Overview

Stay beside the Kiso River at Free Travel Club Kiso Mikawaya, around 15 minutes on foot from JR Kiso-Fukushima Station. The location places you close to Fukushima-juku, the historic Nakasendo route, temples, former checkpoint buildings, and the mountain scenery of the Kiso Valley.

The simple service style gives you freedom throughout your stay. Begin the day with a complimentary breakfast buffet, enjoy drinks beside the river view, explore the old town on foot, and return for a bath filled with water transported from Nihongi no Yu.

With 39 non-smoking rooms, compact options for solo travel, larger tatami rooms, English-speaking support, a manga corner, laundry facilities, and free parking, Kiso Mikawaya works well for sightseeing, business travel, hiking trips, and longer journeys through the Kiso Valley.

Accommodation

Choose from two Japanese room categories and two compact Western single rooms. The Japanese rooms use beds placed on tatami rather than traditional futon bedding.

The 12-tatami Japanese Room gives you the largest standard layout. It includes beds, a separate private bathroom, and a Washlet toilet. This room suits you when you want more floor space and the comfort of keeping the bathroom and toilet separate.

The ten-tatami Japanese Room also includes beds on tatami. A private unit bathroom combines the bath and toilet in one compact space, making this category a simpler option for solo travel, couples, or a small group.

The Windowless Western Single measures approximately nine square metres. It includes a desk and internet access but does not have a window, private bath, toilet, or washbasin. You use the shared toilet, common wash area, and large hot spring bath.

The Western Single with a Window measures approximately 11 square metres and includes a private washbasin. The room does not have a private bath or toilet, and the window does not provide a scenic view.

Common room features include heating and air conditioning, a television, free Wi-Fi, refrigerator, safe, slippers, towels, yukata, toothbrushes, razors, brushes, shampoo, conditioner, body soap, and a hair dryer. Some amenities are collected from the self-service amenity area near reception.

Complimentary bottled Kiso natural water is placed in the refrigerator. Microwaves, kettles, and tea bags are also available in shared areas.

During a consecutive stay, room cleaning is provided when requested by 10:00. Fresh towels are placed outside your room, and a standard cleaning takes place on the fifth night.

Dining

Begin your morning with a complimentary buffet of around 25 Japanese and Western dishes. The selection includes warm food, prepared side dishes, fresh salad, rice, bread, and familiar breakfast choices.

Coffee, tea, and soft drinks are included. Breakfast is served in the second-floor restaurant overlooking the Kiso River from 6:30 to 8:30, and you can use the dining area until 9:00.

Dinner is straightforward and filling rather than a formal kaiseki course. The set-meal option lets you choose a main dish, with examples including local-style sanzoku fried chicken or grilled hokke. Accompanying dishes change from day to day, while rice and miso soup are available with complimentary refills.

For a more substantial meal, choose the shabu-shabu dinner made with premium Shinshu loin beef and olein pork. You cook the thinly sliced meat and vegetables at your table in hot broth.

Set-meal dinner sessions normally begin at 18:30 or 19:30. Shabu-shabu sessions begin at 18:00 or 19:00. Times may change during busy periods.

The drink selection includes beer, wine, whisky, highballs, and sake from Kiso breweries such as Nakanorisan, Kisoji, and Nanawarai. A complimentary soft-drink bar is available in the restaurant during its opening hours.

Dinner needs to be arranged in advance. Breakfast is included without a separate reservation.

Onsen and Wellness

Relax in an indoor bath filled with natural mineral water transported from Nihongi no Yu at the foot of Jizo Pass. Travellers following the old roads through Kiso and pilgrims heading towards Mount Ontake have long valued this spring.

The source is Nihongi Onsen No. 2 Spring. Its full classification is a ferruginous carbon-dioxide, calcium bicarbonate cold mineral spring with hypotonic and weakly acidic qualities.

The water changes to a reddish-brown colour when exposed to air. Its mineral composition has traditionally been associated with supporting circulation and easing fatigue, nerve discomfort, joint stiffness, shoulder tension, sensitivity to cold, and discomfort after physical activity.

Separate indoor bathing areas are provided for men and women on the first floor. You can use them from 15:00 to 23:30 and again from 6:00 to 9:00.

Shampoo, conditioner, body soap, and children’s shampoo are provided inside the bathing areas. Hair dryers are available in the changing rooms, while the women’s side also includes cotton products, hair ties, and a hair iron.

A barrel sauna stands inside the men’s bathing area and operates from 15:00 to 23:30. There is no sauna inside the women’s bathing area.

Kiso Mikawaya does not have an open-air bath, reservable private bath, or day-use bathing service.

Guests with Tattoos

You can use the shared indoor hot spring bath when your tattoo is no larger than the palm of your hand.

If you are visiting Japan from overseas, the tattoo-size restriction does not apply, and you can use the shared bath.

Facilities

The second-floor lobby includes sofas where you can sit before check-in, plan your route, or relax after returning from the town. English-speaking staff can assist you during your stay.

The restaurant and lounge overlook the Kiso River. A complimentary drink bar serves coffee, tea, and soft drinks during the restaurant’s operating hours.

The 24-hour manga corner lets you choose books and take them back to your room. Board games are also available when you want to spend a quieter evening indoors.

The shop sells snacks, cup noodles, small gifts, fans, and traditional Kiso nezuko wooden clogs. Vending machines provide alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks throughout the day.

A 24-hour coin laundry on the third floor includes washing machines and dryers. Detergent, clothes-drying racks, and hangers are available. Water dispensers, microwaves, kettles, and tea bags are placed around the building.

During winter, a simple drying area near reception helps you dry ski clothing and equipment between 15:00 and 22:00. You can also take skis and snowboards into your room.

All rooms and shared spaces are non-smoking. You can smoke only inside the designated room near reception.

Activities

Walk for around seven minutes to Fukushima-juku, one of the historic post towns along the Nakasendo. Old streets, local food shops, temples, and wooden buildings introduce you to the town’s role in travel between Kyoto and Edo.

The Fukushima Sekisho checkpoint museum is around six minutes away on foot. You can see documents, tools, and displays connected with one of the Nakasendo’s most important control points.

Kozenji Temple is around ten minutes away on foot and is known for Kanuntei, a dry landscape garden created by Mirei Shigemori. The garden became a nationally registered monument in 2019.

Walk for around six minutes to Kiso River Shinsui Park, where you can rest in a footbath supplied with Nihongi no Yu water. Gyounin Bridge, Chofukuji Temple, local museums, and the former Yamamura magistrate’s residence are also close enough for an easy town walk.

For a longer outing, drive around 15 minutes to Nezame no Toko, where the Kiso River passes between large granite formations. Akasawa Natural Recreation Forest is around 21 minutes away and offers forest walks among natural Kiso cypress trees.

Kaida Kogen and Kiso Horse Village are around 22 to 25 minutes away by car. You can see Mount Ontake, meet native Kiso horses, walk across the highland, or try seasonal riding experiences.

During winter, Kiso-Fukushima Ski Area is around 16 minutes away by car. The ski-only slopes offer views towards Mount Ontake, the Central Alps, and Kaida Kogen.

Additional Features

Check-in begins at 15:00, with final check-in by 23:00. When dinner is included, arrive by 18:30. Check-out is by 10:00.

You can store luggage from 10:00 before check-in and until 15:00 after checking out, subject to available space. Domestic luggage delivery can also be arranged through reception.

JR Kiso-Fukushima Station is around 15 minutes away on foot or five minutes away by car. A station shuttle is not available.

Free first-come parking is divided between 13 spaces beside the building and ten spaces in a second area around one minute away. Covered space is available for motorcycles and bicycles.

Free Wi-Fi is available throughout the building. Payment can be made with cash or major credit cards, while QR payments and transport IC cards are not accepted.