Family-Friendly Hotels in Zao: Snow Monsters and Highland Hot Springs

When choosing a place to stay with children in Zao, many families go back and forth over whether to prioritize a location where the kids can play in the snow or a room where everyone can unwind with a hot spring. With the mountains and the hot springs close together, Zao makes it easy to pick a type of property that matches your purpose, whether you are traveling with a baby or with elementary schoolers.

Zao is a mountain resort straddling Miyagi and Yamagata prefectures, known as a place to enjoy natural scenery through all four seasons, from the juhyo "snow monsters," trees encased in ice and snow in winter, to Okama, the crater lake of the Zao mountain range. The surrounding area also spreads out into hot spring towns and city centers such as Togatta Onsen (hot spring), central Yamagata City and Tendo, and the way the feel of your trip changes depending on where you base yourselves is another trait unique to Zao.

When choosing lodging with children, the room type is a major deciding factor. For families who want to be left to themselves, properties where you can rent a detached building or cottage to yourselves, and that can also arrange childcare or a babysitter, are a reassuring option. For families torn between futons and beds, there are properties with tatami-platform beds or low beds, and whether humidifiers and air purifiers are available to borrow, and whether children's tableware and bibs are provided, are points families with infants and toddlers should not overlook. If the hot spring itself is your goal, properties with a simple spring (a mild, low-mineral hot water said to be gentle even on a baby's skin), or all-inclusive resorts with Japanese-style and Japanese-Western rooms where you never have to think about meals or drinks, come into the picture as well.

The breadth of seasonal pleasures is another part of Zao's appeal. In winter, the standards are snow play from a base close to a ski area and viewing the juhyo snow monsters, which as a rough guide are at their best in the depths of winter. Summer is comfortable thanks to the cool air that comes with the high elevation, and in fall many families visit for the foliage across the Zao mountain range. Choosing a property with a mini kitchen where you can cook for yourselves makes it easier to keep to a small child's mealtime pace, and suits a longer stay as well.

At present, we list 3 properties in the Zao area. The range runs from quiet stays in a building all your own to resorts where hot springs and meals come as a set, so compare them against your family size, your children's ages and the purpose of your trip as you decide.