Sakaeya Ryokan

We absolutely loved our magical stay at Sakaeya! It was a modern style ryokan with beautiful facilities but an authentic Japanese feel. The staff were all so welcoming and helpful and the food at the hotel was truly special and so so delicious. Our room was gorgeous and had its own natural hot spring bath. It was also so nice to visit all the other onsens up and down the street! The best stay, we will definitely be back!

Beautifully decorated and well maintained ryokan. We booked a tatami style room and were welcomed with drinks and local treats, it was delicious! The service was very good, reception spoke well enough English with good instructions to enjoy the 9 public baths around Shibu town. There’s no private bathrooms in the room but the public bath is clean with good amenities and even a refa hairdryer.

Breakfast was nicely presented, however, I wished they could have explained it better (English was the main barrier). Although staff tried their best to use a translator app. I recommend to order the apple juice instead of any other drinks as it was the best that I’ve had in a lifetime. Shinshu apples are out of the world!

We had to rush to the train station at the end of our trip and they accomodate this last minute request professionally and calmly. We appreciate the thoughtfulness of everyone here and truly had an amazing stay. One of the best value ryokans we’ve stayed at.

We happen to walk by this ryokan while exploring shibu onsen town and decided to try our luck with a private onsen as we had tattoos - for 70 000 yen we had a 4.30-6.10pm private onsen room which included bathroom amenities, complimentary drinks, sauna, hot and cold pools as well as a spacious area to lie down in - highly recommend for those doing a day trip! For English-speaking tourists like ourselves, simply ask the front desk if they have private rooms available (we used google translate) and you’re good to go!

A nice modern-traditional ryokan. Great onsen and kaiseki meal. Doesn’t get better than this.
Close to the 7 public onsens if you’re interested in collecting all the stamps. I gave up after 3 lol. The hotel onsen (outdoor and indoor baths) is so much nicer.

There is a western option for breakfast, but I opted for Japanese.

An unforgettable stay in this wonderful hotel.
The food (kaiseki cooking) was delicious (we had dinner in the hotel), and the room was big and amazing (japanese style with confy futon). Yukatas were at disposal, and the hotel gives you a key to access all the onsens, which are extremely close by.
This place definitely was one of the pic times of our trip in Japan

Fabulous place for Onsen bath and since you can experience nine different Onsen baths (without any extra cost when staying at the hotel) in the area apart from the hotel's own Onsen, it is an unique experience.

This hotel offers an excellent personal service and has a private feeling.

The food is exceptionally tasty with only fresh and local produce from the area. The finest Japanese food is served.

The outside Onsen at the hotel is very beautiful and relaxing.

Amenities at the room and throughout the hotel is excellent.

Room offers both refrigerator and freezer.

The area where the hotel is situated has many interesting buildings and cosy atmosphere.

There is even an building with relationship to the Japanese movie, Spirited Away.

I highly recommend this hotel and area for a relaxing experience in a beautiful Japanese surrounding with great many Onsen.

Awesome place and amazing food! The service was so good and we enjoy every meal there. The meals are fantastic and super creative!

Sakaeya was a perfect place to stay - everything was clean and well-maintained. There hotel hot spring baths (indoor and outdoor) were both so lovely, and I highly recommend reserving the private spa. My group's reservation included breakfast and dinner, both of which were very fun experiences with fantastic food. The staff members were all extremely kind and accommodating. The surrounding Shibu Onsen area and public baths were delightful as well. I can't recommend this hotel enough, my friends and I had a perfect experience staying here.

Truly unforgettable experience in Shibu Onsen. I have been to Japan many times but my stay at Sakaeya ranks near the top. The service at this hotel is impeccable, the rooms are spectacular and the food was delicious. Surya took great care of us at breakfast and dinner each day, and made us feel special at every interaction. The traditional keiseiki dinners were delicious and beautifully presented. The onsen in the hotel was wonderful.
Would recommend this Ryokan to anyone. If you are not used to Japanese food, keep an open mind and enjoy the adventure of keiseiki dining because you will never forget it.

Very attentive staffs. The private onsen here is a must. They got great amenities, sauna, indoor bath and outdoor area to relax. Breakfast and Kaiseki dinner were also lovely. The staffs were cheerful which made the experience memorable. The room was also clean and comfortable. There is a parking right next to the hotel.

Gorgeous Ryokan, the street leading to the hotel is right, and someone with an e class Mercedes barely made it in and out. Parking is fine (but we had a Yaris). The staff take all the snow and ice off your car in the morning. The hotel provides both indoor and outdoor footwear, and you can wear your yukata around town. They give you 2 outer layers so even when it was 0 degrees, it was fine.

Don't bother with the public baths (we went to 3), as the hotels baths are better...

Room is clean and spacious, meals were pretty spectacular. For dinner I loved the sashimi with liquid ice, and the grilled fish. For breakfast, I loved the marbeled pork and the steamed bun. I think the pricing is very fair for such a premium hotel.

This is easily one of the best hotels I have stayed in. Huge rooms with well-thought design, modern and neat. Impeccable service, fresh flowers in the middle of the winter. Amazingly presented delicious food. Try to get a room with private onsen

What a wonderful one night stay we had! Dinner and breakfast were outstanding, some of the best meals we have had, and we appreciated that they featured many local ingredients and local specialties. Rooms were clean and very well appointed. Very nice onsen baths (both indoor and outdoor). Service was impeccable. Perhaps the highlight is being able to walk to all the local onsens in Yukata. A great winter destination, but wonderful year-round!

The hotel is very neat and feels very cozy. Staff is very friendly and attends to details. Meal is superb and onsen makes you relaxing. You can also visit the other 9 onsens free. However, wifi is lagging and should be improved to make the whole experience perfect.

Wonderful place to stay in when in town. Room is awesome! One wakes up to Monkey calls every morning 🙂Service is absolutely amazing and top notch. On our last day, we requested to be dropped off to the train station and our Sakaeya team even brought us inside the train and waited and waived goodbye 👋 We miss this place and will surely come back!

This is a relatively new and probably best Ryokan in the area. It keeps the traditional Japanese Ryokans feel with a modern touch. The suit is clean, large with open air Onsen bath.

Incredible place to stay while in Shibu Onsen! The rooms were comfortable and quiet. The staff was kind and very helpful. My wife and I both enjoyed our 3 nights there.

I keep coming back to this ryokan whenever I’m in Japan. I love everything about it! Friendly staff, great onsen and stunning multi-course meals.

Close to Snow Monkey Park and Onsen.

service, food, and Ryokan decor...
just amazing... definitely coming back here again