Akan Tsuruga Bessou Hinanoza
あかん鶴雅別荘 鄙の座
Area photo — not the ryokan itself · Lake Akan, Kushiro, Hokkaido · 663highland / CC BY 2.5
Lake Akan's adults-only flagship: 25 suites, each with an open-air onsen bath, nearly all drinks included and Hokkaido seafood kaiseki in private rooms — but lake views vary sharply by room, the room baths are recirculated, and the price is steep
Hinanoza is the Tsuruga group's top inn at Lake Akan: an adults-only house (age 13 and up) of 25 suites, every one with its own open-air onsen bath, built around a 'return to your home village' theme, with carvings by the Ainu sculptor Takeki Fujito in the entrance and corridors. Almost everything you drink is included — the in-room fridge, beer, wine and sake at dinner, and cocktails at the 21:00 bar with its 10-metre natural-wood counter — along with afternoon ohagi, a late-night snack and ice cream. Dinner and breakfast are served in the same private room at the Hina dining house: kaiseki built on Rausu and Nemuro seafood, Hokkaido wagyu and a signature white-miso hotpot of menme (kichiji rockfish). Japanese guests rate it 4.9 across 246 reviews on Rakuten Travel (dinner 4.9, bath 4.8); Jalan has 550 reviews but now shows 4.2, which appears to reflect only the six reviews posted in the past year (dinner 4.7, bath 4.0). Bloggers who stayed from 2024 to 2026 — including a two-night stay in November 2025 and a repeat visit in July 2026 — praise the huge suites with two toilets and massage chairs, soundproofed entrances, warm and attentive staff and the free-flowing drinks. Most complaints are about views: in July 2025 a honeymooning couple in a third-floor Ama no Za suite, the most expensive type, looked into trees and worried walkers on the lakeside path could see the bath; a September 2025 guest saw mostly wall. The sixth-floor bath has no lake view and the seventh-floor outdoor tub is fenced. Others found the wagyu fatty (2025), breakfast ordinary or the nori cold (2024), and the room baths are recirculated. Two-meal stays for two run about ¥103,000–254,000 a night on one booking site.
Room Selection Guide
What the guests who stayed here actually recommendRecommended
Umi no Za (湖の座) suites, lake side (88–94㎡, four rooms)
One of the two types the inn says face the lake head-on, with a Japanese room, living room, bedroom and hinoki open-air bath. A March 2026 repeat guest who had stayed in both Ama no Za and Umi no Za chose Umi no Za for a 60th-birthday trip and called it superb; a November 2025 guest loved the big single-pane window onto the lake, though noticed signs of age and found the room bath a little hot.
Ama no Za (天の座) suites, the largest (110㎡+, four rooms) — ask for an upper floor
A blogger who stayed in August 2024 had a Japanese room, living room with a Bose/Denon sound system, bedroom, two toilets and a bath overlooking the cruise boats; a July 2026 blogger had Lake Akan 'right in front' from the living room and the bath, with a massage chair to doze in. The view depends on the floor — see below.
Request To Avoid
Low-floor lake rooms, Kaze no Za (partial lake view) and Mori no Za (town side)
A July 2025 honeymooning couple in a third-floor Ama no Za faced trees, could see people on the lakeside path and felt seen in the room bath. A November 2025 blogger in a fifth-floor corner Kaze no Za (61–78㎡) found the view 'so-so' and the washing area narrow; a September 2025 guest (room type not named) saw a partial lake view and mostly wall, and found the post-renovation layout odd with steps. Mori no Za (61–67㎡), the cheapest, faces the town — a June 2026 couple was 'mostly satisfied' but wants a lake room next time.
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Dining Deep Dive
Breakfast Consensus
4.3/5A Japanese set in your private dining room: Okhotsk cod and Akan tofu hotpot, a choice of grilled fish (black cod, Kushiro mackerel or hokke), soy-marinated salmon roe with refills, nori kept warm over coals and the chef's own pickles — loved by bloggers, though a November 2025 guest found it 'ordinary' and a 2024 blogger got cold nori
Request an upper-floor lake-facing suite when booking. Drinks at the Za BAR are free (21:00–22:30, last order 22:00), and the lobby serves a free late-night snack from 22:00 to 24:00 (inari sushi on weekdays, the chef's black curry at weekends). Book the paid Akan-ko Express bus at least five days ahead, or call for a pickup from the Akan bus terminal. You can also use the large baths at sister inn Akan Yuku no Sato Tsuruga — the inn will drive you there.
Dinner Insights
4.5/5Three kaiseki tiers — Moegi (standard), Sōfū (special) and Akaneyama (top: Rausu and Nemuro seafood, wagyu fillet, Okhotsk hairy crab) — served in private rooms at Hina, built around a white-miso menme hotpot, with a different menu each night on longer stays. A November 2025 blogger had Hokkaido shrimp, Akan crayfish soup, tuna, yellowtail, sea urchin and botan shrimp, then wagyu shabu-shabu on night two; free sparkling wine and sake flowed. Critics mention a fried starter that wasn't hot (July 2025), a fatty wagyu roast (November 2025) and dishes that grew heavier as the meal went on (September 2025).
Onsen & Wellness Realities
Akan Lake Onsen simple spring (neutral, hypotonic, high temperature). According to the inn, the indoor baths of both shared baths are free-flowing; the seventh-floor outdoor bath and every in-room open-air bath are recirculated — the room baths have no filter and are emptied daily, so no chlorine is used — and some water is added to adjust the temperature. One 2024 blogger called the room bath free-flowing, but the inn's own data says otherwise.
All 25 suites have their own open-air onsen bath. Two shared baths, each with a bedrock sauna, swap between men and women at 22:00–22:30: Gin no Shizuku on the sixth floor (cut-stone indoor bath and a lying-down bath, no lake view; women 14:00–22:00) and Kin no Yumi on the seventh (indoor plus an outdoor bath looking through trees to the lake; men 14:00–22:00). A November 2025 blogger found them small and a guest that month found the fence spoiled the view. There's also a footbath in the lobby. Some low-floor room baths can be seen from the lakeside path.
Guests with tattoos (including stickers) may not use the shared baths, according to the inn's FAQ. Every suite has its own open-air bath.
Local Warnings & Nuances
- 01
Adults only: guests must be junior-high age (13) or older; families with younger children are referred to the group's other Akan inns.
- 02
Check-in 14:00, check-out 11:00. Cancellation is strict: 30% from 60 days before, 50% from 30 days, 100% from 14 days.
- 03
Remote: about an hour by car from Kushiro or Memanbetsu airport (1 hour 20 minutes by bus from Kushiro Airport) and about 4.5 hours' drive from Sapporo. The inn has no shuttle of its own; parking is valet-only.
- 04
Views vary sharply: only Ama no Za and Umi no Za face the lake head-on, Kaze no Za has a partial view and Mori no Za faces the town; lower floors look through trees onto the lakeside path. Not fully barrier-free (fifth-floor rooms have fewer steps).
- 05
In-room dinner: the inn's FAQ says only Kasumi no Za (second floor) guests can dine in their room, but a booking site sells in-room meal plans — confirm when booking.
Sources
The real blog posts and stay reports this article draws on
- あかん鶴雅別荘 鄙の座～天の座スィート (ドクトルひだか放浪記)
- あかん 鶴雅別荘 鄙の座 その2 (晴れたり曇ったり)
- あかん 鶴雅別荘 鄙の座 その3 (晴れたり曇ったり)
- 北海道その2/ あかん鶴雅別荘 鄙の座 (ブサゴロウ王国)
- 阿寒湖温泉の湯 (コースタルダイニング coastal dining)
- 阿寒湖温泉の朝餉 (コースタルダイニング coastal dining)
- あかん鶴雅別荘 鄙の座のクチコミ・評判一覧 (じゃらんnet)
- 阿寒湖温泉 あかん鶴雅別荘鄙の座 クチコミ・レビュー (楽天トラベル)
- 温泉・エステ | あかん鶴雅別荘 鄙の座【公式】
- よくあるご質問 | あかん鶴雅別荘 鄙の座【公式】
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Photo credits: Hiiragiya — the frontage on Anekoji-dori, Kyoto · Mariemon / CC BY 3.0 / Mukaitaki in the snow, Higashiyama Onsen, Aizu-Wakamatsu · Fumihiko Ueno / CC BY 3.0 / Mikiya — the wooden main building, Kinosaki · Ippukucho / CC BY 3.0
Akan Tsuruga Bessou Hinanoza
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