New Year Hidden Gems: Family Stays That Dodge Japan's Busiest Dates

When you start looking for a room over the New Year holidays, the inn you had in mind is already full, and the ones with space cost close to double their usual rate. Plenty of families look at that screen and think about skipping the trip this year. But the whole period is not booked out. The crush is concentrated between December 29 and January 1, while the days on either side, December 26 to 28 and January 2 to 4, still leave some room. A hidden gem in domestic travel is not a distant place nobody has heard of. It is a small shift in your dates, your area, and the way you spend the days.

There are four ways to shift. The first is to move your dates. The second is to stay one station or one onsen town short of the sightseeing spot itself. The third is to choose a hotel with meals included, where the whole day can end inside the building. The fourth is to add a single night near the family you are visiting. The younger your children, the better these four work. Travel with small children is tiring because of the moving itself, so narrowing down where you go and staying longer in one place usually makes life easier for everyone.

In Kanto, Hotel Kogure in Ikaho Onsen has 26 different baths fed by free flowing spring water, three private baths with a view, heya-shoku (meals served in your own room), and a service that warms baby food. It sits short of busy Kusatsu and is built so a whole day can be spent on the property. Asaya in Kinugawa Onsen serves a buffet of about 100 Japanese, Western, and Chinese dishes, has a glass walled kids room and four private baths, and its water is an alkaline simple hot spring. You can reach the onsen town by train, so no one has to drive. In Minamiboso, Kyukamura Tateyama gives every room an ocean view along with its Boso local produce buffet, a kids curry, and a microwave for baby food at the first floor cafe corner. Also in Minamiboso, Grand Mercure Minamiboso Resort & Spa is an all inclusive hotel certified as a Welcome Baby inn, a Japanese certification for properties equipped for babies, with two nursing rooms on the first and second floors, baby food for 5, 7, 9, and 12 month olds, and a play area on the first floor, so families with a 0 or 1 year old can pack lighter.

If you are heading west or south, Hotel New Awaji in Sumoto Onsen on Awaji Island has seven private open air baths and one private family bath available for reservation, plus plans with both dinner and breakfast served in your room, which suits three generation gatherings. Nishimuraya Hotel Shogetsutei in Kinosaki Onsen lends baby futon sets (traditional Japanese bedding laid on the floor) and formula kettles free of charge. Suimeikan in Gero Onsen has 264 rooms across four buildings with private baths and an indoor hot spring pool, and Yunokuni Tensho in Yamashiro Onsen has 18 kinds of baths spread across three large communal bathing areas, with baby chairs provided there. Suginoi Hotel in Beppu has guest rooms designed with the children's brand Miki House and an inflatable bouncing dome, while Dai-ichi Takimotokan in Noboribetsu Onsen has around 35 baths and a hot spring pool you enter in a swimsuit, so children stay happy even on a day you never step outside.

New Year plans often carry minimum stay requirements and pricing set separately from the rest of the year, so once a hotel catches your eye, look at the verified amenities on its page here and then confirm the latest details on the official site and the booking sites. If you would rather start from how you want to spend the holidays, whether that is visiting family, a hotel stay, a trip, or somewhere close to home, we also have a column on ways to spend the New Year. Stepping around a peak period is the same idea behind our Golden Week hidden gems collection.