Family-Friendly Hotels in Yamagata, Tendo & Kaminoyama Onsen (Hot Spring)

When you start looking for a family stay in Yamagata City, Tendo, or Kaminoyama Onsen, it is hard to know what to judge by. Do you want to settle into a hot spring inn and stay put, or use a hotel by the station as a base and keep moving? Until you decide that, the list never narrows down and the time just slips away. The great thing about this area is that both choices work here without compromise. We list 9 properties, covering both hot spring ryokan and hotels right by the station.

Yamagata City is the prefectural capital, and the hotels cluster around Yamagata Station. Being able to drop your bags right after stepping off the shinkansen makes a real difference for families moving around with a baby carrier or a stroller. At the station-area hotels, Hotel Metropolitan Yamagata, Yamagata Nanokamachi Washington Hotel, Daiwa Roynet Hotel Yamagata Ekimae, Yamagata Station West Washington Hotel, and Hotel Route Inn Yamagata Ekimae, humidifiers and air purifiers are all available to borrow, which is a real help against night waking in the dry months. Some properties also allow a late checkout, so a fussy morning does not have to turn into a stressful departure.

Tendo Onsen and Kaminoyama Onsen, on the other hand, are hot spring towns where the inn itself can be the destination. Tendo is widely known for producing shogi pieces (the carved pieces used in Japanese chess), and Kaminoyama Onsen is a much-loved castle-town hot spring resort looking out over the Zao mountains. In this area, 4 properties have Japanese-style or Japanese-Western rooms, which means the reassurance of floor-level living while your child is rolling over or crawling. Some, like Nihon no Yado Koyou and Hotel Metropolitan Yamagata, also offer rooms with low beds or Japanese-Western layouts.

As for meals, 4 properties have private or semi-private dining rooms, and 4 properties list allergy accommodations. Some, such as Takinoyu, let you choose in-room dining, so you can feed your child without worrying about the people around you. Senkeien Tsukioka Hotel has a kids' buffet, a children's corner, and a playroom, and it both serves baby food and warms up food you bring yourself. Koyou offers a toddler meal menu plus high chairs and bouncers to borrow, so it is easy to match what you choose to your child's age.

When it comes to bathing, Senkeien Tsukioka Hotel states that children who are not yet potty trained may enter the baths, and there is a baby cot in the changing room. Whether you can take an infant into the hot spring is decided property by property, so seeing it spelled out is a big clue when you are choosing. Baby cots are available to borrow at 6 properties, which helps if you want to travel lighter.