Is Xplore by Active Life pet-friendly?

No, pets are not allowed at this property.

Xplore by Active Life doesn't offer parking.

What time is check-in at Xplore by Active Life?

Check-in start time: 3 PM; Check-in end time: 9 PM. Late check-in is available during limited hours.

Where is Xplore by Active Life located?

Located in Madarao Mountain Resort, this hotel is steps from Madarao Kogen Ski Resort and 1.8 mi (3 km) from Tangram Ski Circus. Joyama Park and Myoko Kogen are also within 9 mi (15 km).

Xplore by Active Life Reviews, Deals & Photos 2026

6/10 Okay

Stephen

2025/2/14

Liked: Staff & service

Disliked: Property conditions & facilities

The property is very dated with no lift only stairs. Basic 3 star and in need of a re fit. Staff were good

Stayed 6 nights in Feb 2025

10/10 Excellent

Joshua

2018/12/25

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Moderao ski area

We had an amazing time there! The hotel was ran by a couple young Australian people who were great!! It was so nice to go to a hotel in japan and have people who spoke English easily! The food was westernized, which was amazing!!! The Onsen doesn’t fallow Japanese rules, they allow tattoos and you have to wear swimwear! 11/10. Totally recommend

Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2018

4/10 Poor

Hiro

2025/2/24

Liked: Staff & service

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities

Staff was very nice, but that does not make up for the horrible cost-performance of the hotel. Parts of the building are shut down, the onsen is half disassembled (joint male-female onsen), sauna shut down, rooms very basic, breakfast with bare minimum buffet, yet is priced at double any nearby lodge and at 1.5x the much better Madarao Kogen Hotel. Guess the investors have to get a high IRR on their investment to buy and minimally renovate the hotel.

Stayed 1 night in Feb 2025

2/10 Terrible

?

2026/1/2

Disliked: Cleanliness, amenities, property conditions & facilities

スキー場利用の為に宿泊しましたが駐車場がわからずスタッフが外国の方の為翻訳アプリでしか会話が出来ず苦労しましたしかも駐車場は無し。部屋も通風口？から大量にカメ虫が入って来て駆除しても次々入って来てホラーゲームの様でした。ディナーを後から頼めるのは良いシステムでしたが支払い時に機械が遅く10分ぐらい待たされました、朝食はスクランブルエッグに大きな卵の殻が入っていたのとバターと書かれた物は味的にマーガリンでした。アメニティも無く宿泊されるのであれば歯ブラシやカミソリは持参した方がよいです。

Stayed 1 night in Dec 2025

4/10 Poor

Ka ho

2020/3/1

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Worst accommodation in japan ever

Room is very very small, when I made the booking I saw 2 double bed in the pictures and I have booked for 2 adults and 1 child. However once we checked in we found out there is only a queen size bed avail in the room. The worst thing is you have to share one male and one female toilet with 12 other rooms. That’s insane. Dry room is useless there is no heat at all during my stay, the heater has no oil at all . Breakfast is included but allow yourself a hour for breakfast , there is only 2 staff serving 50-100 guest per day and you have to wait for your breakfast at leat half a hour

Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2020

8/10 Good

Patricia

2020/2/20

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Comfy room but no yukata

Pros: 1. Location is super good as it’s close to the ski lift. 2. Bed is very comfy and room is big. 3. Breakfast is good! 4. Staff are in generally nice. Cons: 1. The front desk lady talks too fast! 2. No Yukata (bath robe) provided in the room even thou they have onsen (hot spring), that makes it hard to go to onsen. And the opening hour of the onsen is very limited, only form 4-9pm. 3. Room is kind of too hot and no control to adjust the air con or heat. 4. No socket in the washroom so that u can’t use your hair dryer in the washroom but have to come out to use it. 5. No tall mirror for clothes matching purpose.

Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2020

10/10 Excellent

Kiang Hon

2020/2/18

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Fantastic stay!

The stay was amazing! Lisa and her team at Xplore were always ready to help. They were a pleasure to interact with. The room was huge, clean, and comfortable. Wifi signal was strong in the room. There was a made-to-order breakfast free every morning, with a choice between a smoked salmon or mushroom plate with eggs (your choice of cooking style). There was also a free laundry machine in the basement (dryer costs 100 yen per use). Large drying room was available for the ski equipment 1 floor down. Unfortunately the snow was too high to ski out of the back door, but it was a short 5-10 min walk to the slope, so it wasn't too much of an inconvenience. Would definitely stay here again if we return to Madarao Kogen!

Stayed 4 nights in Feb 2020

8/10 Good

Todd

2020/2/17

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities

Great staff, fantastic location about as close to the run as you can get in private accommodation. Closer to a hostel in my definition but that is the Japanese way. Good food with lots of options close by. Shuttle bus to town and near by resorts made the whole trip very smooth. Definately recommended.

Stayed 6 nights in Feb 2020

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

2020/2/15

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities

Super close to the ski lift ticket office, standard Japanese room with a sink is good but there is only 1 female and 1 male toilet on the floor, would be too busy if full house as about 10 rooms are sharing . Big drying room on the basement, free breakfast and shuttle to/from Ilyama station. Big TV in room with only youtube anf Neflix. A kettle and a heater in room. Separated Public bath (onsen) for men and women, strange that 7-9pm is the "communal" time on men's side (i.e. female can get in the men's bath during the period that means all have to be in swim suits). Better to have a bin inside the room, for the public bath area, it would be great if put a tissue box there and a clock ((guess it has no battery), also replacing the old hairdryer which is too weak. Staff are all very friendly and the common area has a great mountain view.

Stayed 4 nights in Feb 2020

10/10 Excellent

Kwok-yan

2020/2/14

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

超高性價比的西式酒店！

這家酒店是由一班澳洲人向本地人購買了舊式日本滑雪酒店再翻新而成的。保留了舊式日式酒店的硬件，例如客房、洗衣房、浴場等，以西式營運方法管理。服務員態度親切，亦樂意提供一切協助。早餐是西式的，出餐時間稍長，如果想每天趕頭班吊車上山的話，就要早點去吃早餐了。這裡洗衣是免費的，前台會提供免費洗衣球。乾衣則是100日圓15分鐘，全自助形式。客房的電視除了基本本地電視台外，還有Netflix看！超贊！客房不提供每日清潔及執房服務，垃圾要自行清理放出走廊外。最後一提，如客人連續住四晚或以上，可免費參加酒店提供的滑雪課程，由專業外藉教練執教！酒店位置亦接近滑雪場，只是酒店推介的那家雪具租用店Miyuki的雪具質素一般，不建議在那裡租用，反而Miyuki側邊的那家雪具店可試試。

Stayed 5 nights in Feb 2020

10/10 Excellent

GSteeds, Brisbane AUS

2020/2/14

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities

Great location, great facilities and free yoga! Good breakfast and helpful staff. Oh and nice traditional style rooms but with the comfiest beds in japan. Will be back!

Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2020

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

2020/2/12

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities

The employees are uber helpful. The rooms are slean, quiet, and spacious

Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2020

6/10 Okay

CHIEN PING

2020/1/29

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities

幾乎全部都是澳洲人，從早餐、大眾池時間的安排上都是給西方人設計的。例如早餐是單點的一份吐司、燻鮭魚/培根、其他配菜、蛋，不是日式，沒有自助吧。而且一份一份做，所以要等待一段時間大眾池只有到晚上七點前，7-9點是男女混浴，要穿泳褲。

Stayed 4 nights in Jan 2020

10/10 Excellent

Yutaka

2020/1/23

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

This hotel is very near from ski area, and all staffs are really kind and helpful.We were really satisfied with this hotel. This hotel is also near from Malu restaurant. This is also nice. We want to use this hotel again.

Stayed 3 nights in Jan 2020

10/10 Excellent

Scott

2020/1/17

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities

Very close walking distance (and ski out) to the Madarao slope. Onsen bath is wonderful. Room is comfortable.

Stayed 3 nights in Jan 2020

4/10 Poor

Verified traveler

2020/1/15

Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort

Disliked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities

A poor hotel not worth the money

Unfortunately there are a few bad things to say about this place. On hotels.com, it advertises toiletries in the room but you don’t get any. There’s some shampoo and conditioner in the onsen but nothing like what Japanese hotels usually provide in rooms. There are no staff in the hotel at all after 7pm so if you need help after that time, you may struggle. The showers were 3 floors below our room (with the onsen) - we’d expect a shared bathroom to be on the same floor as the room, at the very least. Not sure why but the elevator and area around it smells like an engine room. There seems to be a cafe in the hotel but it’s not actually manned after breakfast so no coffee or other hot drinks are available after 10. Supposedly guests are meant to take snowboards etc. to the drying room in the basement and not walk through the lobby but people were constantly bringing wet equipment and snow covered boots through the lobby and staff didn’t seem to care. The hotel is advertised as ski in/ski out but it is not. You have to leave the hotel and walk 5-10 minutes up the road to the nearest ski lift. All in all, the hotel just feels like a slightly run down hostel for mostly young Australians - it’s certainly not an upmarket hotel. Breakfast wasn’t very good but it was complimentary so it’s hard to complain about it. The lobby area is the only place to relax in the hotel (outside of your room) and it can get quite cold. The wifi is

Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2020

10/10 Excellent

Marco

2020/1/8

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Great place for ski holiday!

Great place near ski lifts. Restaurants and bars all walking distance. Super friendly staff. Run by Australians. If you are looking for Japanese culture don’t go here. I would definitely recommend. For kids also great, lots of activities in the hotel. Small bar with good (western) food. Wifi is pretty bad! Super soft comfy beds. Bathrooms are not Japanese superclean, but acceptable. They have a shuttle bus to take you from station Nagano and back.

Stayed 3 nights in Jan 2020

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

2020/1/3

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

an unexpected gem

had a wonderful time here, place was clean and social, great breakfast, close to the slopes, and service by Lisa and Stuart and the rest of the staff was so friendly and attentive. i particularly appreciated that the hotel can arrange pickups to and from the train station. the onsen is also a bonus. Madarao is a true gem and these guys will make sure you have the best time.

Stayed 3 nights in Dec 2019

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveler

2019/3/7

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

All staffs are nice and friendly. The room I stayed was clean so I enjoyed the stay.

Stayed 1 night in Feb 2019

8/10 Good

Verified traveler

2019/3/2

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort

Xplore review

Great location, great staff. Lisa, Manager was so helpful. Breakfast was good. Hotel could use a bit of work, missing some things - ski rack at entry, drying room desperately needs work, no mini fridge or safe in room.

Stayed 10 nights in Feb 2019

4/10 Poor

Verified traveler

2019/1/19

Disliked: Amenities, property conditions & facilities

Don’t be fooled by website. This property feels like s poor university dorm. Extremely old & run down although rooms have been given minimal update with new beds & carpet. Included breakfast is sparse, cheap and other than an egg offers nothing nutritious. Also take note this property offers no shuttle service to get on or off bus down the mountain requiring one to drag bags through the snow up a grade which could be considerable effort if you had kids in tow. Compared to other properties on mountain this place has a long way to go to even come close to consideration for us. Stayed another night at a different property with outstanding customer service and incredible breakfast for same cost as this dismal experience.

Stayed 1 night in Jan 2019

6/10 Okay

Verified traveler

2019/1/7

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

請準備充足下，才再營業吧！

酒店只是剛接手，整體性表現極度勉強，傢私、員工也未到位，相信只是趕著雪季開店，有想轉酒店的衝動，可惜不能退錢，而員工也在能力下努力表現出友善，所以在體諒上會接受。

Stayed 3 nights in Jan 2019

10/10 Excellent

Claudia

2019/1/7

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

It's a hotel renovated from an old building. They were open for just a few days so many things weren't ready. Don't expect luxury conditions from the hotel, but it has all the basics, good bed, good sheets, good bathroom, good breakfast (simple but good). It is what you pay for, it is a no-frill hotel. The hotel staff is extremely helpful and nice. The staff is almost exclusively non-Japanese speaker, which is quite unique in Japan. Pros and cons as a result. Easy to communicate to for non-Japanese speakers, but difficult if you need some local help. Hotel is very close to ski lifts, a bare 5 minute walk. Overall, we are happy with the hotel and will return.

Stayed 4 nights in Jan 2019

4/10 Poor

Verified traveler

2019/1/5

Liked: Staff & service

Disliked: Cleanliness, room comfort

Boiler wasn't working and no one couldn't take a bath. Our room wasn't clean enough, tatami mats were too old. I prefer other Active life hotels.

Stayed 2 nights in Jan 2019

10/10 Excellent

Ruth Clare

2019/1/1

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Nice!

This hotel just renovated & opened under new management in Dec 2018. Rooms are nice, super comfy beds & staff are fantastic. Great location - only a 5 min warm-up walk to the slopes.

Stayed 4 nights in Dec 2018

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