Gifu Pref
Family-Friendly Hotels in Gifu: Gero, Takayama & Okuhida Onsen Trips
A family guide to kid-friendly stays across Gifu, from Gero Onsen to Takayama
29 family-friendly hotels in Gifu, verified by Kids Stay: 22 with tatami rooms, 19 with private onsen baths, 16 with in-room baths, 3 with crib rental and 8 with private cottages and villas. Every listing is checked against the official hotel website or Rakuten Travel.
When families start looking for a place to stay in Gifu, plenty of them find the sheer size of the prefecture hard to narrow down. Sitting almost exactly in the center of Japan, with hot spring towns scattered through the mountains of the Hida and Mino regions, Gifu is chosen by families of every stage, from those traveling with a baby to those with elementary school children.
Alongside Gero Onsen, the prefecture includes Takayama, Inuyama Onsen, the Takayama and Hida area, the Okuhida Onsen villages, Gujo Hachiman, Seki and Mino, and Minokamo. Gero Onsen is a hot spring town with abundant water and a dense cluster of ryokan and hotels; Takayama and the Takayama and Hida area make an easy base for visiting Shirakawa-go, the village of steep thatched farmhouses; and the Okuhida Onsen villages are known for open-air baths with the feel of a hidden mountain spring. Gujo Hachiman, Seki and Mino, along with Inuyama Onsen and Minokamo, are areas where you can enjoy historic townscapes and the surrounding countryside.
The room style and the bathing style are the two things most families weigh first. There are 22 inns with Japanese-style or Japanese-Western rooms, which is a large share, and their tatami floors make it easy to lay a little one down for a nap. There are 19 inns with a private bath you can reserve for your family alone, 19 inns with simple springs, a mild, low-mineral water type considered gentle on a baby's skin, and 15 inns that accommodate food allergies, so you can choose to suit your child's age and constitution.
How you eat and how you spend time in the room are the other points worth comparing. There are 16 inns that serve meals in your guest room, 14 inns with a toddler meal menu, and 13 inns with private or semi-private dining rooms. There are 16 inns with a bath in the guest room and 8 detached villas or cottages rented to a single group, so you can pick the style of stay that matches your child's age.
Highlights
- checkPlenty of inns built around Japanese-style rooms, so babies can toddle around freely
- checkPrivate baths you can reserve, so you can bathe without worrying about other guests
- checkA wide variety of hot spring towns, from Gero Onsen all the way to Okuhida
Family-friendly features in Gifu
Recommended hotels (29)
Gero Onsen Fugaku
Nakatsugawa Glamping Morinosora
Gero Onsen Ogawaya
Gero Onsen Bosenkan
Gero Onsen Yunoshimakan
Gero Onsen Sasara
Gero Onsen Suihouen
Hotel Kusakabe Armeria
Gero Onsen Suimeikan
Nenoue Outdoor Park Ena Hoko.Glamping
See all hotels in Gifu (29)expand_more
- Gero Onsen Fugaku
- Nakatsugawa Glamping Morinosora
- Gero Onsen Ogawaya
- Gero Onsen Bosenkan
- Gero Onsen Yunoshimakan
- Gero Onsen Sasara
- Gero Onsen Suihouen
- Hotel Kusakabe Armeria
- Gero Onsen Suimeikan
- Nenoue Outdoor Park Ena Hoko.Glamping
- Gero Kanko Hotel Honkan
- Gero Onsen Kissenkan Chikusuitei
- TAOYA Gero
- THE MACHIYA HOTEL TAKAYAMA
- Gero Onsen Yamagataya
- Hilton Takayama Resort
- Gero Onsen Tsuki no Akari
- Mercure Hida Takayama
- Inuyama Onsen Hasshokaku Mizunowo
- Gero Onsen Koyokan Wanpakutei
- Ooedo Onsen Monogatari Premium Gero Honkan
- Point Vacation Gero
- Gero Onsen Minoriso
- Fairfield by Marriott Gifu Gujyo
- Gero Royal Hotel Gatei
- Fairfield by Marriott Gifu Mino
- Fairfield by Marriott Gifu Seiryu Satoyama Park
- Fairfield by Marriott Gifu Takayama Shirakawago
- Hirayu Prince Hotel
Kid-friendly facilities at family hotels in Gifu Prefecture
Kids Stay checked the official information of 29 family hotels in Gifu Prefecture and found 79 kid-friendly facilities on site. Here is a sample by category so you can compare facilities before choosing a room.
Indoor playrooms and kids' spaces(2 hotels, 2 items)
- Gero Onsen Bosenkan · Yuagari Ikoi no Ma (Yuagari Ikoi no Ma (Yuagari Ikoi no Ma (Yuagari Ikoi no Ma (Yuagari Ikoi no Ma (Yuagari Ikoi no Ma (Post-Bath Lounge)))))): A kids' space on basement floor 1 where you can use free Wi-Fi and free drinks while enjoying the tatami area, hammock, drawing blackboard, mat space, picture books, slide and stuf
- Ooedo Onsen Monogatari Premium Gero Honkan · Kids' corner: A corner inside the ryokan for younger children, with picture books and play equipment such as a slide and a ring toss that let them move around as they play. It is listed among th
Pools and water play(3 hotels, 3 items)
- Gero Onsen Suimeikan · Outdoor pool (with a children's pool): The outdoor pool on the 1st floor of Sansui-kaku includes a children's pool 50 cm deep. Hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with last admission at 5 p.m. The rate for staying guests is 1,0
- Hotel Kusakabe Armeria · Summer-only garden pool: A summer-only garden pool where the family can enjoy some water play. Set on high ground overlooking the Gero Onsen town, it is an open, airy pool that only this hotel can offer.
- Nakatsugawa Glamping Morinosora · Outdoor pool: There is an outdoor pool, open in the summer season only. Whether swim diapers may be worn has not been confirmed, so if you plan to get in with a child who is not yet out of diape
Baby gear you can borrow(5 hotels, 11 items)
- Gero Onsen Bosenkan · Baby bed and baby bath chair in the changing room: A baby bed is provided in the changing room of the women's communal bath, and a baby bath chair is also available on a first-come, first-served basis.
- TAOYA Gero · Extra baby futon service: For children under 3, an additional futon can be provided for an extra charge of 2,200 yen.
- Ooedo Onsen Monogatari Premium Gero Honkan · Children's yukata and extra futon bedding for children: Children's yukata are available. As for bedding, children aged 2 and under are booked without being counted in the number of guests, and if one of them needs a futon it can be prov
- Gero Onsen Sasara · Baby gear (bouncer, Bumbo seat, squeaky toddler chair, diaper bin, baby bath): A bouncer, a Bumbo seat, a squeaky low toddler chair (mame-isu) and a diaper bin are available. For bath time there are also a baby bath and a bath mat (a Bumbo seat for the bath),
- Gero Onsen Fugaku · Baby items to borrow and bathing-area equipment: A Bumbo baby seat is available to borrow. The changing room at Kajika no Yu has a baby bed and a diaper bin just for babies, and the bathing area also has a baby bath chair, which
Kids' meals and baby food(5 hotels, 20 items)
- Gero Onsen Suimeikan · Children's meals: Older elementary school children are served dishes based on the adult menu, while younger elementary school children and babies and toddlers are served a Western-style children's s
- Gero Onsen Bosenkan · Kids' meals: Children's menus are prepared for both dinner and breakfast. Children's rates are set at 70% or 50% of the adult rate, and on some plans children at the 50% rate do not receive the
- Gero Royal Hotel Gatei · In-room dinner and breakfast in a private dining room: Dinner is served in your room and breakfast in a private dining room, so families with young children can eat without worrying about other guests. When you book two or more rooms,
- Gero Onsen Kissenkan Chikusuitei · Hida beef kaiseki, served in your room or at the restaurant: A kaiseki course made with A4-grade or higher Hida beef and the branded Nattoku Pork can be enjoyed at your leisure either in your room or at the restaurant, which looks out over a
- Gero Kanko Hotel Honkan · Meals at semi-private reserved seats: Dinner is served at Musoza, a dining hall modeled on the local jikabuki playhouses, at semi-private reserved seats where dishes finished by hand by Japanese-cuisine chefs are broug
Baby-friendly bathhouses(5 hotels, 26 items)
- Gero Onsen Suimeikan · Private-hire baths (Shichiri no Yu and Oribe no Yu): There are two private-hire baths filled with 100% source-fed Gero Onsen water, where families can bathe on their own without worrying about those around them. They are available fr
- THE MACHIYA HOTEL TAKAYAMA · 2 private-hire baths (hinoki bath and cave bath): The main building has 2 types of private-hire bath: a bright hinoki bath surrounded by Hida-grown hinoki with a view of a courtyard garden, and a bath with the feel of a cave. Both
- Gero Onsen Bosenkan · Children's baths (men's and women's communal baths): The men's communal bath has a children's bath made shallow at 30 cm deep, intended for ages 3 to 6, while the women's communal bath has an open-air children's bath with a shallow,
- Gero Royal Hotel Gatei · Private-hire open-air baths: Private-hire open-air baths using natural onsen water, in two types: a garden type and a detached type. They are popular with couples and families, letting the family bathe togethe
- Point Vacation Gero · Onsen communal bath fed by the property's own spring source: Enjoy the smooth waters of Gero, drawn from the property's own spring source, in indoor baths and open-air baths separated for men and women. Set on high ground, the open-air baths
Themed and family rooms(3 hotels, 3 items)
- THE MACHIYA HOTEL TAKAYAMA · Exclusive-use machiya THE MACHIYA HANARE (detached annex): An exclusive-use machiya on the bank of the Miyagawa River, limited to 1 group per day. Across 111 sq m, it has 2 bedrooms (one king bed and 3 sets of futon bedding), 2 bathrooms a
- Gero Onsen Bosenkan · Loft Bed Room Yugamine: A guest room featuring a loft-style bunk bed with a peek-through window and a crawl-through entrance, built as a bit of fun for children. It is 34 sq m and sleeps 2 to 6 guests.
- Nakatsugawa Glamping Morinosora · Room with an indoor playroom: An 8 m dome tent with an indoor playroom, created by renovating the Luxury Room. Inside, the dome is styled to feel like a secret base in the forest, with a wooden slide, a climbin
Kids' programs and activities(5 hotels, 9 items)
- Gero Onsen Koyokan Wanpakutei · Indoor mini dog run: The inn has an indoor mini dog run, so rainy and cold days are no problem. Amenities are generous too, including a bath you can use with your dog and a walking set, making for an e
- Hotel Kusakabe Armeria · Entertainment show: The Amazing Thailand Show is an entertainment show full of laughter and moving moments that everyone from children to older guests can enjoy. It is a popular event and makes for a
- Gero Onsen Yamagataya · Baby plan (with items available to borrow): There is a baby plan for stays with a baby, and items to borrow are set aside specifically for it. Please check the plan details and what is available to borrow with the ryokan whe
- Hirayu Prince Hotel · Birthday benefit (dinner-only plan only): A benefit offered only on the dinner-only plan. When you contact the ryokan in advance and stay with 2 or more adults, a child celebrating a birthday can stay free of charge, and a
- Mercure Hida Takayama · Room rates for children co-sleeping: Children under 12 who do not use a bed stay free of charge; children who use a bed pay the same rate as an adult. Co-sleeping is limited to one child per bed.
Outdoor play and gardens(2 hotels, 3 items)
- Fairfield by Marriott Gifu Seiryu Satoyama Park · Gifu Seiryu Satoyama Park (adjoining): A park adjoining the hotel. Inside the grounds there is climbing play equipment, a footbath corner and the Satoyama Cafe, and events such as a morning market are held here. At the
- Nenoue Outdoor Park Ena Hoko.Glamping · Individual fire pits: A fire pit in front of each dome tent. After check-in it can be used free of charge from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. and from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. the next morning, with lighting and firewood pr
Nearby attractions
Travel tips
Getting around Gifu is mainly done by car, and because mountain roads sit between Gero Onsen, Takayama and the Okuhida Onsen villages, it is reassuring to allow extra time for each leg. If you travel by Shinkansen or limited express, Nagoya or Gifu-Hashima becomes your starting point, and from there it is common to continue to each hot spring town by local train or highway bus. With small children, keeping each day's travel to a single area makes the trip much less tiring.
Best season
Gifu has clearly marked seasons, and the mountain hot spring towns are busiest during the fresh greenery of spring and the fall foliage season. In summer many families head for higher-elevation areas such as the Okuhida Onsen villages to escape the heat, while winter brings beautiful snowy scenery along with the need to watch for icy roads. With children in tow, aiming for a weekday outside of holidays during the settled weather of spring or fall makes it easier to find the inn you want.
Getting there
Driving from the Nagoya direction is the most convenient way to reach Gifu, and the Tokai-Hokuriku Expressway and the Chuo Expressway connect you to Gero Onsen, Takayama, the Okuhida Onsen villages, Gujo Hachiman, Seki and Mino, and Minokamo. By rail, the JR Takayama Main Line is the route used toward Gero Onsen and Takayama, and many families take a limited express train from Nagoya Station.
Frequently Asked Questions
From what age can children enjoy Gifu?
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Gifu offers everything from inns with simple springs and allergy-friendly meals suited to babies, to areas such as Shirakawa-go and the old streets of Takayama that toddlers and elementary school children enjoy. Reviews on Rakuten Travel show many reports of stays with babies, especially around Gero Onsen.
Which area is best for traveling with a baby?
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Families with babies tend to choose Gero Onsen, where inns with private baths and simple springs are concentrated. Official websites list inns with Japanese-style rooms and in-room dining, creating an environment where you can relax without worrying about other guests. Rakuten Travel reviews also include comments on how easy these stays are with a baby.
Is Gifu inconvenient without a car?
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Public transportation runs infrequently in mountain areas such as Gero Onsen, Takayama and the Okuhida Onsen villages, so having a car widens the range of what you can do. Across multiple stay reviews, one common theme is that many families use their inn's shuttle service to and from the station.
Is there anything to do on a rainy day?
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On rainy days many families center their time on inns where they can enjoy the hot springs and baths indoors. Choosing an inn with a private or semi-private dining room means mealtimes are unaffected by the weather. Rakuten Travel reviews also include comments on how comfortable it is to spend time inside these properties in the rain.
When is the best season to visit Gifu?
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The mountain hot spring towns are busiest during the fresh greenery of spring and the fall foliage season, while in summer higher-elevation areas such as the Okuhida Onsen villages are popular for escaping the heat. Winter brings snowy scenery, but you will need to watch road conditions as you travel. With children, staying on a weekday rather than a holiday tends to give you more choice.