Where to stay in Shiga

Three kinds of nightWhere to stay in Shiga

The choice is really about what kind of night you want. A hot-spring inn feeds you twice and stops you moving. A city hotel is the right answer if you are arriving late or leaving early.

A ryokan or hot-spring inn旅館・温泉宿

Dinner and breakfast brought to you, a bath, and floor bedding laid out while you eat. The price is per person and includes both meals.

Includes 2 meals Book ahead

See ryokan and onsen inns › How an onsen works

A city hotelホテル

Clean, small, reliable and priced per room. Right for early trains, late arrivals and anyone travelling with a large suitcase.

Per roomNear the station

See hotels in Shiga › Getting around

A guesthouse or minshuku民宿・ゲストハウス

Family-run, cheaper, and often the only option in the countryside.

Ask about cashRural areas

See guesthouses and minshuku ›

Our first choice in Shiga is named below.

Looking for a room in Shiga tonight?

MAP How an onsen works

BookingSix things worth asking before you pay

Ask about these

Meals: Whether dinner and breakfast are included, and what time dinner is served. Inns often serve at a fixed time and will not wait
Tattoos: Ask whether the bath admits them, and ask about a private bath
Private bath: Kashikiri. Many inns have one, and it removes the question of bathing with strangers entirely
Payment: Card or cash. Rural inns are often cash only
Arrival time: Tell them. Inns lock up earlier than hotels
Luggage: They will hold it before check-in and after check-out. Just ask

What a night at an inn is like

Shoes: Off at the entrance. Slippers inside; nothing on the straw matting
The robe: A cotton yukata is provided and is worn to dinner and to the bath. Left side over right
Dinner: Many small dishes, often in your room or a dining room at a set time
Bedding: Laid out on the floor, usually while you are eating
Bathing: Before dinner and again before bed is normal here
Breakfast: Rice, fish, egg, pickles. Ask the night before if you need it early

How an onsen works

Our first choice hereThe one we would book

Lake Biwa Hotel琵琶湖ホテル — Bi-wa-ko

This is the one to aim for in Shiga, and its best feature is a train timetable. It stands on the shore of Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan, with Mt. Hiei behind it — and Kyoto is about ten minutes away. 175 rooms. The hotel first opened on the lake in 1934 and moved to this building in 1998.

This is the answer when Kyoto is full or too expensive. Ten minutes on an ordinary train, and you are on a lake instead of in a city. Very few visitors work this out, which is why there are rooms here on nights when Kyoto has none.
The lake takes up a sixth of this prefecture. From the shore here you can see across it, and the light on the water in the evening is the reason to be on this side of the hill rather than the Kyoto side.
Hikone Castle is about 46 to 50 minutes away on the Special Rapid — no surcharge, no reservation, and a Japan Rail Pass covers it. Sit on the left for the lake.
Mt. Hiei and Enryakuji are up the hill behind the city. You can do the lake in the evening and the mountain temple in the morning without changing hotels.

Where: On the lake shore at Hama-Otsu — five minutes on foot from Keihan Biwako-Hamaotsu station, and a free shuttle from JR Otsu. Kyoto is about ten minutes away by train.
Address: 2-40 Hama-machi, Otsu, Shiga
Telephone: 077-524-7111
Booking: Through the official site, or the booking services below

Worth knowing

For the pre-war architecture, visit Biwako Otsukan as well. The original Lake Biwa Hotel still stands elsewhere on the shore and is now open as Biwako Otsukan, with restaurants and public rooms inside. If you came for the pre-war architecture, that is where it is — and it is worth an hour. This hotel is a 1998 building in a better position.

Checked 2026-08-17

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Where to stay & onsen