I really loved my stay at Guest House Kura. Firstly the beds were really comfortable. It was lovely to have a heated blanket on my bed. The duvet was really comfortable and the room felt very cosy. Although there is only one bathroom and toilet, I never had to wait to use any of the facilities and they were always clean. You can purchase food and drinks at Guest House Kura and they have lots of recommendations of where to eat and drink locally. Tassei even organised for vegan bento boxes to be delivered to Guest House for us after our long day visiting the snow monkeys. This was such a kind gesture and he was always very acommodating of all of our needs. He even drove me to a local onsen and picked me back up afterwards. There is a Lawson’s a few minutes walk away and Suzaka station is just over a 15 minute walk. It was a great location to visit the snow monkeys from and the staff will give you all the relevant directions you need. It was a sociable hostel and I was able to meet people easily. Although it’s sociable hostel, you can also get a very nice sleep and there is a very mixed demographic staying at the hostel as I also saw families with younger children. It’s a very small quiet town which felt like a lovely escape away from the larger Japanese cities. It’s very reasonably priced to wash and dry your clothes (400 yen for a wash and dry). There is also a kitchen space available for you to cook should you wish to. Overall I would really recommend anyone to stay at Guest House.

There was nothing I didn’t like. I was really impressed with Guest House Kura and would definitely stay again and recommend to others. It’s worth noting the on-site tumble dryer takes a very long time to dry your clothes (which is stipulated). Just be mindful of this and allow yourself plenty of time to wash and dry your clothes.

The place has many kind staff members but the atmosphere of the place is really like a family. The owner is one of the kindest people I have met and the people that were also staying at the guest house were great too. Also, i had the chance to meet some very kind local people. There's so many delicious local foods that they recommend you, but when you find a place yourself, that's a true gem. This location has quite a few small museums that you can check out too, but even more things are a couple minutes away by train, car and bike

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This place is very authentic, has a lot of history and you feel like you are travelling back in time! Staff were very helpful and kind, including Marina, the host, who welcomed us and showed us around. We loved that we could use the shared facilities, the kitchen was well equipped and very cosy. The atmosphere was great, with lots of travellers keen to have a chat :)

Everything was great. It was a bit hard to get used to the beds but we understand this is how traditional beds are!

The guest house was very charming and due to it being an old building, was quite cold. However, we were encouraged to use the heating provided in the room and the shower room, and it worked very well. The room was spacious and the futons were comfortable. The two main highlights of our stay were the unexpected drinking/socialising party we came back to after a night out and the owner herself, Marina, who was more than accommodating and a wonderful person to have met! Thank you for everything!

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We've never experienced such friendliness and care before. The staff did above and beyond by anticipating all our needs and helping us visit many local attracttions. Kura Guesthouse is unique in how it connects the travellers to the local community, so almost every night we got a chance to meet young local people who come to the guesthouse just to hang out and practice English. Marina-san and her staff are the most amazing hosts we ever had. Every night we talked for hours with them and with other guests. The guesthouse is very accessible, only 40 minutes from Nagano by convenient public transport, and the local towns Suzaka, Obuse and Yudanaka have so much to offer that we felt like we just want to explore more and more. We stayed at Kura for 6 days, did nature hikes, saw beautiful temples and waterfalls, visited art museums and nice cafes, and there's still so much more to see that we couldn't fit in 6 days!

This is an authentic traditional Japanese house with paper walls and sleeping on futons, so please don't expect hotel-level privacy :)

The best stay during our tour of Japan. This is the perfect feel of what a hostel should be like, a place to meet people who are also travelling and want a sense of community with fellow travellers. After 7pm there is not much to do in the region of Nagano/Suzaka, so socialising and drinking sake with others was an unforgettable way to pass time. The owners are very pleasant and they went to the local market to buy local delicacies for us all to share. Considering we travelled to the area just to visit the Snow Monkeys, this turned out to be our favourite stop and location

The wall in the shower has a gap in the wall that exposes a cold draft to enter the room.

Yuki is so kind and hospitable. She has so much knowledge of where to go and how to get there. I enjoyed meeting other solo travelers in a cozy environment with complimentary tea.

The traditional tatami mats and the staff!! They were so lovely and nice. Marina-san is so sweet she hosted a gyoza night and a bunch of locals came and we got to make gyoza and chat with the locals. We also did sukiyaki one night and it was so much fun! The staff are so friendly and definitely a highlight of staying here.

It’s a famous guest house in this region and the building is 140 years old so in the winter it gets very cold. There are heaters in each room and they provide electric blankets though which keeps it warm.

I stayed four nights at Kura and it was perfect. Staff were super nice and helpful! They gave me restaurants recommendations and activities to do near Nagano and Suzaka. The house is beautiful. It’s an old traditional Japanese house where you sleep on futon. They have all the equipment you need. The house is next to a combini, it’s super convenient. It was a great experience. Thank you to the Kura Team!

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What a stay. The staff was wonderful and helped us wherever they could. The room was exactly as we hoped. It's an old house, we slept on tatami. It has a shared kitchen and bathing facility which is dated but does what it has to do. Breakfast is additional, but worth the money. At the end, the owner even drove us to the railway station. It is not so far from the snow monkeys which we did not go to, but walked in the neighbourhood. Absolutely wonderful.

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