Fresh Green Highland With Kids: Hotels Where May and June Days Are Made for Playing Outside

You want to let your little one run around outdoors, but midsummer brings heat and insects, and some years you end up barely getting outside at all. From May into June, the highlands have neither problem in full force yet, and the days are long, so this is the time of year when you can get the most hours of outdoor play, from morning right through to evening. At higher elevations the temperature stays gentler than down on the plains, so chasing a running child does not leave parents drenched in sweat. That is the quiet gift of the highlands in early summer.

On the other hand, June brings the rainy season to much of Japan, and the more a trip is built around outdoor play, the more easily the weather can undo it. Choosing a hotel that has an indoor play space or hands-on programs means a rainy day never wipes out the whole day. Seisenryo Hotel & Cottage in the Yatsugatake and Kiyosato Highland area has an outdoor space with a big treehouse-style play structure plus an indoor kids' corner for rainy days, along with Jersey cow feeding and nature school programs. Cribs are available, and diaper pails, toilet seat reducers, and washbasin step stools are lent free of charge, with baby food warming at the restaurant. It all adds up to an easy base for outdoor play with a baby in tow.

Pension Yamanikki in the Nasu Highland offers the kind of stay only a small five-room inn can. The lawn garden has a handmade wooden swing, a rocking horse, and a seesaw, and you can walk straight down from the garden to the mountain stream in front. A separate log house holds a playroom with around 3,000 manga volumes and toys, so a rainy afternoon has somewhere to go. Both baths are reserved privately for each guest room, and baby shampoo is provided. In the evening there are firefly viewing tours nearby, and the inn offers free blueberry picking. Firefly activity is updated daily on the firefly calendar on the official site.

If you are traveling with a baby and want the most thorough facilities, Karuizawa Prince Hotel West is an easy choice. Cribs, bed rails, baby baths, and strollers are available to borrow, and the nursing room off the lobby has two diaper changing tables, a microwave for sterilizing bottles, and two fully private nursing booths. There is a forest adventure course, tree trekking, and nature programs, and the cottage area has a babysitting service. For families who want farm experiences to be the heart of the trip, Fuji Milkland Kogen Lodge in the Asagiri Highland fits well. The free-entry animal petting area has cows, goats, and sheep, you can try milking and butter making, and the lodge has a kitchen with cookware so you can cook your own meals.

If you are willing to travel farther, Shin Furano Prince Hotel in Furano has a 19-stage tree adventure course and a workshop for making your own butter and cheese, while Aso Farmland Asohealth no Mori pairs its Genki no Mori activity park and Fureai Animal Kingdom with indoor facilities that work in the rain and spacious hot spring baths.