!

There's no better compliment we can pay the owners Takeshi and Kimie, other than to say, Fujio Pension is our favourite place to stay in Japan. In our 13 years skiing in Japan, we have only wanted to return to a handful of hotels/lodgings more than once. This year, was our 8th consecutive visit to Fujio. For consistent excellent service, truly delicious food, comfortable lodgings and value for money, Fujio Pension is hard to beat.

Fujio pension Madarao

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