Family-Friendly Hotels in Kanto: Sea, Hot Springs, and City Stays

If you want to keep the travel burden low, good candidates are Nasu Highlands in Tochigi and Minakami in Gunma, both easy to reach by Shinkansen, and Minamiboso in Chiba, which is easy to reach by car. In Kanto, 137 hotels lend baby cribs and 92 offer in-room dining, and some, like Hotel Epinard Nasu, provide a hot water pot for making formula and bottle sterilizing equipment.

Tokyo, Yokohama, and the Maihama area are easy to get around by train, and Hakone can be covered with the Romancecar, the mountain railway, and buses. On the other hand, in places like Nasu Highlands, Minamiboso, Kita-Karuizawa, and Chichibu, hotels and sights are spread out, so a car makes getting around much easier. If you go by train, it is reassuring to ask the hotel in advance whether they offer a shuttle from the station.

On a rainy day, the surest option is a hotel where you can enjoy your time indoors. Kanto has 67 hotels with kids' programs and activities, so children are less likely to get bored even without going outside. For sightseeing, we recommend pairing indoor spots such as Kamogawa Sea World, Aqua World Ibaraki Oarai Aquarium, and the museums around Ueno Zoo.

Kanto has 119 hotels with family baths or private reservable baths, and 115 hotels with in-room baths or rooms with an open-air bath. In hot spring towns such as Kusatsu Onsen, Ikaho Onsen, Kinugawa Onsen, and Hakone, even small children who are not used to large shared baths can soak comfortably with just the family. Whether children who are not yet out of diapers may bathe differs by hotel, so we recommend checking before you book.

In summer, Minamiboso, Oarai, and Miura Kaigan are popular for beach play, while Nasu Highlands and Kita-Karuizawa are favorite escapes from the heat. Autumn is the season for fall foliage in Nikko and Hakone, and in the cold of winter, a slow, warming stay at Kusatsu Onsen or Ikaho Onsen is a great fit. Holiday periods and summer vacation get crowded, so with kids, shifting your dates makes both travel and your hotel stay more relaxed.