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15 picks in Japan

Where to stay with kids in Japan

We list areas and property types rather than single hotels: family-room availability changes constantly, and the area plus the room requirement is what survives contact with a booking engine.
Japan with Kids: Itineraries, Where to Stay & When to Go

Family hotel picks in Japan

  • Shinjuku — family rooms near the station
    ShinjukuMid-range

    Shinjuku — family rooms near the station

    Shinjuku has the densest cluster of hotels that genuinely sleep four or five in one room, and direct lines to both airports, Hakone and the rest of the city.

    • Direct Narita Express and Odakyu Romancecar services
    • Large hotels with quad and connecting rooms
    • 24-hour food within a few minutes' walk
    • Shinjuku Gyoen park for a slow morning

    Fitting a family in

    Look for rooms described as quad, family or 'triple + extra bed'. Japanese hotel rooms are small: confirm the stated maximum occupancy rather than assuming a sofa bed exists.

    Watch out. The station is enormous and poorly signposted at first. Pick a hotel with an exit number in its directions.

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  • Ueno & Asakusa — better value, calmer evenings
    Ueno / AsakusaBudget

    Ueno & Asakusa — better value, calmer evenings

    Noticeably cheaper than the western districts, next to the zoo and museum park, and a quieter environment with young children.

    • Walking distance to Ueno Park, the zoo and the science museum
    • Direct Keisei Skyliner to Narita
    • Old-town restaurants that open earlier than the city centre

    Fitting a family in

    More Japanese-style rooms in this area, which often sleep a family of four on futons more comfortably than a Western twin.

    Watch out. Further from Shibuya and Shinjuku — budget 25–35 minutes each way for a night out.

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  • Hakone — ryokan with a private onsen
    Hakone-Yumoto / GoraHigher-end

    Hakone — ryokan with a private onsen

    A hot-spring inn is the reason to stop in Hakone at all, and a private or family bath removes the two issues that complicate onsen with children: gender separation and tattoo rules.

    • Tatami rooms that sleep four or five on futons
    • Dinner and breakfast usually included
    • Private or rentable baths at family-oriented properties

    Fitting a family in

    One tatami room typically sleeps a whole family. Confirm whether children's meals are included and at what age they are charged as adults.

    Watch out. Meal times are fixed and early, often 18:00. Rates with dinner included are high compared with a city hotel.

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  • Kyoto Station — shortest journeys with kids
    Kyoto StationMid-range

    Kyoto Station — shortest journeys with kids

    Kyoto's buses are the hard part of the city with children. Staying at the station cuts most journeys to a single ride and puts Nara, Osaka and the Shinkansen on the doorstep.

    • Direct trains to Nara, Osaka and Kansai airport
    • Department-store food halls in the station building
    • The widest choice of larger rooms in the city

    Fitting a family in

    Family rooms in Kyoto book out months ahead for cherry-blossom and autumn-colour weeks. Reserve earlier here than anywhere else in Japan.

    Watch out. The station district has little atmosphere in the evening compared with Gion or the river.

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  • Osaka Umeda — the day-trip base
    Umeda / Osaka StationMid-range

    Osaka Umeda — the day-trip base

    Better value and easier family rooms than Kyoto, with Kyoto and Nara both under an hour away and a direct line to Universal Studios.

    • Direct rail to Kyoto, Nara, Kobe and Kansai airport
    • Large hotels with quad rooms
    • Extensive covered shopping and food for wet days

    Fitting a family in

    Quad rooms are more common and cheaper here than in Kyoto, which makes Osaka the practical base for a family doing both cities.

    Watch out. Less atmospheric than Kyoto. Plan evenings in Namba or Dotonbori, 10 minutes by subway.

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  • Osaka — hotels on the Universal line
    Bentencho / Universal CityMid-range

    Osaka — hotels on the Universal line

    A theme-park day is long at both ends. Being on the JR Yumesaki line removes two changes when everyone is tired.

    • Direct train to the park entrance
    • Official partner hotels offer early park entry on some tickets
    • Quieter at night than the central districts

    Fitting a family in

    Partner hotels near the park are built for families and have the most four-person rooms in the city.

    Watch out. Prices at the park-adjacent hotels rise sharply on peak dates, and the area has little to do besides the park.

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  • Hiroshima Station — rooms beside the Shinkansen
    Hiroshima Station / Minami-kuMid-range

    Hiroshima Station — rooms beside the Shinkansen

    Most families spend one night in Hiroshima between two longer train legs. Staying at the station removes a luggage transfer at both ends, and the trams to the Peace Park and the JR line to the Miyajima ferry both leave from the forecourt.

    • Trams to the Peace Park from outside the building
    • JR Sanyo line direct to the Miyajima ferry pier
    • Station food halls and a shopping centre for a late arrival
    • The widest choice of triple and quad rooms in the city

    Fitting a family in

    The business-hotel chains around the station carry most of the city's triples and quads. Rooms are small, so check the stated maximum occupancy rather than assuming an extra bed will fit.

    Watch out. The station side has little atmosphere in the evening, and the Peace Park is a 15-minute tram ride rather than a walk.

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  • Miyajima — island ryokan after the last ferry
    Miyajima islandHigher-end

    Miyajima — island ryokan after the last ferry

    The island empties when the day-trip ferries stop, and the shrine approach, the deer and the lit gate are close to deserted in the evening. A tatami room also sleeps four or five on futons without paying for two rooms.

    • Tatami rooms that sleep a whole family on futons
    • Dinner and breakfast usually included in the rate
    • The shrine and the gate within a short walk once the crowds leave

    Fitting a family in

    One room per family is normal here. Confirm whether children's meals are included and at what age a child is charged as an adult.

    Watch out. Very few beds on the island and prices to match, fixed and early dinner times, and everything shuts early — there is no evening to go out into beyond the shrine approach.

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  • Kanazawa Station — quad rooms and the loop bus
    Kanazawa StationMid-range

    Kanazawa Station — quad rooms and the loop bus

    The station end has the newest hotels and the highest concentration of rooms that genuinely sleep four, and the loop bus to the garden, the market and both historic districts leaves from the terminal below.

    • Loop bus to every main sight from the station terminal
    • Covered access between the station and most hotels, which matters in a wet city
    • Omicho Market a short bus ride or a 15-minute walk away

    Fitting a family in

    Newer station-side hotels carry more quad and connecting rooms than the centre. Twin rooms with an extra bed are common but tight for four.

    Watch out. A 25-minute walk or a bus ride from Kenrokuen and the restaurants of Katamachi, so every evening ends with a journey back.

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  • Korinbo & Katamachi — apartments near the garden
    Korinbo / KatamachiMid-range

    Korinbo & Katamachi — apartments near the garden

    The central district is flat, walkable to Kenrokuen and the castle park, and has the most restaurants open in the evening — which removes the bus journey at the end of a wet day.

    • Walking distance to Kenrokuen, the castle park and the samurai district
    • A kitchen and a washing machine for a stop in the middle of a long trip
    • Restaurants and covered shopping within a few minutes

    Fitting a family in

    Two-bedroom apartments are available and usually cheaper than two hotel rooms, which is rarely true elsewhere in Japan.

    Watch out. Older buildings often have no lift, and check-in is frequently by keybox with nobody on site — awkward if a train runs late.

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  • Onna coast — beach resorts with family rooms
    Onna / central west coastHigher-end

    Onna coast — beach resorts with family rooms

    The west-coast strip is the only part of Okinawa that works as a beach week without a long daily drive: a netted hotel beach, pools on site, and roughly an hour to the aquarium in one direction and to Naha in the other.

    • Netted private beach and pools on site
    • Family and connecting rooms are standard here, unlike mainland city hotels
    • Reef snorkelling straight off the beach at many properties
    • Roughly halfway between the airport and the aquarium

    Fitting a family in

    Resorts on this coast are built for domestic family travel, so four-person rooms with two double beds are common and need no special search.

    Watch out. A car is effectively required — there is little within walking distance of most properties, so resort restaurants become the default every evening. Rates spike in Japanese school holidays, and beaches close outright during typhoon warnings.

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  • Naha — monorail hotels for a car-free stay
    Naha (Kokusai-dori / Omoromachi)Mid-range

    Naha — monorail hotels for a car-free stay

    Naha is the only part of the island where a family can function without driving: the monorail links the airport, the castle, the main shopping street and the department stores, and restaurants are within walking distance of the hotels.

    • Monorail to the airport and to Shurijo Castle
    • Kokusai-dori shopping street and the covered market arcades
    • Cheaper than the west-coast resorts, with far more places to eat

    Fitting a family in

    City-hotel triples and quads exist but are small. Apartment-style rooms with a kitchenette are the better fit for four.

    Watch out. The city beaches are artificial and modest next to the west coast, and the aquarium is a two-hour drive away — so a car or an organised tour is still needed for at least one day.

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  • Sapporo Station and Odori — rooms on the subway
    Sapporo (Station / Odori)Mid-range

    Sapporo Station and Odori — rooms on the subway

    Sapporo is the one place on the island where a family needs no car, which makes it the sensible first and last stop: the airport train arrives inside the station building, the subway and a long underground concourse link the station to Odori without going outside, and the food halls and arcades absorb a wet or a freezing day.

    • Rapid train from New Chitose airport into the station building
    • Underground walkway between the station and Odori, which matters at minus eight
    • Department-store food halls and covered shopping arcades
    • The widest choice of triple and quad rooms on the island

    Fitting a family in

    The business-hotel chains around the station carry most of the city's triples and quads and the rooms are small. Apartment-style rooms with a kitchenette suit four better and are easier to find here than anywhere else in Hokkaido.

    Watch out. Rates and availability across the whole city tighten sharply for the February festival week and the New Year period. Sapporo is also the least distinctive part of the island, so every landscape day begins with a two-hour journey out and ends with the same one back.

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  • Pension or farm stay in the Furano and Biei hills
    Furano / Nakafurano / BieiMid-range

    Pension or farm stay in the Furano and Biei hills

    Staying in the hills removes the two-and-a-half-hour drive from Sapporo at both ends of the best day of the trip, and puts the flower farms, the Biei loop and Asahiyama Zoo all within about an hour. The small pensions cook dinner on site, which solves the evening in an area where almost nothing is open after dark.

    • Flower farms, the Biei hill loop and the zoo all within about an hour
    • Dinner and breakfast cooked on site at most pensions
    • Roadside dairy, sweetcorn and melon in season
    • Ski lifts on the same slopes from December

    Fitting a family in

    Pensions have only a handful of rooms each, some Japanese-style with futons that sleep four in one room. Confirm whether children's meals are included and at what age a child is charged as an adult, and book July months in advance.

    Watch out. A car is not optional here and the dinner sitting is fixed and early. There is nothing to walk to in the evening, the lavender weeks sell out the whole area, and in winter the same roads need snow-driving confidence.

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  • Onsen hotel at Noboribetsu or Lake Toya
    Noboribetsu / Lake ToyaHigher-end

    Onsen hotel at Noboribetsu or Lake Toya

    One hot-spring night is the standard way to break the long leg between the airport and the rest of the island, and it is the rare Japanese room type where four or five people sleep in one space without paying for two rooms. The larger family-oriented properties here serve a buffet dinner rather than a fixed multi-course meal, which works considerably better with children.

    • Tatami rooms that sleep four or five on futons
    • Dinner and breakfast normally included in the rate
    • Indoor and outdoor baths on site, with private baths at family-oriented properties
    • The steam valley or the lake shore within walking distance

    Fitting a family in

    One room per family is the norm. Confirm whether children's meals are included, at what age a child is charged as an adult, and whether a private bath can be reserved rather than queued for.

    Watch out. Dinner sittings are fixed and early and the towns have very little open afterwards. Public baths are gender-separated and many restrict visible tattoos. Rates including two meals are high next to a city hotel, and a night here is only worth buying if the route passes this way anyway.

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