Ryokan Yoshidaya

Late review, we traveled around Feb 2023 from Nagoya to Yamagata to enjoy the winter season and to try skiing⛷️. The rooms are great, the food is SUPERB!! the staffs are lovely and caring. PLUS THEY ARE PET FRIENDLY GUYS! They have kose products to use in their bathroom in onsens area. So refreshing! A quality and must try hotel! Love it!

The owner and the staff are friendly and helpful, but the room is cold. There's no washing basin in my room. It's very inconvenient. The onsen is very small. Taking into account of US$230 per night, I don't think it's a value for money choice.

The road is narrow at this area and gps may bring you to other car park. But once you try out few other options you will get it right. Many steps within the ryokan. The ofuro is great. Really hot . You can smell the sulphuric in the air all the time in the zao onsen area. Do take the zao ropeway up. The view is super. Very windy at this time. Do take note the monster tree can only be fully seen by the end of Feb. Following you can still enjoy the view ( slim version) at early Apr. it is not so crowded at this period

Spacious rooms, fantastic service. Beautiful and practical location. Close to the bus terminal, ropeways and outdoor onsen. Staff were unbelievably kind and helpful. Highly recommended

We stayed for 7 nights at Yoshidaya fantastic value for money.|All staff were very polite & helpful. The room was spacious & lovely and warm. We enjoyed the inhouse Onsen if we didn't venture out to nearby public ones- great way to relax after a day on the slopes. All the meals we had were delicious. Great recommendations for other places to eat were also given.

We only stayed 3 nights in Zao onsen but will definitely stay here again when we come back. Unfortunately the weather was terrible on the mountain during our stay (of course it was beautiful the day we left) but from what we could see it would of been spectacular on a clear day. The ryokan was a bit of a maze when you first get there but the rooms were very spacious for Japanese standards and the staff were terrific. The bus station is only a couple of minutes walk down the road. The english spoken at reception was excellent and they were so helpful in telling us how to get around, the best places to go and even the best routes to take on the mountain to see things. The onsens in Zao were much stronger smelling then the others we visited and the separate shower was a nice alternative should you choose. The breakfast was served rather then buffet style and was delicious. The bar across the street that was recommended to us was great for dinner as well with lots of small dishes and a larger bbq style lamb.

Amazing, the staff are nice, the location is great and the food was delicious. It's near two public onsen and they give free tickets. The lady speaks English so there won't be a problem with foreign travelers. The place is a bit old given that it is 350 years old from the Edo period. Even so, if you want to experience traditional and authentic Japanese Ryokan, this is the place. Given a chance, I'll book the same place if I come back.

Zao onsen is very popular which makes the hotel expensive in this city . This Ryokan is cheaper comparatively to other hotels in Zao onsen. However price vs value is not worth it .