Family-Friendly Hotels in Hokuriku: Hot Springs, Sea and Castle Towns

When you plan a family trip to Hokuriku, it can be hard to decide where to base yourselves: Ishikawa, Toyama or Fukui. The region has plenty of hot spring towns, fresh seafood, snowy scenery and old castle towns to stroll, so the best fit depends on your children's ages and what you want from the trip. We list 88 properties here, mostly hot spring inns (ryokan) that are easy to stay at with kids.

Ishikawa pairs a day of walking around Kanazawa with the Kaga Onsen area, which includes Yamashiro Onsen, Yamanaka Onsen and Awazu Onsen. Some inns, such as Yamashiro Onsen Housyoutei in Yamashiro Onsen, offer baby beds, baby bathtubs and hot water pots for preparing formula, which makes the area a good candidate if you are traveling with an infant. Toyama suits trips built around mountain scenery and the sea of Toyama Bay, with places like Unazuki Onsen and Tateyama. Fukui works well for toddlers, with sights such as Awara Onsen, Tojinbo cliffs and Katsuyama, known for its dinosaurs.

Two things matter most to many families: the room and the meals. 60 properties have Japanese-style or Japanese-Western rooms, and sleeping side by side on futon is reassuring when your baby or toddler rolls around at night. 19 properties offer baby beds for rent. For meals, 33 properties have toddler menus, 35 accommodate allergies, 22 have private or semi-private dining rooms, and 14 serve meals in your room, so it is easy to find a setting where you can eat without worrying about the people around you.

Bathing is another place where inns differ. 18 properties have family or private baths, and 25 have guest room baths or rooms with an open-air bath, so even children who are not used to large shared baths can enjoy a hot spring with just the family. 15 properties have gentle simple hot spring water, and 12 let you bathe a baby in a baby bathtub. 15 properties run kids' programs, and 11 have playful themed rooms, such as ones with a slide.

The Hokuriku Shinkansen (bullet train) makes it easy to reach Kanazawa, Toyama and Fukui, and an inn near a station lets you get around without a car. A simple way to choose in Hokuriku: with a baby, keep travel short and relax at a hot spring inn; with toddlers, combine your stay with sightseeing spots.