1166 Backpackers

Rooms and decor

1166 Backpackers is clearly different from a typical chain hostel, because it sits inside a machiya — an old wooden Japanese merchant house that still keeps its tall two-story timber frame and original details. Step through the sliding door and you reach a proper Japanese genkan (the shoe-removal entry), dark oiled-wood floors, and soft light from washi paper lamps. There is a small courtyard at the center of the house with greenery you glimpse through the sliding screens, so it feels far more like a local's home than a commercial hostel. The roughly six rooms include 4-to-6-bed dorms for solo travelers and private rooms for couples or pairs of friends. Every room has original tatami floors and futon bedding the owners lay out with a warm blanket, plus a lockable storage box. The rooms are small and compact, and in places you duck through low wooden doorways — part of the charm of an old house that history lovers will enjoy. There is no TV or hotel sound system, but the quiet and the soft creak of old wood is exactly what makes it special.

Food and amenities

What sets 1166 Backpackers apart from a chain hostel is the Japanese owners, a husband-and-wife team whom reviews agree are lovely and genuinely helpful. They speak enough English to communicate easily and happily point you to food, sights and quiet photo spots around Nagano, even drawing their own map for guests to keep. Inside there is a shared kitchen sized for real home cooking — a two-burner gas stove, a fridge with labeled shelves, and pots, pans, knives and dishes. A coffee maker and kettle are free to use, and many guests buy fresh food from the convenience store and cook to save on meals. The large common area in the middle of the house has sofas, guidebooks from around the world, a record player and board games, and it is where travelers gather to swap trip stories and plan the next day together. Reviews call it the friendliest hostel in the area. The bathrooms and showers are shared and split by gender, clean, with heated floors against the winter cold. There is a washing machine and drying rack, and free bikes to ride to Zenkoji temple or Joyama park nearby.

Location and getting there

The hostel sits in the Nishimachi district west of Zenkoji temple, an area that still keeps many of its machiya wooden houses and old-school soba shops — it feels like a living, working heritage town. The big draw is that it is about a 9-minute walk from the hostel to Zenkoji, much closer in distance than hotels near the station. You can walk over for the temple's pre-dawn Omotenashi ceremony at 6:00, where the head priest touches your head to bless you as he passes — a highlight most visitors miss because they stay too far away, but from 1166 you can easily be back in time for breakfast. From JR Nagano station it is about a 20-minute walk or a 7-to-10-minute local bus; the nearest stop is Zenkoji-mae, then a 5-minute walk to the hostel. The surrounding streets have soba shops, Japanese sweet shops and craft stores to explore within 5 to 10 minutes. For travel around the prefecture you use JR Nagano station as the hub for the shinkansen and buses — easy to reach every sight, but allow that 20-minute walk from the hostel to the station.

Things to know before booking

Straight talk: first, the bathrooms and kitchen are shared — if you are used to an en-suite hotel this will feel inconvenient, with some waiting morning and evening and a walk through the hallway late at night. Anyone wanting more privacy should book a private room for a little more, or switch to a Toyoko Inn with en-suite bathrooms. Second, it is far from JR Nagano station — about a 20-minute walk or a bus, not as convenient as a hotel by the station, and tiring with heavy bags or after several train connections; ask the owners to help book a taxi from the station for about $7. Third, it is an old wooden house: sound carries through the floors in places, the rooms are small and compact, and there is no hotel-style gear like an air purifier or fast in-room Wi-Fi — everyone shares the same connection in the house. People who need quiet and high privacy will be disappointed; this suits travelers who get the backpacker way. Finally, winter can get genuinely cold because the old building is not as well insulated as a modern hotel, so pack enough warm clothes.

Our take

From reading through plenty of real guest reviews, 1166 Backpackers sells an old machiya house, friendly Japanese owners, a welcoming vibe and a location near the temple — all for about $31. If the trip in your head is waking before dawn to join the Omotenashi ceremony at Zenkoji, coming back to cook breakfast in the shared kitchen with travelers from all over, riding a bike through the old district in the afternoon, and sitting around the common area in the evening, this is a hard place to match and a great fit for history-minded backpackers, solo travelers who want company, and budget couples who want a real house feel. But if the heart of your trip is hotel comfort — an en-suite bathroom, fast Wi-Fi and 24-hour check-in — 1166 will not deliver, and you should pick a Sotetsu Fresa or Toyoko Inn instead. Overall we give it 9.0/10, best for backpackers who value atmosphere and experience over modern convenience.