Overview

At Shirakaba Resort Ikenotaira Hotel, you stay beside Lake Shirakaba in the cool mountain air of Nagano’s Shirakaba Highlands. The resort gives you an easy mix of nature, hot springs, dining, and family-friendly activities, so you can spend your day walking by the lake, relaxing in the baths, or enjoying the wider Shirakaba Resort area.

You can expect a lively resort atmosphere rather than a small traditional ryokan setting. With lake views, highland scenery, indoor and outdoor bathing, dining halls, shops, and activity spaces, the hotel works well when you want both relaxation and entertainment in one place.

Accommodation

Your room choice includes the New Main Building, East Building, and Annex Building, with Japanese-Western rooms, Western rooms, suites, family rooms, and character rooms. All rooms are non-smoking, and Wi-Fi is available in every room.

For a special stay, the Corner Suite Excel Room in the New Main Building gives you a spacious Japanese-Western layout on the 10th floor. The Suite Room, also on the top floor, includes a private view bath overlooking Lake Shirakaba, making it the best choice if you want a private-feeling bath experience in your own room with a lake view.

The Deluxe Lake View Room places you in the New Main Building with a Japanese-Western layout and views toward Lake Shirakaba. The Deluxe Balcony Room adds a balcony, so you can step outside and feel the clear highland breeze.

In the East Building, you can stay in renovated Japanese-Western rooms with tatami flooring and beds. In the Annex Building, you can choose Standard Western rooms, Standard Japanese-Western rooms with views of the Shirakaba Highlands, Nagomi Rooms on the top floor, Mamatoco Rooms designed for families with babies, and themed Precure or Kamen Rider rooms for a playful stay.

Dining

Dinner centers on a buffet-style food hall with 13 independent shops and corners. You can watch chefs prepare dishes in an open kitchen, then choose from Japanese, Western, Chinese, and international dishes. Around 70 dishes are offered, with menus changing by season to highlight fresh ingredients and produce from local markets and beyond.

The dining space also gives you a direct view of Lake Shirakaba from the window side, adding a bright highland feeling to your meal. You can enjoy live cooking, a nigiri sushi demonstration corner, seasonal dishes, and a kids’ food corner. Breakfast is also served buffet-style, giving you an easy start before hot springs, sightseeing, or outdoor activities.

You can also try Shirakaba Original Beer, made at the resort’s own factory with selected German ingredients and natural spring water from Mount Tateshina.

Onsen and Wellness

The hot spring area includes indoor and outdoor baths. Indoors, you can enjoy spaces designed with natural stones and Japanese hinoki cypress. Outdoors, you can bathe with views of Lake Shirakaba, and the mixed outdoor area requires swimsuits or bathing clothes.

The main bath area, Koten no Yu, includes Kinoyu, a bath finished with Kiso hinoki, and Ishinoyu, a stone-based bath with a reclining bath area. The saunas in Kinoyu and Ishinoyu include auto löyly every 30 minutes, with aromatic steam and spaces where you can lie down while warming your body.

The mixed lakeside area, Sora, features an open-air infinity-style bath facing the lake. You can bring your own swimsuit or wear a free rental bathing garment. The Overlook Sauna “Ku” looks toward Lake Shirakaba and Mount Kurumayama through large windows, giving you a wide view as you rest and cool down.

The spring source is Tarugasawa Onsen. The water is a calcium-sodium sulfate spring, with a source temperature of 52.3°C and a natural flow rate of 144 liters per minute.

After bathing, you can relax in the post-bath lounge, where you can enjoy Tateshina underground water, sparkling underground water, coffee, and tea made with the same water.

Guests with Tattoos

If you have tattoos, tattoo stickers, body paint, or similar markings, you cannot use the bathing facilities. This also applies to fashion tattoos.

If you want to bathe privately during your stay, consider booking a higher-category room such as the Corner Suite Excel Room, which includes a private view bath in the room.

Facilities

World Silhouette Museum: You can see works by Fujishiro Seiji, a well-known Japanese kage-e artist, including a Lake Shirakaba four-seasons piece made for the museum. You can also try paper cutting, DIY gel candles, kaleidoscope making, and other craft activities.

Indoor heated swimming pool with slide: You can use the pool year-round, including rainy summer days and snowy winter days. Swimsuits and float rings are available for rent.

Koten no Yu hot spring area: You can use indoor baths, open-air baths, saunas, a mixed lakeside bathing area, and a post-bath lounge.

Shirakaba Nakamise: The floor map shows shop, food, game area, and amenity bar spaces, along with vending machines, ice makers, coin laundry, conference halls, and smoking rooms.

Restaurant Kohan-no-Kaze: You dine in the main restaurant area, with buffet meals and lake views.

Game area, bowling, and table tennis: These are shown in the hotel floor map, giving you more indoor entertainment during your stay.

Activities

In winter, you can enjoy Shirakaba Resort Snowpark, which connects with the hotel. The snow area includes sledding, a kids’ ski area, a small animal park, ski and snowboard courses, rentals, and ski school options depending on the day.

From mid-April to the end of October, you can rent bicycles at Lake Side Plaza and explore the Lake Shirakaba area at your own pace. You can ride along the lakeside, stop for simple local food, and enjoy the cool highland setting without needing a car for every short trip.

You can also spend time at the World Silhouette Museum, try craft workshops, enjoy the indoor pool, walk near the lake, or relax in the baths between resort activities.

Additional Features

• Free Wi-Fi in all rooms.
• All rooms are non-smoking.
• Check-in starts from 3:00 p.m., and check-out is until 10:00 a.m.
• Lake-view and balcony room options are available in the New Main Building.
• Top-floor suites include rooms with view baths overlooking Lake Shirakaba.
• Buffet meals include open-kitchen cooking, seasonal menus, and lake views from the dining venue.
• The mixed outdoor bath and mixed sauna area require swimsuits or bathing clothes.
• A convenience store is located near the hotel entrance, though it is not open 24 hours.