12
Jan 2015
Meeting up in Tokyo Station at 6.30am so that we had time to buy breakfast to eat on the journey there.
"Tokyo Dog" from North Court in the Tokyo Station. Luckily they do open quite early at 6.30am ? 6.45am ?
The Shinkansen timing that we preferred was full. So we had to take an earlier train at 7:05am
View of Mount Fuji from the Shinkansen as we pulled away from Tokyo
Arriving at Echigo-Yuzawa Station after a 70-80mins ride. Prince Hotel has a free shuttle bus pick-up from the station's East Exit.
We caught the first bus at 9.15am
Arriving at Naeba Prince Hotel at about 10am, we could not check-in till 3pm. Locked up the luggages, had a simple lunch bought a half day ticket and up the bunny hill to try to recall the feeling of snowboarding after 1 year.
Note: For luggages that are too large to fit the lockers (greater then 60x60cm), the hotel bell captain does hold the luggages for free.
We stayed in Building 2 which was the only totally non-smoking building. Space was huge by japanese hotel standard and we could probably have been able to cramp 4 people comfortable in there.
View from my Building 2 Room 615... slopes on the left and mountains on the right
Very hardworking and synchronized beginners ...
Yes ... we do board at night :>
Taking a break on a rainy day at the Whistler Cafe
Morning view from our usual breakfast place at Azela Restaurant
The only problem with the Prince Naeba Hotel was food. It was way below my expectations. With 20-22(?) restaurants to choose from ... the standard ranges from just edible to not quite acceptable. After some tries at various restaurant, we narrowed down to 2 restaurants which were ACCEPTABLE.
- Cabana Beer Restaurant, which had 5 Yebisu Drafts on tap. The stout good ... very creamy and not overly bitter. The niigata Tonkotsu curry rice and the pork chop were the better of the dishes.
- 雪国 Yukiguni Japanese Restaurant which was our default lunch venue with reasonable sushi, chirashi don and soba dishes. They had a Niigata mochi soup dish
If you just need a quick meal, there is a food court at building 6 that did not look that bad for the price-to-quality ratio (considering the other restaurants we not good at all). We did not have a chance to try various eatery at the Asagai street as it was snowing and we were too lazy to walk out into the cold for food after a day on the slopes.
There was a high-end sushi restaurant which opened this year. They only offered set dinner course for Y120,000. We did not have that much confidence in the hotel to shell out 120,000 per pax after experiencing the quality of food at the rest of the restaurants.
NOTE: If you are booking a package at the Prince Naeba Hotel, I would do so without all the dinner plans and lift passes, i.e. just take the rooms and the breakfast plan.
The dinner plans seem to work as pre-paid values which did not seems to have any discount as a package. It works out to almost 4500yen per pax. At the restaurant, they just deduce 4500yen off your total bill. Does not make sense to pre-pay in my opinion if it is not cheaper.
The lift passes in packages are for the joint-mountain pass, which is not required unless you are visiting the Kagura area. You can buy a Naeba only lift pass for slightly less ... although the price different is very little (think difference of 300-500yen ?)
As for the onsen, all I can say is that don't expect too much. 500 yen for first use and free for the rest of your stay.
It is not too well maintained and looks like time for a renovation. But I would still go as a soak in the hot water takes a lot away from the body. Well at least it was not expensive.
The hotel does have a well stocked convenience store with great Japanese snacks, beer and sake for post dinner drinks in the room ...
Overall, it was a great place with good service ... they just need to do something with their quality of food.
Meeting up in Tokyo Station at 6.30am so that we had time to buy breakfast to eat on the journey there.
"Tokyo Dog" from North Court in the Tokyo Station. Luckily they do open quite early at 6.30am ? 6.45am ?
The Shinkansen timing that we preferred was full. So we had to take an earlier train at 7:05am
View of Mount Fuji from the Shinkansen as we pulled away from Tokyo
Arriving at Echigo-Yuzawa Station after a 70-80mins ride. Prince Hotel has a free shuttle bus pick-up from the station's East Exit.
We caught the first bus at 9.15am
Arriving at Naeba Prince Hotel at about 10am, we could not check-in till 3pm. Locked up the luggages, had a simple lunch bought a half day ticket and up the bunny hill to try to recall the feeling of snowboarding after 1 year.
Note: For luggages that are too large to fit the lockers (greater then 60x60cm), the hotel bell captain does hold the luggages for free.
We stayed in Building 2 which was the only totally non-smoking building. Space was huge by japanese hotel standard and we could probably have been able to cramp 4 people comfortable in there.
Room Config
D
Room Config A
View from my Building 2 Room 615... slopes on the left and mountains on the right
Very hardworking and synchronized beginners ...
Yes ... we do board at night :>
Taking a break on a rainy day at the Whistler Cafe
Morning view from our usual breakfast place at Azela Restaurant
The only problem with the Prince Naeba Hotel was food. It was way below my expectations. With 20-22(?) restaurants to choose from ... the standard ranges from just edible to not quite acceptable. After some tries at various restaurant, we narrowed down to 2 restaurants which were ACCEPTABLE.
- Cabana Beer Restaurant, which had 5 Yebisu Drafts on tap. The stout good ... very creamy and not overly bitter. The niigata Tonkotsu curry rice and the pork chop were the better of the dishes.
- 雪国 Yukiguni Japanese Restaurant which was our default lunch venue with reasonable sushi, chirashi don and soba dishes. They had a Niigata mochi soup dish
If you just need a quick meal, there is a food court at building 6 that did not look that bad for the price-to-quality ratio (considering the other restaurants we not good at all). We did not have a chance to try various eatery at the Asagai street as it was snowing and we were too lazy to walk out into the cold for food after a day on the slopes.
There was a high-end sushi restaurant which opened this year. They only offered set dinner course for Y120,000. We did not have that much confidence in the hotel to shell out 120,000 per pax after experiencing the quality of food at the rest of the restaurants.
NOTE: If you are booking a package at the Prince Naeba Hotel, I would do so without all the dinner plans and lift passes, i.e. just take the rooms and the breakfast plan.
The dinner plans seem to work as pre-paid values which did not seems to have any discount as a package. It works out to almost 4500yen per pax. At the restaurant, they just deduce 4500yen off your total bill. Does not make sense to pre-pay in my opinion if it is not cheaper.
The lift passes in packages are for the joint-mountain pass, which is not required unless you are visiting the Kagura area. You can buy a Naeba only lift pass for slightly less ... although the price different is very little (think difference of 300-500yen ?)
As for the onsen, all I can say is that don't expect too much. 500 yen for first use and free for the rest of your stay.
It is not too well maintained and looks like time for a renovation. But I would still go as a soak in the hot water takes a lot away from the body. Well at least it was not expensive.
The hotel does have a well stocked convenience store with great Japanese snacks, beer and sake for post dinner drinks in the room ...
Overall, it was a great place with good service ... they just need to do something with their quality of food.
A lot more photos ...
