Family hotels and homes in Kaminoyama

The food was amazing, staff friendly and attentive and the onsen was super relaxing.

Super cosy, beautifully decorated and very snug for a winter visit in the snow. Amazingly hosted with a Christmas dinner, ideas for local trips and a great location for skiing!

Exceptional service from the family running the place :)

Outstanding breakfast buffets. Dinner was a set meal and was fantastic.

Friendly, easy check in. Free parking across the street. Walkable neighborhood, walked to Chinese restaurant for dinner, to convenience store in the morning. Seating area near the lobby with free drinks, a place to relax on arrival. Breakfast was plentiful, Japanese style food. Bonus was the opportunity to try on a kimono for pictures; enjoyed the onsen!

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Having stayed at Zao Onsen thirty years ago when I worked in Japan, I wanted to share the Zao Onsen experience with my husband, and chose this hotel on the basis of the photos and reviews on Booking.com. On arrival, it all seemed very familiar. After experiencing the onsen bath, and the location of our room, I'm quite sure I had chosen the same hotel where I stayed back then! Obviously it has been quite recently refurbished, but there are some parts that don't change so much. We opted to have dinner at the hotel, which was excellent. Due to some confusion about exactly where the Z90 bus for Zao Onsen left Yamagata city,we missed the bus we wanted to take, so arrived around 6.45pm. (According to Google Maps, we could catch the Z90 from a stop about 50 yards from our previous hotel, but the reception staff there insisted we had to go to Yamagata station... so we missed the bus by one minute. After an hour and a half wait for the next one, the first stop after Yamagata station was, yes, you guessed it, 50 yards from our previous hotel!) As dinner is set out with fresh ingredients to be cooked at your table, you can't be later than 7pm. There is a shuttle bus from the hotel to Zao bus termius, but we didn't know about it, so walked to the hotel. Unfortunately, the short cut route we had planned was closed due to road works, so it was a much longer, and steeper, walk. The next morning, we got the shuttle bus to the bus terminus to return to Yamagata city. The onsen is really wonderful. Zao has a very special PH balance to the water. The bath at this onsen is superb.

Great common area, warm and welcoming

The hospitality and service provided by the staff - they sent us to the bus station when needed, allowed us to use the bath after coming from an overnight bus, and changed our rooms when the heater wasn't working.

free onsen. very close to ski rental shop and snowboarding instructor. fairly close to the ski ropes and the gondola to see the snow monster. has an equipment room to store your ski / snowboarding gears. nice authentic dinner and breakfast provided by the hotel.

Great location. Cool common area. Good sized traditional style rooms. Outdoor onsen