Family-Friendly Hotels in Matsumoto: Castle Town and Mountain Hot Springs

When you start looking for a family stay in Matsumoto, you quickly find yourself torn between a hotel near the station (close to Matsumoto Castle and the road to Kamikochi) and a hot spring inn a little farther out. The city center is compact around Matsumoto Station, and both the castle and the art museum are within walking distance. Utsukushigahara Onsen and Tobira Onsen, on the other hand, sit up in the mountains and need a drive from the station, so the shape of your trip changes quite a bit even though you are still in Matsumoto.

Most of the 8 properties listed here are city-center hotels you can walk to from Matsumoto Station. Alpico Plaza Hotel lends bed guards free of charge and has family plans that include diapers and wipes for children under 3. Cribs are a paid rental limited to babies under 1, and only certain room types can take one, so you need to call ahead. Richmond Hotel Matsumoto has Japanese-Western rooms with beds set on a tatami floor; add futons and there is bedding for the whole family. One child of elementary school age or younger can share each bed free of charge, and kids' amenities are handed out at the front desk. Matsumoto Tourist Hotel has tatami twin rooms and separate men's and women's public baths, plus a later checkout. The Japanese-style room at Hotel Matsumoto Yorozuya is the hotel's one smoking room, so if the smell bothers your family, ask in advance whether they can deodorize it.

Families who want a long soak will do well at Utsukushigahara Onsen Shoho, about 20 minutes by car from Matsumoto Station. Alongside the simple-spring public baths and the open-air bath there are three private baths, and the hotel's official information says babies may bathe too (parents judge safety and hygiene for themselves). There are private dining rooms and a kids' lunch plate, and bed guards can be requested in rooms with beds (limited in number and by room type). Farther up the mountain, Tobira Onsen Myojinkan asks families with children to book Japanese-style rooms, and some rooms come with their own open-air bath. Do note, though, that the bed-type rooms in the Seiryuan and Otakato wings do not accept children, and neither do some plans with assigned rooms, so confirm before you book.

Matsumoto Hotel Kagetsu, within walking distance of Matsumoto Castle, has Japanese-style rooms furnished with mingei (traditional folk-craft) furniture and a public bath fed by local groundwater; preschoolers on dinner-and-breakfast plans are served a kids' lunch plate. The Japanese-Western rooms at Hotel Buena Vista pair a tatami area with beds, and the bathroom has a separate washing area, so you can wash up together with your child. The hotel has no public bath of its own, but guests may use the baths at Utsukushigahara Onsen Shoho (part of the same group) free of charge, with a shuttle bus (sign up at the front desk on the day). Rates at many of these hotels change with a co-sleeping child's age and whether bedding is provided, so check each hotel's own terms for your party's ages and numbers before booking.