Overview

Step into the forests of Nagiso at Hotel Fukinomori, a small hot spring retreat surrounded by the mountains of the Kiso Valley. Far from city lights and busy streets, you can begin the day with fresh forest air and end it beneath a sky filled with stars.

The changing seasons shape every stay. Spring brings colourful flowering peach trees, early summer fills the grounds with fresh green leaves, autumn covers the mountains in warm colours, and winter turns the landscape white. Between sightseeing trips, you can enjoy local Shinshu cooking, wooden hot spring baths, mountain views, and quiet time on the terraces.

Hotel Fukinomori also places you within easy reach of Tsumago and Magome, two preserved post towns on the historic Nakasendo route. This makes it a comfortable base for exploring the old Kiso roads before returning for dinner and a long soak.

Accommodation

All rooms sit on the third floor and look towards the forests and mountains of Kiso. You can choose from four room categories: Country Twin Rooms, Modern Japanese Twin Rooms, Standard Japanese Rooms, and larger Group Japanese Rooms.

Country Twin Rooms feature wooden walls and floors, two beds, a table and chairs, and a private shower room. An extra bed can be added when you need another sleeping space.

Modern Japanese Twin Rooms combine Japanese design with two beds. The Korin room has wooden flooring, while the Kogetsu room has tatami flooring. Both include a private shower room, separate wash area, and toilet.

Standard Japanese Rooms offer either an eight-tatami layout with a window-side sitting area or a ten-tatami layout. You sleep on futons, and you return from dinner to find your bedding ready. These rooms include a private bathroom, separate washbasin, and toilet.

For more space, the Group Japanese Rooms combine a ten-tatami room with an adjoining eight-tatami room. This two-room layout gives families and groups room to sit together while keeping the sleeping areas flexible. A private bathroom, washbasin, and toilet are included.

Every room provides heating and air conditioning, a television, refrigerator, safe, kettle, tea set, air purifier, yukata, tabi socks, towels, toothbrushes, and personal amenities. No room has a private natural hot spring bath. Rooms with bathrooms or showers use regular water.

Some rooms face southeast towards the morning sun, while others face southwest towards the evening light over the mountains. The building does not have an elevator, so you need to use the stairs to reach the rooms.

Dining

Dinner brings together regional ingredients and traditional dishes from Kiso and wider Nagano. Depending on your plan, you can enjoy the standard seasonal course or the limited charcoal-grill course served around an irori hearth.

The standard course centres on Shinshu apple-fed wagyu cooked with hoba miso on a magnolia leaf. Other seasonal dishes may include Shinano snow trout sashimi, salt-grilled ayu, mountain vegetable tempura, local carp, Shinshu salmon rice, and handmade soba.

The soba uses flour from Kaida Kogen and oyamabokuchi, a local plant traditionally used as a binding ingredient. This gives the noodles a firm texture and a distinctive finish.

The irori charcoal-grill course is limited to three groups each day. You grill selected Shinshu ingredients over charcoal in a private tatami dining room with a sunken hearth. The menu may include Shinshu apple-fed wagyu, Shinshu golden gamecock, ayu, miso-glazed dishes, local vegetables, and a hot pot filled with chicken and highland produce.

Regional dishes such as simmered carp and otaguri, a traditional dish made with horse offal, introduce you to the food culture of southern Nagano. Additional choices may include horse sashimi, char-grilled river fish sake, extra handmade soba, and tastings of local sake.

Breakfast is a Japanese set meal rather than a buffet. You can lightly grill smoked amago trout, duck, and smoked horse meat at your table, accompanied by rice, soup, and several small side dishes.

Dinner normally begins at 18:00 or 18:30, while breakfast begins at 8:00 or 8:30. Meals take place in a private dining room or shared dining hall, not inside your room. Dining spaces include private rooms with sunken seating, tatami rooms, an irori room, and halls with tables and chairs.

Onsen and Wellness

The shared indoor and open-air baths use natural water brought from Takimi Onsen. The spring is an alkaline simple sulfur cold mineral spring with a pH of 8.8 and a source temperature of 16.8°C. Its smooth texture has earned it a reputation as a skin-beautifying bath.

Wood plays an important part in the bathing experience. The indoor and outdoor tubs use Kiso hinoki cypress and koyamaki wood, filling the bathing areas with a fresh natural fragrance. Large windows in the indoor baths open towards the Shinshu mountains, while the outdoor baths face the sky and surrounding trees.

The two open-air bathing areas include whirlpool sections where you can loosen tired muscles after walking through Tsumago, Magome, or the surrounding valleys. The shared bathing facilities also include a Kiso hinoki sauna, cold-water bath, spacious changing areas, massage chairs, and a baby-changing bed.

The men’s and women’s bathing areas switch during the night, allowing you to experience both designs during your stay. Bathing is generally available from 15:00 until 9:30 the following morning, with a short overnight closure for inspection and the changeover.

A separate private panoramic bath stands on higher ground away from the main building. You can look across the Kiso mountains and rest on reclining chairs between baths. Advance reservations are required, with time periods from 15:30 to 16:40, 17:00 to 18:10, 20:30 to 21:40, and 22:00 to 23:10. This private bath uses regular bath water rather than natural hot spring water and closes from late November until around mid-March because of the cold winter conditions.

Bathing amenities include shampoo, conditioner, body wash, facial cleanser, cleansing products, lotion, moisturiser, hairbrushes, and hair dryers. Cold Kiso spring water is available near the shared baths.

Guests with Tattoos

You cannot use the shared indoor baths, open-air baths, sauna, or cold-water bath if you have tattoos.

Facilities

You can relax on the Starry Sky Terrace, where reclining chairs face the dark mountain sky, or spend time on the wooden terrace overlooking the seasonal garden. Lounge Hanamomo has floor-to-ceiling windows and complimentary self-service coffee, tea, and herbal tea. During spring, flowering peach trees fill the view outside the lounge.

The bath resting area provides cold spring water, drink vending machines, and massage equipment. The first-floor lobby includes a shop selling Kiso hinoki products, local sweets, regional sake, and Nagano wine.

Free Wi-Fi is available throughout the building. You can also use the private and shared dining rooms, outdoor smoking areas, and a covered barbecue facility that operates from April through November with advance arrangements. The property does not have an elevator, coin laundry, ATM, restaurant for casual meals, café, bar, or late-night food service.

Free outdoor parking is available for up to 45 vehicles. The entire indoor property is non-smoking.

Activities

Spend the evening watching the stars from the Starry Sky Terrace. With little artificial light around the property, you can see a broad night sky when the weather is clear. During the day, you can walk around the grounds, enjoy the forest air, or rest on the wooden terrace after bathing.

Tsumago is around 20 minutes away by car, while Magome is around 30 minutes away. Both towns preserve wooden buildings, old streets, and the atmosphere of the Nakasendo post-road period. You can explore the streets, try gohei mochi and soba, or plan a walk along part of the historic route.

Atera Gorge is also around 30 minutes away by car. Its clear blue water is known as “Atera Blue,” and a walking route leads through the forest past waterfalls, bridges, and riverside scenery.

A scheduled complimentary shuttle connects the property with JR Nagiso Station and Tsumago at selected times. Advance arrangements are required.

Additional Features

Standard check-in runs from 15:00 to 18:00, and check-out is by 10:00. JR Nagiso Station is around 20 minutes away by car.

You can use complimentary scheduled transportation from Nagiso Station via Tsumago in the late afternoon, with morning departures from the property towards Nagiso Station. Free luggage storage and other arrival arrangements depend on your travel plan.

The property does not accept pets. From around December through March, snow and ice can affect the mountain roads, so you need winter tyres or suitable tyre chains when arriving by car.