The Hiramatsu Karuizawa Miyota
unscored · Ikyu 4.7 / 5no first-hand write-up in the thread
The Hiramatsu Karuizawa Miyota is a French auberge that opened in 2021 at the foot of Mt. Asama near Karuizawa, built around the food pedigree of Hiramatsu's Tokyo restaurant and an in-room onsen bath in every room (the water is brought in from Ueda). It holds two Michelin Keys, one of only 20 hotels in Japan with that many. Nobody in the FlyerTalk thread has stayed, but Ikyu guests are vocal at 4.7 over 137 reviews, praising the rooms, the bathing and the staff, while the kitchen, which the property is built around, draws the sharpest complaints.
Scores
Food
The place is built around its dinner, a grand French and Italian auberge kitchen on Shinshu produce. Head chef Shigeo Yanagihara trained in the Paul Bocuse lineage and buys from roughly 40 local producers, from orchards to game hunters. Ikyu guests are divided over the result, and while some find the cooking well above what an onsen ryokan serves, dinner draws the most complaints here, and food is the lowest of the Ikyu marks at 4.55.
Bath
Every room has its own semi-open-air hot-spring bath, and the water is real onsen, trucked in daily from Ueda because nothing rises on site, which also makes tattoos a non-issue. Ikyu guests praise the in-room bath and the highland air on the verandah while you soak, and they put the bathing at 4.74.
Service
The Hiramatsu group runs the hotel as a French auberge, so the hospitality is a restaurant house's kind, and Ikyu guests describe warm, attentive staff from arrival to send-off, with the dining room's course explanations and the sommelier drawing particular praise. Michelin gave the hotel two Keys in October 2025, one of only 20 hotels in Japan at that level. Service is still marked below the rooms and the bath on Ikyu, at 4.62.
Room
There are 37 rooms and villas, all opened in 2021, in a contemporary style with floor-to-ceiling glass and Mt. Asama filling the windows, and each has its own semi-open-air hot-spring bath. Guests praise the size, the cleanliness, the view and the amenities, and even guests who disliked dinner call the rooms spacious. Ikyu guests put rooms and facilities at 4.79, their highest marks here.
Place
The hotel stands at the foot of Mt. Asama in Miyota, one town west of Karuizawa, a highland resort where you can see a long way and the air on the verandah is a pleasure. The snow is light and dry on this Pacific side, which makes it a refined wind-down and no deep-snow finale. In the evening there is the TAKIBI bonfire lounge with marshmallow roasting.
Getting there
- Tokyo — 1h35, 0 transfers. Hokuriku Shinkansen 'Asama' Tokyo→Karuizawa (~1h06–1h16), then ~15 min by taxi (free hotel pickup) — the easiest access on the whole corridor. For the Hiramatsu (Miyota), ride one stop on to Sakudaira + a ~20-min taxi (~1.9h total).
- Kanazawa — 2h10, 1 transfer. Hokuriku Shinkansen 'Hakutaka' Kanazawa→Karuizawa direct (~1h50; the faster 'Kagayaki' skips Karuizawa), then ~15 min by taxi. The Hiramatsu adds ~15–20 min to Miyota via Sakudaira (~2.4h).