Hatago Tsubakiya

A new style: a 5-minute walk from Lake Yamanaka, with food and drink welcome

Hatago Tsubakiya has 11 rooms and stands a 5-minute walk from the shore of Lake Yamanaka. Its defining feature is that no meals are served at all and guests are free to bring in their own food and drink. Eating in your room is expressly allowed, so you never have to fit your child's likes and dislikes, allergies or mealtime rhythm around the property's schedule. The shared lounge has a microwave, toaster, coffee maker, tableware and kitchen utensils, so you can heat up prepared dishes you have bought or ready-made pouch baby food and serve them to your child (cooking is not allowed). Pick up whatever you like at a supermarket or convenience store and eat at your family's own pace - for parents of small children who find eating out stressful, this is the easier way to travel.

Natural onsen piped directly from Ishiwari no Yu, reserved for your family

The bath uses natural onsen water piped directly from Ishiwari no Yu, a day-use onsen at Lake Yamanaka. It is a highly alkaline simple onsen with a pH of 10.2, soft water with a reputation for leaving skin smooth. It can be used as a private-hire bath in 40-minute slots from 3 p.m. until 9:30 the next morning, so you can take your time bathing your children as a family without worrying about other guests. Guests write that "when you open the window, Mount Fuji is right there in front of you - it was moving" and that "the onsen itself was alkaline and lovely." On the other hand, the Rakuten Travel rating is a fairly low 2.67 out of 5 (14 reviews), and some guests note that they could not keep the same room on consecutive nights and had to move. Choose it understanding that this is closer to a room-only guesthouse than a hotel with full facilities and service.

Table tennis, billiards and bicycles: plenty to do indoors and out

Inside there are table tennis and billiards corners and a karaoke room, so children do not get bored in the evening or on rainy days. A tennis court with racket and ball is available for a fee, as are bicycles, and a gas grill for barbecues is available to borrow, making the property a useful base for cycling around the lake and playing by the water. Rooms range from the Mount Fuji-view Japanese-Western family room (31.5 sq m, for 1-5 guests, with its own toilet) to economy Japanese-style tatami rooms and doubles with no bath or toilet. For families, the family room, with its tatami space and toilet, is the easiest layout to use. Wi-Fi is free, and there is a coin laundry for a fee, so longer stays work well too.

Staying here with children

Check-in is from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. and checkout is at 10 a.m. If you will arrive after 8 p.m., you need to arrange it in advance. The lights in the building are dimmed at around 10 p.m., making this a quiet property that suits families who like to settle down early. The entire building is non-smoking. Parking is free for 10 cars with no reservation required, and it is about 5 minutes by car from Yamanakako IC. Credit cards are accepted. There is no age limit for children staying. This is a property with a clear character of its own, for guests who choose it having weighed the ease of a private-hire onsen and bringing their own food against the price and the facilities.