Properties with Onsen in Zao Onsen

One of the best ryokans we’ve stayed at in Japan. The location feels straight out of a Ghibli movie, with over 300 years of history and an amazing atmosphere. We stayed for 3 nights and enjoyed some of the best Japanese food each day at the ryokan restaurant. Since both me and my partner have tattoos, we booked the private onsen every evening through reception. The real highlight was the staff. They went above and beyond to make our stay special, spoke good conversational English, and checked in daily to ensure everything was perfect. Highly recommended for an authentic, cozy ryokan experience!

Very beautiful onsen. Mix bath and private onsen

Excellent breakfast and dinner - good spread and top quality food. Great location near Zaō Ropeway

We had an excellent stay, food and presentations were exquisite. We admired the thought that went into presenting food in dishes that are compatible with the “mood” of the food. Only 5 minutes walk to the lift. Staff were professional, rooms were comfortable and clean. We really enjoyed our stay.

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.

Good location and good food.

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.

Staff are friendly and they can speak simple English. Breakfast and dinner are delicious. Room is big and provided the charge cables. Spa is good. Also, there is a big car park on the ground floor.

Amazing, beautiful and so nice. Honestly couldn't recommend this place more.

Beautiful rooms and facilities with very helpful staff