Bourou Noguchi Toya
B · 7.2 / 10right inn, right place
Bourou Noguchi Toya is a new-build lakeside ryokan on Lake Toya, opened in late 2024, whose top rooms pair an in-room hot-spring bath with a private sauna and a fixed rotation of three included dinner menus. The two members who have stayed disagree. A Premium Suite guest calls the food inventive and the service excellent and cannot wait to return, while a 2025 guest in a lesser room got a worn-out mattress and fire-pit smoke and would not go back. The top room is the one to book, and you will want a car.
Scores
Food 4 / 5
Dinner and breakfast are both included, and HaleiwaFlyer found the food delicious and inventive, with a decent wine list that runs to Haut-Brion. The kitchen rotates three dinner menus and two breakfasts, so it gets old on a long stay, and glenny84, who stayed two nights in May 2025, found both meals had their highs and lows, though the food was generally good.
Bath 4 / 5
The top room has its own onsen bath and a private sauna, both with temperatures you control yourself, and an all-you-can-drink dispenser in the room to go with them, which HaleiwaFlyer found well worth it. Nobody in the thread has written about the communal baths or where the water comes from.
Service 4 / 5
Service is excellent by HaleiwaFlyer's account, friendly and professional, with everyone doing everything to answer questions and get things done, though they did not find it as polished as Aman and did not expect it to be. The inn also charters a free tour bus for guests in the afternoon.
Room 3.5 / 5
The Premium Suite, the top room, is the one to book, with its own onsen bath, private sauna and drinks dispenser, and HaleiwaFlyer called it well worth it. glenny84's lesser room in May 2025 looked stylish at first glance, but the mattress was extremely worn with no support or firmness (surprising in a property this new) and smoke from the ground-floor fire pit drifted in all evening with the windows closed, and they would not return.
Place
Bourou stands on Lake Toya in Hokkaido, and HaleiwaFlyer recommends renting a car there because the things to do around the lake require driving or riding a bike. It opened in late 2024 with great fanfare and has a decent-sized gym, but nobody in the thread has described the grounds, the building or the views.
Getting there
- New Chitose — ~1h40, 0 transfers (estimated). ~1 hr 40 min by car from New Chitose Airport (CTS) to Lake Toya.
- Sapporo — ~2h, 0 transfers (estimated). ~2 hr by car from Sapporo southwest to the caldera lake.
Sources
FlyerTalk review by glenny84 #579 · FlyerTalk review by HaleiwaFlyer #823 · #824 (thread mentions)