Family-Friendly Hotels Near Shizukuishi Ski Area: Snow and Hot Springs

When you start looking for a family hotel near the Shizukuishi ski area, it is hard to know what to base the decision on. Should you pick a hotel close to the slopes, one where you can relax in the hot springs, or one with the kind of facilities that keep a trip with a baby from becoming difficult? Shizukuishi and the area around it is one of the few places where you can have all three at once.

This is a highland region cradled by Mt. Iwate and Mt. Akita-Komagatake. In winter it is known for ski areas with excellent snow quality, and in the other seasons it opens out into green pastureland and lake views. Go a little farther and you find long-established hot spring settlements scattered around, including Nyuto Onsenkyo, Oushuku Onsen, and Morioka Tsunagi Onsen, and you can drive on through to Lake Tazawa. Staying several nights at one hotel while changing your destination day by day, snow play one day, hot springs the next, a lakeside walk after that, is the way this area is best enjoyed.

What family travelers will appreciate is that 5 hotels here offer Japanese-style or Japanese-Western rooms. With a child who has just started walking or a baby still crawling, simply being able to put them to sleep on a futon on the floor instead of worrying about falls from a bed lowers the bar for the whole evening. On the food side, 5 hotels accommodate allergies and 4 offer toddler meal options, so many places here clearly expect families to sit down to dinner with small children. 4 hotels promote snow play or a location close to the slopes, which is where families who want to prioritize proximity to the runs should start narrowing things down. In total we list 6 hotels.

Iwate Prefecture also has areas such as Appi Kogen, Hachimantai, Shizukuishi, and Morioka, and the impression a trip leaves depends on how you combine the inland highlands with the hot springs. The area around the Shizukuishi ski slopes is not far from central Morioka, yet the hotels themselves sit in quiet highland surroundings. It suits families who want a sense of getting away without a heavy travel burden.

The types of hotels vary widely too, from a resort set in nature like Kyukamura Nyuto-Onsenkyo, to a large hotel with detached buildings and cottages like Hotel Morinokaze Oushuku, to an inn built around in-room baths like Gensen Itto Iwate Shizukuishi. Decide first whether the slopes or the hot springs come first for your family, then look at the facilities, and the shortlist narrows itself down naturally.