Kid-Friendly Hotels in Fukui City: Dinosaur Museum & Coastal Hot Springs

When you start looking for a family hotel in Fukui, you find a row of business hotels lined up in front of Fukui Station, and it is hard to tell which ones actually work with children. Now that the Hokuriku Shinkansen runs here direct from Tokyo, plenty of families base themselves near the station and take day trips out to the Dinosaur Museum, Eiheiji Temple, and the Tojinbo cliffs.

Most of the 8 properties listed here are within walking distance of Fukui Station. Courtyard by Marriott Fukui is a high-rise hotel just outside the west exit, where children aged 11 and under stay free co-sleeping at one child per adult bed, and one crib can be borrowed free of charge (numbers are limited, so contact the hotel in advance). Connecting rooms by reservation, room service, and allergy-conscious meals are all available. Fukui Manten Hotel Ekimae is the closest of all to the west exit and has a large communal bath with an attached open-air bath; the front desk lends thermometers and children's slippers free of charge. Hotel Route Inn Fukui Ekimae has a top-floor artificial hot spring bath and free buffet breakfast, and the restaurant has high chairs and children's tableware. 2 properties here can lend you a crib.

If you would rather lay out futons side by side on tatami mats, the 5 properties with Japanese-style rooms are your options. Hotel Fukui Castle stands just past the ruins of Fukui Castle and has 8-mat tatami rooms that fit up to four futons, along with children's tableware to borrow. Hotel Riverge Akebono, which began as a traditional inn along the Asuwa River, has 8-mat and 12-mat tatami rooms plus parent-and-child bedrooms where a small child's bed is fitted between the adult beds with no gap in between. The dinosaur-themed guest rooms are not hotel-wide; they are limited to the room types booked through the dedicated plan. 9STAY Fukui Ekimae is on the east exit side and has Japanese-Western family rooms for up to eight people, as well as rooms with a mini kitchen for reheating baby food (select rooms, reservation required).

You can also stay outside the city center. Takasu Onsen Kokumin Shukusha Takasuso, a public lodge on the Echizen coast, has sea views from every room, a free-flowing natural hot spring bath and open-air bath, and separate children's meals for toddlers and for elementary schoolers. Its summer family plan lends each family a sandbox play set and inner tubes free of charge, and a tide-pool spot for exploring is a short walk away. Minshuku Jinya, a family-run guesthouse near the Ichijodani Asakura Clan Ruins, is a converted old farmhouse with a bath and toilet in each separate cottage, and baby food can be prepared on request. At some properties the rules on co-sleeping ages and numbers change depending on which booking channel you use, so it is worth confirming on the official website before you reserve.