Spring Break With Kids: The Warm South, Theme Parks, Cherry Blossoms and Hot Springs, and Kansai

When you start planning a spring break trip, the first question is usually whether it will still be cold or already warm. Late March through early April is the time of year when temperatures vary most from region to region. Head south and your kids can play outside in short sleeves, while inland areas and the mountains still hold onto winter air morning and night. What your children wear and what you pack both depend on the destination, so searching for a hotel before you settle this makes it hard to narrow anything down.

There is another thing worth knowing: compared with Golden Week, Japan's long national holiday stretch, families' travel dates are more spread out over spring break, so crowds tend to be lighter even in the same popular areas. You can sometimes book under gentler conditions than during a long consecutive holiday, which also makes it a season when it is easy to consider a wide range of destinations. So the question becomes whether to head south for warmth, stay at a theme park base, combine cherry blossoms with hot springs, or take it slow in the Kansai region. Narrowing your hotel search by picking one of these four directions is the approach least likely to go wrong.

For families who want an early taste of warm weather, AJ Resort Island Ikeijima in Uruma, Okinawa Prefecture, is a good fit. The guests-only outdoor pool is a seasonal one that usually opens in late April, so over spring break you can relax in the kids' playroom with a slide and a ball house, the private bath with natural hot spring water, and the Japanese-Western style cottages. Kirishima Kokusai Hotel in Kirishima, Kagoshima Prefecture, has Kirishima Kids Park, divided into three areas by age group, which means kids can still burn off energy indoors on chilly days. The hotel has ten or more kinds of baths, with simple hot spring water as well as sulfur springs.

If theme parks and amusement parks are your goal, every room at Hotel Okura Tokyo Bay in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, is at least 44 square meters, and you can also choose Japanese-style rooms where futon bedding is laid out on tatami floors. Baby cribs, bed guards, and formula-warming pots are available to borrow, and guests staying in Japanese-style rooms can use the hot spring style bath built from Izu stone. Nishiura Onsen Tenku Kaiyu no Yado Suehiro in Gamagori, Aichi Prefecture, is an all-ocean-view hotel that pairs easily with a visit to Laguna Ten Bosch. It has a sky-top open-air bath looking over Mikawa Bay and two indoor private open-air baths, a quiet way to close out a day of playing.

For families who want hot springs along with cherry blossom season, there is Hotel & Spa Anda Resort Izukogen in Ito, Shizuoka Prefecture. Its ten private baths on the grounds are free, need no reservation, and are used on a first-come basis, and there is a baby room with a diaper changing table, a water warmer for formula, and a nursing sofa. Shimoda Kurofune Hotel in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture, has ocean views from every room and a free kids' room with picture books, Plarail toy trains, and a slide, open from morning until night. In the Kansai region, Hotel New Awaji and its annex Awaji Musenkei at Sumoto Onsen in Sumoto, Hyogo Prefecture, offer a wide range of family-friendly options including heya-shoku (meals served in your own room), kaiseki course meals sized for children, and private baths.

Items available to borrow are limited in number, and age requirements and policies on children sharing a bed differ from hotel to hotel. Cherry blossom timing and seasonal opening dates also shift from year to year, so check the verified amenities on each hotel page, then confirm timing with the latest information from the hotel and the local government.

For a spring break family trip, prices change between the crowded days of late March and the emptier days of early April, so whether you can shift your dates becomes the deciding factor in choosing a hotel.