Our stay at La Vista Akangawa, a luxury hot spring hotel located in Akanko Onsen

28 and 29 August 2023

Akanko Onsen is a hot spring resort town located on the southern shore of Lake Akan. There are numerous hot spring resorts and hotels located in the area. Originally, I had booked a night at an upscale hot spring hotel right on the shore of the lake. I switched to La Vista Akangawa because of the excellent reviews about the resort’s closeness with nature. In addition, La Vista Akangawa serves an excellent multi-course kaiseki dinner instead of a dinner buffet and that is a deal maker!

Tip: Book a room with Dinner and Breakfast included as the food in the hotel is excellent and eateries outside the hotel in Akanko Onsen are limited.

Arrival and check in

We checked into the hotel dressed in hiking outfit (after our hike at Mount Meakan). We were a little underdressed compared to the other hotel guests at the lobby. 

The check-in process was relatively quick. The staff at the check in counter spoke a little English and tried her best to explain the hotel’s facilities to us.

The hotel had shared indoor and semi-outdoor baths for men and women on the ground floor with views of the river. There are also 3 private onsens that guests could book for use privately free of charge on first come first serve basis. In addition, all rooms have a bath with piped in hot spring water for those who prefers to bath privately.

We were told that there are 2 sittings for dinner at 5.30 PM and 8.30 PM. We chose the earlier time as we were pretty hungry by now and figured we had time for a bath and a soak in the hotel’s onsen before dinner.

We were also told that there are complimentary late night ramen just outside the onsen for those who feel hungry after their soak.

There are also welcome drinks (coffee, tea and juice) and Japanese tidbits at the lobby that we can help ourself to.

Room

Unlike some other Japanese inns, we were allowed to wear our footwear right up to our room. Two sets of coloured sandals were provided. One for use within our room and the other for use within the hotel facilities. There were also yukatas that we could wear to meals and the onsen within the hotel.

Our Deluxe Triple Room is large at 48 square meters in size and came with western style beds. After a few nights sleeping on hard futons in our previous hotels, the western style beds with soft mattresses felt so comfortable and luxurious.

The room is fitted like what we would expect from a luxury resort. There is a seating area with sofas, coffee table with complimentary cookies and large screen TV (with Japanese channels that we don’t watch). 

There is a sitting area with cushion seats by a large glass window where we could chill and enjoy views of the forest and the Akan River right next to the hotel. Here, we could enjoy the in-room coffee/tea/drinks and be in sync with nature.

This hotel is supposed to make you feel close to nature. In fact, we saw 2 wild Ezo deer grazing by the river.    

Room with views of the forest and the Akan River flowing below.

We could hear the faint gurgling of the Akan River that flows just below our room.

Wild deer seen from our room. Made you feel the whole natural environment is together with you.

The bathroom had a large Japanese style bathtub with piped in hot spring water and instructions in English on how to fill the tub. The bath area has views of the forest and river too.

Note the bamboo baskets on top of the TV cabinet that we could use to carry our personal belongings to the onsen.   

Onsen

Although there is a bath tub in our room, we used the hotel’s public onsen bath since this is a spa resort with good hot spring facilities.

The hotel provided towels, yukatas and a handy bamboo basket for each of us to bring to the onsen. The onsens are gender separated and located on the ground floor.

By now, we are familiar and used to the etiquette when bathing in Japan’s public onsen. After striping down, we stored our personal belongings in the provided lockers, take a nice bath to wash the sweat and grime from our hike before entering the hot spring bath.

The hot spring water flows continuously from the source direct to the hotel, so the temperature of the bath is nicely hot and soothing. The spring water in Akanko Onsen is clear without strong smell and not too harsh on your skin and is proved to have various therapeutic effects such as for neuralgia, arthritis.

Indoor hot spring at La Vista Akangawa (Source: Hotel’s webite). A large glass panel separates the indoor and outdoor bath area.

After a quick soak in the indoor onsen, we went outside to sit in the outdoor onsen with views of the river and forest. There is also a small round hinoki bath tub at the outdoor onsen that my son went to try. There is also a sauna that we did not use.

Semi outdoor hot spring at La Vista Akangawa with views of the river (Source: Hotel’s webite).

I really enjoyed the hot spring bath that soothe our tired legs and body after our hike up Mount Meakan.

Kaiseki dinner course

La Vista Akangawa offers guests a kaiseki dinner course meal prepared with seasonal ingredients from Hokkaido instead of a standard buffet. The dinner is served course by course and a menu in Japanese is provided. We had to use Google Translate to decipher what were on the menu.

We were also offered 2 bottles of complimentary local beer to go with our meal.  Appetisers with boiled shrimp, edamame (immature soybeans in the pod) boiled in soy sauce, nanbanzuke (marinated fried fish in vinegar sauce) made with fish from Lake Akan and some items that we could not decipher.

 

“Inca no Mezame” Potato Cold Soup with junsai and pink peppercorn. The Inca no Mezume is a very rare type of potato from Hokkaido. Junsai (Japanese water shield) is a traditional water plant that only grows in clean premium fresh water. Junsai is a specialty of Akita prefecture in Japan and is famed for its antibacterial and many healing properties. 

Sashimi platter with fresh scallop on shell, bluefin tuna, slices of octopus and sweet botan shrimp garnished with radish, wasabi and soy sauce dip.

Roast beef with slice onions and gravy sauce.

Kotan hot pot (bouillabaisse) with local fish,   cabbage, soft white mushroom, tofu, potato cake and cheese sauce (to add to taste).

The menu also included some optional items for diners to choose. We could choose one of the following items:

• Deep fried whole baby shrimps
• Chilled chawanmushi
• Chilled tomatoes

We were told to choose one item from the list. The waitress later told us we could choose 2 items! So we had the deep fried shrimps and the refreshing chilled chawanmushi.

Deep fried whole baby shrimps with paprika. This crunchy snack is delicious.

Refreshing Chawanmushi (Japanese savoury steamed egg custard) that was served chilled.

We could also choose one of the following “carbs” dishes:

• Rice Curry with a choice of curry sauce - northern clam curry or cheese curry.
• porridge with egg, green onions, cheese and pickles.
• Udon noodle soup.

The guys chose the rice curry with northern clam curry sauce and my wife prefer something light, so she chose the Udon to share with us.

Dessert of custard and sorbet.

After dinner, we went to the lobby to get a cup of post-dinner coffee. The complimentary coffee from the self service machine was actually quite good.

As La Vista Akangawa is a small hotel, the lobby is quiet and peaceful. We could access the terrace with views of the river that is lit at night.

Lobby of La Vista Akangawa at night.

Cosy and quiet lounge area in the lobby.

My son prefers this as his post dinner drink, back in the room.

Morning walk at Lake Akan

I wanted to do an early morning walk along the shores of Lake Akan, including the Bokke Walking Trail, and was surprised that my son and wife were also keen to join me. The sun rise early at about 4 AM during this time of year, so we did not plan to see the sunrise.

We woke early and took a short drive to a free car park located in the middle of Akanko Onsen. From there, we took a short walk through the town to the shore of Lake Akan.

First view of Lake Akan.

Although there are many hot spring hotels along the shore of the lake, we were the only folks that are up and about at about 7 AM in the morning. The weather on this morning was like the day before. Although the sky was grey and cloudy, it was pleasant for a morning walk.

One of the many hot spring hotels along the shore of the lake.

From the cruise boat dock, we took a short 1.5 km hike on the Bokke Walking Trail.

Map showing our location and the trail along the shores of Lake Akan to the bokke (mud volcano) marked in orange.

The trail along the shore with views of the lake on one side and the forest on the other side.

Taking a closer look at the “beach” at Lake Akan.

A recently uprooted tree along the trail.

The “bokke” is the highlight along this Bokke Walking Trail. Bokke means “boiling place” in the local indigenous Ainu language and it is a mud volcano where underground gases and water vapor push hot mud to the surface.

Information on the bokke. There are a few pools of boiling mud in this area, all fenced up for our safety.

We could see the bubbles coming up through the hot mud. There was also a faint smell of sulphur in the air.

After viewing the bokke, we took the trail that leads to the Akanko Eco Museum and then back to town.

A signboard warning about the dangers in the forest that included the Hokkaido  brown bears.

We saw a family of deer on our way to the Akanko Eco Museum. Probably the same herd that my wife saw when she did this walk a day earlier.

Overall, the walk along the shores of Lake Akan took about an hour. It was a good way to start the day and work up an appetite for breakfast at La Vista Akangawa.

Breakfast

For breakfast, guests at the La Vista Akangawa can choose from a Japanese-style set meal or a Western-style set meal. All of us chose the Japanese-style set meal, of course!

The dishes included chilled tofu, pickled  komatsuna (Japanese mustard spinach), jellyfish with sesame vinegar, Kushiro shishamo and grilled salmon, wasabi, pickles, long plate with cod roe, egg-roll, kneaded kelp roll, boiled potatoes, miso soup with mushrooms and grilled eggplant and Hokkaido Yumepirika branded rice.

The hotel also provided a hibachi grill on the table for us to warm up the shishamo and grilled salmon, which is a nice touch. The shishamo, laden with eggs, is a smelt native to Hokkaido.

Japanese breakfast at the La Vista Akangawa.

Warming up the shishamo fish on the Hibachi grill provided on the table. After grilling, the entire fish, from head to tail, tiny bones and all can be eaten.

We also have a choice of one of the following:

• Nattō, a traditional Japanese food made from whole soybeans that have been fermented. I have tasted this before and did not like the slimy texture!
• Hot spring egg (onsen tamago)
• Trout Salmon Roe pickled in soy sauce.
• Grilled seaweed

All of us chose the trout salmon roe pickled in soy sauce.

Although not shown, we all had dessert of haskap flavoured yogurt. We could also help ourselves to breakfast beverages (Hokkaido milk, juice, roasted green tea, tea and coffee) from a service counter.

We checked out soon after breakfast as we had a long drive ahead of us. From Lake Akan, our road trip continues to Otaru.

Overall, this is easily the best and most expensive hotel we stayed in during this road trip. Well worth the money we splurged as the hotel delivered value for the money.