Shiozawa Onsen Shichihokan

We stayed at this property for two nights from New Years' eve to January 2nd. Despite being about 20-30km away from Mt Ontake, one never felt worried when the hotel was on the other side of the river from the volcano. The property, Shiozawa Onsen Shichihokan, is in the village of Takane, about a 30-40 minute drive from Takayama. It was a bit longer because of the snow on the ground, but a good 2-3 km of the drive is through mountain tunnels. The property is well signposted, and is situated on the side of a hill. There is plenty of parking, and we were able to communicate with the patient and very friendly owner and staff despite our language barrier (thank you Google Translate!). There is one indoor bath (divided by gender), and it was never crowded - in winter, through the window there was a magnificent alpine vista with snow and sun dappled cedars. Water temperature was very pleasant. The rooms were well kept and clean, quite decently sized with the customary divider between the lounging/sitting area near the window, and the sleeping tatami area. It was cold when we were there (outside temps -11 below C) but they had warm and toasty electric blankets and a gas heater in the room. On the second night when the gas ran out, a friendly chap helped us refill the gas in the heater at 11pm. The food was uniformly excellent at both dinner and breakfast, we were very satisfied. The site was the set of a film I think from the 1960s, so has been around for some time. We were reminded of how close we were to nature when we looked out a hallway window to see the small bears native to the area foraging for food beyond the fence of the property (we were never in any danger). We were very satisfied with the service. It is a very nice base from which to explore the region, especially Takayama, or perhaps a visit before or after skiing.