Hoshinoya, Karuizawa: One of the best luxury onsen resorts in Japan!

Karuizawa, Japan, February 2020: Day 1
The first stop on our February 2020 Japan trip is Karuizawa. The area of Karuizawa is very known for being a ski town and for it’s amazing soba. It was also made famous by the Japanese TV reality show, Terrace House. It’s also said that a lot of celebrities own holiday houses in the area. We took 2 trains from Narita International airport to get to Karuizawa, Narita to Tokyo station, then Tokyo station to Karuizawa. Tickets for both trains can be purchased from the JR shinkansen ticket office in Narita.
The best way to get around Karuizawa is to hire a car. Nissan car rental is convenient to get to as it’s only across from the station. This is our second time in Karuizawa and staying the luxurious Onsen resort, Hoshinoya. There’s 2 onsens in the resort; 1 only open to people staying at Hoshinoya and the other open to the public (near the entrance). Hoshinoya has a private carpark for its guests. There’s a reception area that organises a chauffer pick up from car park that takes you to the main resort reception area or outside your room. They can even pick you up and drive you to the nearby Harunire Terrace, which has a good range of restaurants and specialty shops. You can also request pick up from Harunire Terrace and back to the resort. Love our first stay here and really enjoyed our second stay too.
I also highly recommend Kawakami An for some of the best Karuizawa style soba experience.
I recommend renting a pocket wifi when travelling to Japan. If you’re staying in Japan for 5 days or more, renting a pocket wifi works out cheaper for data usage while in Japan. Whilst there’s a lot of Wifi spots in Japan, you will need internet connection to check public transport timetables on the go and as well as Google Maps to get to places. I find Japan Wireless to be the most cost effective pocket WIFI rental service.
PS: This is not a paid endorsement.
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Places in this vlog:
Hoshinoya Karuizawa:
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Kawakami An, Harunire Terrace: goo.gl/maps/Wb...
7 Eleven Karuizawa (near Hoshinoya): goo.gl/maps/kq...
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[@JohnandMalie]

Living the luxury lifestyle! Refreshing to see other parts of Japan other than the usual Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto. Keep it up Raff!

[@raffdeleon]

hahaha missing the private bath, free mochi and booze. Karuizawa is such a nice little escape from Tokyo. Takes less than an hour to get there from Tokyo too.

[@theglobalcitizenship]

This is an interesting take on Karuizawa. I was just given a project with Rakuten Travel x Karuizawa Tourism Bureau to create one of their official guides to this area and came across your video by a quick search result.
I love drawing inspiration from talented content creators like yourself to get a sense of what others have done and storyboard this concept before embarking on the shoot scheduled for June.
Keep doing you! I hope you remain safe during this tough time!

[@kingofthedeepsea2458]

Looks incredible!!

[@raffdeleon]

Love Karuizawa and Hoshinoya resort!

[@hopeorpain]

lol I want to watch Terrace House! Love this, saving for my next trip! Such a chill vlog, I enjoyed watching :) one the best Jvloggers Ive seen out there!

[@raffdeleon]

Thanks Jodie! Sorry just saw this comment haha my bad. You definitely gotta hit up Karuizawa. Short train ride from Tokyo too.

[@hopeorpain]

@@raffdeleon np! awesome will do!

[@hopeorpain]

omg duck soba! ☺ lots of umami-ness here!

[@raffdeleon]

I’m craving this duck soba right now lol it was sooooo damn delicious. Yep, lots of umami.

[@cathhl2440]

Hmm... a bit underwhelming. But would love to try the ramen and tempura.

[@a24yyumi62]

#baldboy4life 🤣

[@raffdeleon]

#BaldBoy4Life 🙌🏽