Matsumoto Hotel Guide - Romantic Hotels in Matsumoto, Japan

We arrived in Matsumoto by JR Train after completing the Alpen-Route from Tateyama to Shin-Omachi. This hotel is very near the Matsumoto castle and two main shopping districts. Everything you want to see on foot in the core area is accessible from this location. We thoroughly enjoyed Matsumoto as a smaller city in Japan with wonderful shops, restaraunts, and cafes and a very rich historical treasure in the Matsumoto Castle and surrounding park.

Enjoyed out 3-day stay in Matsumoto at the Dormy Inn. Excellent rooftop onsen with outside bath, nice room with good amenities and a great breakfast. Internet was good too with no annoying log in pages. The location is brilliant, a few minutes walk from the station and close to everything central, including the city loop bus which stops almost right outside. A couple of niggles: there's no safe in the room (why not? Bit odd) but you can leave valuables in the hotel safe. They also put the towels in a very strange location, at the bottom of a wicker basket in the wardrobe area, underneath laundry bags. Fine if you know where to look, but unnecessarily annoying on the first morning!

I selected this hotel because it is the highest rated hotel near the Matsumoto train station. It is convenient to the station and in walking distance to the Matsumoto Castle, shopping and eating areas. Like most Japanese hotels, it is very tiny but at least they have laundry facilities and it is clean.

The busy spa has picture window views on the top floor, both indoors and open-air; some waiting for the one elevator is often required. Not long waits, usually, but unappealing to the seriously impatient. The hot and cold water baths and sauna are worth it. Breakfasts are great. Staff very friendly. Wierdly, room telephones connect only in-house. To make an outside call required asking the lobby clerk there to use her cell phone. She dials the calls. Charge: Y100 per minute (or part thereof). I didn't call often or for long, but the charge at check-out was an additional Y1,600 (roughly US$20). [Separate but related subject: I have an iPhone able to use sim cards anywhere, but in Japan getting a sim card is difficult for most foreigners.) Room rates seem reasonable. Bring cash. Some restaurants don't accept cards. Hotels don't change money; banks (closed weekends) may or may not; most ATMs don't work for foreign cards. The only source I found: the Suwa Post Office ATM. Local staff handle basic customer service needs well; for more complex problems they happily call an English-speaking associate in Tokyo who, after talking with you, instructs them in Japanese. Hotel guests seemed to include a nice mix of young couples with small children, older couples, and business people. The region around Chino offers much. The hotel is a good "home base."

Clean Good location Rooms filled with light Good hotel for short stays

The hotel staff were so nice. So many restaurants around. Near from the beautiful Suwa lakeside. Recommend for friends and family too.