Yamagata hotels & places to stay

Most of the Metropolitan hotels are just beside the JR stations and Metropolitan Yamagata hotel is itself in the station building. I have stayed in this hotel a few times and I like the excellent location. The room is clean and spacious. There are many eateries nearby and also a shopping centre in the building. I strongly recommend this hotel for first time visitors to Yamagata.

If you are going to Zao Onsen for ski or snowboard, you have to know that all the hotels here are not ski-in and ski-out. So book a hotel with a good location is very important. Takamiya Hotel Lucent is just in front of the central ropeway center, very easy to go up to the mountain. Many of my friends they all recommend Takamiya Hotel Lucent, because of its friendly and helpful staffs, also its great and clean environments. And of course, I love their outdoor onsen (hotspring). Next time, I will still stay here :)

The place is located about a 10 min walk to the nearest ski lift, has two hot springs that were excellent after a day of skiing. The dinner was exceptional, with fresh meats, sashimi, soups, veggies. There are a couple of massage chairs in the lounge, that were utilized by me a lot. The rooms were large and the tatami futons were actually very comfortable and I slept great. The only problem, is the staff has very limited english but they try their best.

All Staff is very excellent in good manner, hospitality and helpful. Hotel sells cake and breakfast, but it didn't include on our stay. We stay on Feb 16, 2017 winter season for go to Zao Onsen. However, we arrived late fr Hakodate - Yamagata in which last bus operated up to 20pm. Thus, we prefer to re-arrange schedule and staff recommend Public onsen by taxi. The taxi was costly approx.Y6000 return but for onsen was only Y350.-/person. However, we don't regret with this experience since the view along road trip was excellent. In the morning, we went to Zao onsen by purchase ticket trip Y4000. Amazing view and will be back here.

[Plus] 1. Very good service 2. Very good location - (1 minute walk to Zao Rope Way) 3. Nice view from breakfast room 4. Reply my email within an hour 5. Pick-up service ----------------- [Minus] 1. Room rate was a bit too high in comparison with our expectations 2. Dinner was just average - Not "Wow" ----------------- [Other] Zao onsen is a quite small town with a small number of English speakers. We could walked from Zao ropeway to Uwanodai with 20 minutes. It is very quiet after 9PM but there are few shops and restos available til late night so halfboard is a good choice but not necessary. Ski rental shops are on every corner. Town and Slop maps are a bit different from actual.

I stayed at this hotel for 2 nights and was impressed with the value I got from my stay. I paid about USD50 per night for this business class hotel and will definitely returns owing to its superiority on: 1) location - the hotel is located just a mere 500m from the Yamagata train station and regional inter-city bus station (to Sendai, Zao Onsen, Kaminoyama). The hotel is also near to numerous eatery outlets and just sits next to a local supermarket (Max Value) and convenience store (7-11). In addition, it is about 1km away from the Kajo Park & Castle, Yamagata museum and Museum of Art; 2) staff service - staff at reception speaks fair amount of English to enable effective communication; in addition they are very helpful to address my travel needs eg. helping to call a travel agent to book Zao Snow Mobile which could only be booked via phone in local language; 3) amenities like self service laundry, vending machine and even a smart phone for making local calls and internet connection

We stayed 2 nights at APA Hotel Yamagata-Ekimae-Odori from 7th Nov to 9th Nov. The hotel situated from a walkable distance from JR Yamagata train station. The checkin-checkout procedure was fast and smooth. We were informed that we can get free small breakfast (bread + drinks) each morning which was nice (we didn't end up coming down to take it though since we don't usually have breakfast ^^"). The room was nice and clean and the bed was comfortable. The aircon/heater was central control so we couldn't adjust temperature of the room which was a bit annoying since everytime it gets too hot we had to open the window and since the hotel is next to main road it was a bit noisy. The bathroom was surprising big but the bathtub was a bit odd the way they built it. Wifi signal was pretty good and stable. The space between the table in the room and the bed was kinda tiny so anyone with long legs would have problem sitting in that space! Overall, for the price we paid for, we were happy.

We were a family of three. Spent one night at Hammond & were very impressed by the ryokan staff! They tried their very best to accomodate us, drove us back & forth between Hammond & cable car station, gave constructive ideas about the hiking trail. The ryokan itself is dated but generally it is clean & organised. The hot spring is small but traditional & "authentic". Food is delicious. Shabushabu (hot pot) for dinner and breakfast is hearty. Will recommend this place to others! Thank you Hammond!

The room is big and clean. The onsen in the hotel is nice and comfortable. You can not use soap in the public onsen outside the hotel. The hotel owners are willing to provide any assistance you need. For example, I can not find any shop that sells apple and strawberry then I ask help for that to the hotel owner, he gave me one bag with 5 sweet apple in 10 minutes!!! It is a wonderful stay in the hotel. I will come to this hotel again if I go snowboarding again in Zao!

We paid $185 for one night including breakfast and dinner. Dinner was great and plentyful. There are 4 onsen pools and each will melt u in total relaxation. Topping it off with exceptional Japanese service that make you felt at home like being the king in ones cattle. Hotel has free pick up at the yamagata station at 1600 hrs and drop off at 0930 and 1530 hrs. However need to call and make reservation for such service. Pick up point is located on the west end of the station.

Very good location as it is juz beside a ski centre with a ski school. The hotel staffs are very friendly and helpful. I enjoyed the 2 onsens so much. Great experience for me to try their open air onsen on a winter snowing day haha. One of the service provided that shocked me is they will drive you anytime to anywhere in Zao Area. I appreciate that so much. This Zao Trip is the great highlight of my japan trip!

other reviews seem to suggest that there is only 1 small onsen, which is not true. there are 2 small onsen of natural sulphur base and 1 big one of normal colourless spring water. i have thoroughly enjoyed the onsen. the hotel is also near the famous natural big onsen, within 15min walk. u can buy the ticket at the hotel at 400yen and save 100yen. the service is good and friendly. free shuttle to and from the zao onsen bus terminal. it is quite a climb even during autumn season. it is situated next to the forest. so you can take a walk when the weather is good

as soon as you exit the station at Tendo you can smell the fresh mountain air. This hotel was fantastic and I would definitely stay again, in fact I would go out of my way to go back to Japan to stay here longer and see more of the sights. The hotel staff are wonderful and they go out of their way to impress and help. There is a very good shuttle service to Tendo station so that you can go to different places like Yamadera etc amazing . you will love it . don't hesitate

It is a quite an old but very clean Japanese ryokan. The room provided is at third level without lift. It might be a problem if you carry a big luggage. The friendly host can communicate in English quite well and is very helpful by providing an umbrella during raining day. The ryokan also provides free entrance tickets to the 3 public hot spring bath within Zao hot spring. One of them is just right opposite the ryokan. This ryokan is located at Zao Hot Spring area where can be reached by bus (1000 yuen) from the bus station next to Yamagata train station.

I booked Tsuruya Ryokan for my parents-in-law(60's couple) who from the overseas to visit my home town. To be honest I was worried about if they could feel comfortable for few nights, however they absolutely loved there and had a wonderful experience. Especially they were really happy to sleep on the western style low bed instead Futon bed on the floor, which made the elder couples body relaxed. Actually another traditional hotels did not have an option of the bedroom so I think this bedroom is a really nice advantage for Tsuruya. Moreover, this traditional hotel had an amazing customer service as Japanese style but very flexible to the foreigner guests all the time indeed. I already knew that this hotel has a very high reputation within my local area people, but I evidentially know they give a great atmosphere and hospitality to all of us, even international people. I super recommend there!

Hotel is right in front of Yamagata JR Station. The Japanese buffet breakfast is great. Staff is welcoming and friendly, and get things done very quickly. Their indoor restaurant serves decent meals at reasonable prices. Shopping is within minutes walk, and a 24 hours supermarket is just at the backyard of the hotel. Yamagata City is a good base to explore the prefecture, with Yamadera 20mins away by train, Ginzan Onsen about 90mins away via train/bus, and Zao Onsen 60mins via bus. Great city!

We opted to come here for the Onsen and the public Onsen was beautiful; however there are no pictures allowed. I took a solo picture before I saw the sign and the hotel was aware, I wonder if there were cameras? The private Onsens did not match the pictures the hotel proposed. It was great to experience the natural Onsen, nonetheless! Beautiful! Only wish was you can rent that as a private vs. sharing with a bunch of other individuals.