Yoshidaya Ryokan is a very traditional Japanese Ryokan located within easy access to the main street. Everything you would need during your stay are within walking distance, such as chairlifts, a bus terminal, a convenience store, restaurants, Izakaya (Japanese style bar) and Sushi bar. There are friendly English speaking staff to help you. The Onsen is available 24 hours and the staff at Yoshidaya Ryokan will welcome you with warm hospitality to make you feel like home.
Closest gondola - 300 m
Bus stop - Zao Onsen Bus Terminal - 250 m
Train station - Yamagata - 20 km
Restaurants & bars - 30 m
Convenience store - 300 m
Ryokan options & features
Yoshidaya Ryokan - Yamagata, Japan
Yoshidaya Ryokan - Yamagata, Japan
Yoshidaya Ryokan - Yamagata, Japan
Yoshidaya Ryokan - Yamagata, Japan
Yoshidaya Ryokan - Yamagata, Japan
Yoshidaya Ryokan - Yamagata, Japan
Yoshidaya Ryokan - Yamagata, Japan
Yoshidaya Ryokan - Yamagata, Japan
Yoshidaya Ryokan - Yamagata, Japan
ZAO ONSEN
Yamagata
The Mountain
Zao Onsen is located in Yamagata prefecture and famous for the snow monsters, which you can actually ski & snowboard through. There are 25 courses with 41 chairlifts including a couple of ropeways and a gondola. The village is very traditonal Japanese. Similar to Nozawa Onsen, but less crowded.
The town’s hot springs are known as Hime-no-Yu (princesses’ bath) and “Kodomo-no-Yu” (children’s bath) because of their health benefits. There are three public baths in the town; Kami-yu, Shimo-yu and Kawara-yu, each of which is reasonably priced (200 yen each).
The Location
It is about 2 hours 40 minutes from Tokyo to Yamagata station by Shinkansen. Fom Yamagata station to Zao Onsen there is a public bus which takes 30 minutes. We can help you plan yor transfer from the airport or anywhere in Japan.
Where to stay
Most of the accommodation at Zao is Japanese style hotels with traditional Japanese Onsens & a choice of western beds or Japanese futons. They are also centrally located within the township and within close walking distance to the chair lifts.
Where to eat
Most of the accommodation options will offer dinner, but Zao also has a vast choice of dining options to explore within the town.
12 february, 2025
Thank you for your help with our holiday. We had a great time. Quite a lot of fresh snow, some windy snowy days, a couple of amazing blue bird days
At Zao Onsen, it was a lovely Onsen town.
Yoshidaya Ryokan was friendly with traditional Japanese breakfast. The building is tired. It’s a good 10 min walk in either direction to the start of the ski lifts. The host was good giving advise regarding best options to get to the snow monsters with less queues. Much easier to get around once the sun came out and visibility improved !!
Thanks
Jenny Danks
Late Jan 2024
Thanks so much yet again for your help. We had a great trip.
This was our second stay at Yoshidaya Ryokan, and once again we loved the warm and friendly service. The location is really good, and the breakfast was great as always. This ryokan has a really nice “homey” feel. Also the staff were very helpful in arranging my ski gear to get shipped with Yamato transport.
Thanks!
Early Jan 2016
Our ryokan was excellent, the staff were very helpful. The onsen was great too, and the local town public onsen were worth visiting also. I would recommend Zao onsen to anyone who would like to experience a more traditional Japanese mountain experience and who like a more peaceful town than the busier places like Hakuba. I will go back in the future. As always your service was great too.
All the best,
Andrew Maher
Tatami Room accommodating up to 3 guests
Rates from 15,000 yen per person per night twin or triple share with breakfast included
