The Biwako Hotel provides a great place for travelers to relax after a busy day. The Biwako Hotel offers a pleasant stay in Otsu for those traveling for business or leisure. The hotel is conveniently located a short 500m drive from Shimanoseki Station. Famous local attractions Ōtsu Civic Hall, Hamaotsu A-qus and ふれあいプラザ, can all be reached with a short walk. When guests have some time on their hands they can make use of the onsite facilities. This Otsu hotel features parking on site. According to our guests, the location of this hotel is one of the best around. For guests traveling with families, this hotel is consistently one of the most popular choices.
"The views are absolutely stunning, but this hotel has quite a few downsides.
First, the good points: The scenery is incredibly beautiful, and you can see Lake Biwa right from your window. The public bath isn't crowded, and the views from there are also lovely during the day. This was the hotel with the best views during our entire trip to Japan. The room itself is huge, with plenty of space for multiple suitcases.
Now for the cons:
1. It's an 8-minute shuttle bus ride from Otsu Station. However, the shuttle bus is a mid-sized vehicle, and I always felt bad for the driver struggling with luggage, especially when it was full during peak hours (packed, with just enough seats for everyone). The bus's air conditioning wasn't very strong, so it got quite hot when there were a lot of people in summer. It would be great if they had a larger bus, similar to the Biwako Hotel.
2. The hotel has a very strong, unpleasant odor, almost like body odor. It lingered for several days and was really off-putting. I'm not sure if all rooms have this issue.
3. You absolutely cannot open the window at night. They should really put up a warning sign, because if you do, a swarm of small, light-seeking insects will fly in, and you won't be able to get rid of them all. On our first night, we didn't realize and didn't close the window tightly, and we were incredibly bothered by bugs all night.
Even though it's an older hotel, I really hope they can address these issues."