Family-Friendly Hotels in Kusatsu Onsen: Baby Bathing, Welcome Baby Plans & In-Room Dining

When you choose a family hotel in Kusatsu Onsen, the first thing on your mind is probably the water itself. Kusatsu's hot spring water is strongly acidic and can irritate the delicate skin of a baby. Some hotels explain how to dilute the water in a baby bath or provide baby chairs in the public bath, and whether a hotel offers that kind of guidance is a good first clue. A private bath that only your family uses, or a guest room with its own open-air bath, lets you cut a soak short without worrying about anyone else. At an elevation of 1,200 m, the highland town stays cool in summer, which makes it a nice escape from the heat for a family trip.

For families with babies aged 0 to 2, Kusatsu Onsen Kusatsu Now Resort Hotel says children who are not yet out of diapers may enter the bath, and it offers baby chairs in the public bath and baby futons to borrow. If milk and baby food are your priority, Hotel Sakurai has a baby bed in the changing room, and a microwave in the second-floor lounge lets you sterilize bottles and warm baby food you bring yourself. Kusatsu Onsen Pension Hino Ataru Basho lends baby baths and recommends diluting the hot spring water for children with sensitive skin, and its tatami-floored private bath is available 24 hours a day. Kusatsu Onsen Yorokobi no Yado Takamatsu has a Welcome Baby Plan, with free stays for children up to age 3 and the private bath at half price, and it also lends baby beds.

If you want a calmer mealtime, the hotels that offer in-room dining are Kusatsu Onsen Yorokobi no Yado Takamatsu and Kusatsu Onsen Boun. At Takamatsu, if you choose the in-room dining plan, a kaiseki (multi-course Japanese) meal is served in your room, and the hotel also has private dining rooms, a counter-style dining area, and a garden-style private bath. At Boun, the hotel assigns dinner to your room, a private dining room, or the dining hall. Food allergy support there requires notice at least one week before your stay, and complete removal of allergens is not possible. If you would like to bathe as a family only, Kusatsu Onsen Masunariya Ryokan gives each guest room its own private bath, and dinner is served in a private dining room. Kusatsu Onsen Yunoyado Misago has three private baths with inside locks, free to use 24 hours a day.

For toddlers through elementary school children, a hotel with play facilities is a good fit. Kusatsu Onsen Kusatsu Now Resort Hotel has an indoor pool open year-round, and children who are not yet out of diapers can swim if they wear swim diapers. Hotel Sakurai has a kids' space in its post-bath lounge and a pool for children. One thing to check before you book is the policy on sleeping with your baby: some hotels, such as Kusatsu Onsen Hotel Ichii, do not accept infants who use bedding without a meal.

The shared public baths around the Yubatake (the central hot spring field) are baths you use together with other guests. If you want to bathe as a family only, a hotel's private bath or in-room bath is the way to go. In Kusatsu Onsen, 10 hotels have private baths, and 7 hotels have rooms with features such as an open-air bath. Kusatsu Onsen Yorokobi no Yado Takamatsu, mentioned above, has two private baths, which cost 2,200 yen (tax included) per room for 50 minutes and are booked at the front desk on the day (half price with the Welcome Baby Plan described earlier). Kusatsu Onsen Yubatake Sensui has no private bath, but every room has a hot spring bath fed by the Yubatake source, so your family can soak whenever you like (it is a room-only hotel, with no dinner or breakfast). Kusatsu Onsen Hotel Ichii, on the other hand, has no private bath, and its hot spring bathing is in a public bath and open-air bath that switch between men and women.