Iodake Sanso

Mountain lodge at 2,650m on the saddle between Yokodake and Iodake in the Yatsugatake range, Minamimaki Village, Minamisaku District, Nagano Prefecture, run by the Iodake Sanso group. It sits amid alpine flower colonies — Dicentra peregrina, Lagotis glauca, Pulsatilla nipponica and yellow rhododendron — and the surrounding area is a designated national natural monument; from in front of the lodge you can watch both sunrise and sunset. Capacity is 80, with shared sleeping halls plus standard and luxury private rooms. In 2002 it became the first hut on the Yatsugatake ridge to install flush toilets; it has a combined treatment tank and runs true flush toilets from June to mid-October and simplified flush the rest of the season. All its water is 4°C spring water pumped 140m up from the head of Jogosawa, and from early June to mid-October guests can use hot showers (four booths, 600 yen for 15 minutes, guests only). There is a bar counter, and the lodge offers free Wi-Fi and takes credit cards and electronic money. It is 3 hours from Sakuradaira via Natsuzawa Pass and Iodake, 5h30m from Minotoguchi via Akadake Kosen and Iodake, 2h30m below Akadake and 1 hour below Yokodake, which makes it a base for traverses of the northern and southern Yatsugatake. It opens from late April to early November and closes for the winter.