Hakuba Hotels with Pools

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Hotel Sierra Resort, Hakuba when we visited in February. The hotel itself is beautiful, well maintained and offers a lot to its visitors. The hotel is set outside of the main town in it's own little secluded area. This can be a plus and minus - Positive because the resort is so beautiful and away from the hustle and bustle, negative as it can at times be difficult to access transport to and from town (restaurants, bars, ski fields, etc). The hotel offers a shuttle bus in the evenings to take you into town, although you need to book in there and back, which can be restrictive of your time at dinner, etc as you have to decide on a return time. The shuttle bus doesn't stop near all restaurants, so you could be walking in the dark/cold to your reservation and then waiting in the cold for the return bus. Keep this in mind - a lot of the time we found it more convenient to order a taxi, although these can be hard to come by and expensive! The Ski shuttle bus picks up/drops off at the hotel each day. Buses are busy and there are no racks for ski/board gear - you need to carry everything onto the bus with you, which can be very squishy as the buses get quite full. We found Tsugaike to be the closest and most convenient ski field to the hotel. The staff at the hotel were always very friendly and helpful. Language barriers existed, although staff would always ensure they had assisted you by the end of the conversation, you just have to allow a little more time in your schedule to organise and make your plans. This also allowed us time to learn some simple Japanese which assisted us when communicating with the staff. Sierra Hotel offers complimentary food at different times throughout the day, served in the main lobby area - curries, rice, soup, etc. This is so convenient when you get back from the ski fields and just want a small bite to eat before dinner. Hotel also offers complimentary wine, tea and ice creams. Breakfast - great selection of Japanese and Western food. We thoroughly enjoyed breakfast each morning. There were always new things to try each day - eg: different soups (pumpkin, corn), also beautiful views outside. Dinner - we had dinner at the hotel one night from the A La Carte menu. Also thoroughly enjoyed our meals (Pasta, calamari, soup, fries, etc). Rooms were big, very comfortable and warm with special heating. Beautiful views of the snow and areas around the hotel. Our favourite part of the resort was the beautiful public and private onsens made up of pure mineral water. The private onsens need to be booked in ahead of time which the hotel allows each morning - you will need to be quick to make a booking. We would definitely recommend Hotel Sierra Resort and would stay here again. Thank you to the staff for an enjoyable stay! :)