Stay Report: Odakyu Yamanakako Forest Cottage – Mori no Cottage

In the summer of 2023 (July), I visited the Odakyu Forest Cottage and wanted to share my stay report.

I hope this is helpful for anyone considering a visit.

I’ll also have a separate article about our summer trip to Yamanashi?stay tuned!

~Still in preparation~

Overview

The Odakyu Forest Cottage is located in the southeastern part of Lake Yamanaka, offering campgrounds and cottages.

It’s about 90 minutes by car from central Tokyo, making it a very convenient base for sightseeing in Yamanashi Prefecture.

While it’s often featured on YouTube and Instagram as a “high-spec campground,” this article focuses on the cottage side of things.

About the Mori no Cottage

Odakyu Forest Cottage offers 8 types of cottages (plus 1 bungalow).

I stayed in the “Mori no Cottage” (Forest Cottage).

Exterior

Check-in is at the clubhouse, where you receive your cottage key. You’ll need to park at the clubhouse lot first.

*I forgot to photograph the clubhouse. Please check the official website. (It’s a very nice building.)

After getting your key, drive to the cottage.

The exterior was larger than expected.

Instead of parking in front, you park beside the cottage.

The parking area was on quite a steep slope, which was a bit challenging!

There are stairs leading up to the entrance. In front of the cottage, chairs, a table, and a fire pit are already set up.

Interior

The interior was surprisingly spacious and clean.

There’s a counter kitchen, table, and other amenities inside.

The counter kitchen features a clean sink, a 3-burner gas stove, and cooking utensils like frying pans.

Sponges and dish soap were also provided.

There’s a fairly large refrigerator and a microwave.

Even if you buy loads of ingredients, you’ll never run out of space.

In the corner, there’s a gas fan heater, extra chairs, and an extension cord.

At around 1,000m elevation, a gas heater is reassuring.

The shower booth was very clean. Even as someone who’s a bit particular about water areas, I felt comfortable using it.

The restroom was also very clean with a relatively new washlet toilet.

When you hear “cottage,” you might not expect much from the water facilities, but these were impressive.

The bunk beds are worth mentioning.

Reviews often mention “damp bedding,” but that’s inevitable given the mountain location.

Bringing a futon dryer and warming things up made it quite comfortable!

Terrace

The terrace is the real highlight.

It features a round table with two chairs, a bench-style table, and a BBQ grill.

The terrace is very spacious?almost too big for just two people.

At night, we used the grill for BBQ.

Charcoal-grilled meat really is the best.

Of course, we used the grill in the morning too.

Fireworks & Bonfire

Fireworks are allowed in front of the clubhouse until around 9:00 PM.

The fire pit in front of the cottage can be used for bonfires.

When using fire, always keep a bucket of water nearby. The foldable buckets sold at 100-yen shops for 500 yen are very handy.

Watch Out for Bugs at Night

While BBQing at night, we encountered quite a few wasps. My companion got stung by what appeared to be a wasp that crawled into their sleeve.

We were being careless by wearing short sleeves outdoors in the mountains. Make sure to wear long sleeves and pants, and don’t forget insect repellent.

The cottage staff came immediately when we called. My companion wasn’t sure if it was a wasp or horsefly, but since it was the first sting and there were no serious symptoms, we treated it with a poison remover.

Everything turned out fine, but we felt bad for the trouble…

(The remover cost about 1,000 yen… we’re really sorry…)

There are quite a lot of insects, so make sure to prepare accordingly.

(We burned 4 pyrethroid coils on the terrace, but the bugs came anyway. They went down easily in my college lab experiments, though…)

No Air Conditioning!?

Google suggests “Odakyu Forest Cottage air conditioning” is a common search query.

You might be worried about sleeping without AC in the hot summer, but at the end of July, it was cool enough at night to feel chilly.

I was surprised when I learned there was no AC beforehand, but I can confirm from experience that it’s not needed!

Overall Review

Overall, it’s a clean, well-maintained cottage with good spacing from neighbors, providing excellent privacy.

You can really tell it’s managed by the Odakyu Group.

Despite the minor incident, the staff were responsive and friendly, and we had a pleasant stay until checkout.

My companion and I both agreed: “We want to come back next year.” That’s how satisfied we were.

With camping being so popular lately, this is a great option for people who want to try the outdoor experience but prefer sleeping under a roof.

I highly recommend giving it a visit.

A Final Note

There are very few review articles about Odakyu Forest Cottage online, which might give the impression it’s unpopular. The main reason is likely that you can only book through their official website, so there’s no affiliate revenue opportunity for bloggers.

It’s a bit unfortunate that great places like this don’t get the coverage they deserve for that reason.

*This is just one theory; there may be other factors as well.

There’s a private pier for guests. Be careful on windy days?it sways quite a bit, and you don’t want to take an unplanned swim in Lake Yamanaka!