Gokan-no-yu Tsuruya — Hotel in Yamagata

As suggested by the topic, this is one of the most forigener friendly hotel in the area, judged by the level of easy access, multi-lingual signage and above average English proficiency of a small number of the staffs. This hotel is by no mean an outstanding establishment, but it does ease the frustration if you don't speak the Language. ||||||Location:||||If you're here for the skiing or the Zao Peak, the location is pretty good. 10 minutes walk away from both the ski hill and the Gondola to the peak. There are a few restaurant around the corner, as well as a post office. The bus stop for leading back to the city is located right across from this property, making arrival and departure quite easy.||||||Getting There:||||Zao Onsen Area is located 40mins away from Yamagata City, and is only accessible by either bus or driving. Find you way to JR Yamagata Station, and the bus will depart every our until 8:40pm daily (except sat, sun and Holidays where the last bus is 6:20pm). Parking is free at the Tsuruya Hotel, but make sure you arrive earlier to secure a spot as the car park gets full early.||||The closest airport from here is Yamagata Airport, served twice daily by JAL from Tokyo and Osaka. Car rental is available in both JR Yamagata Station and the Yamagata Airport. All Rental car will include free GPS and major car rental company (e.g. Toyota, Times) will have GPS in English interface available as option.||||||Services:||||Typical Japanese hospitality, outstanding but a bit robotic. Staffs that speak efficient English was a surprise, this is a rare sighting in Japanese hotels.||||||Food:||||Although this is an Onsen Hotel, your room rate might not include meals at all, and it should clearly say so when you book the room. Don't panic if your meal is not included, as this hotel is not located exactly in the middle of nowhere, there are food options within walking distance (there is actually a pretty nice place that serves Western Breakfast right across from the hotel). If you drive, you may opt for driving to Yamagata City for dinner, as it is merely a 30mins drive if you drove yourself there, we had a fabulous meal of Japanese beef BBQ there.||||||Rooms and Sleep Quality:||||The rooms are quite small in size, but that should't be too much of a problem as you won't be spending much time inside. All rooms are in traditional Japanese layout, which means you'll be sleeping on Tatami. You're hereby reminded you're in an onsen hotel, which shower facility will not be included inside your room.||||||Onsen:||||I was honestly a bit disappointed with the onsen they have here. It is a bit small and not very scenic. The water is not as great as most onsen I've tired before. ||||||Tips:||||1. I'm unaware of the existence of WiFI services, may I just didn't check. If staying connected is very important to you, make sure you acquire a 3G/4G tourist sim prior or upon your arrival into Japan. They are available through major international gateways such as Narita, Haneda, Chubu, Osaka..., but if you happen to arrive through a smaller local airport, the chances of you ever seeing one is slim. ||||2. Yamagata Prefecture is famous for its beef, do try the A5 Grade beef at a Japanese BBQ if you have the chance to stop by Yamagata City for...

As suggested by the topic, this is one of the most forigener friendly hotel in the area, judged by the level of easy access, multi-lingual signage and above average English proficiency of a small number of the staffs. This hotel is by no mean an outstanding establishment, but it does ease the frustration if you don't speak the Language. ||||||Location:||||If you're here for the skiing or the Zao Peak, the location is pretty good. 10 minutes walk away from both the ski hill and the Gondola to the peak. There are a few restaurant around the corner, as well as a post office. The bus stop for leading back to the city is located right across from this property, making arrival and departure quite easy.||||||Getting There:||||Zao Onsen Area is located 40mins away from Yamagata City, and is only accessible by either bus or driving. Find you way to JR Yamagata Station, and the bus will depart every our until 8:40pm daily (except sat, sun and Holidays where the last bus is 6:20pm). Parking is free at the Tsuruya Hotel, but make sure you arrive earlier to secure a spot as the car park gets full early.||||The closest airport from here is Yamagata Airport, served twice daily by JAL from Tokyo and Osaka. Car rental is available in both JR Yamagata Station and the Yamagata Airport. All Rental car will include free GPS and major car rental company (e.g. Toyota, Times) will have GPS in English interface available as option.||||||Services:||||Typical Japanese hospitality, outstanding but a bit robotic. Staffs that speak efficient English was a surprise, this is a rare sighting in Japanese hotels.||||||Food:||||Although this is an Onsen Hotel, your room rate might not include meals at all, and it should clearly say so when you book the room. Don't panic if your meal is not included, as this hotel is not located exactly in the middle of nowhere, there are food options within walking distance (there is actually a pretty nice place that serves Western Breakfast right across from the hotel). If you drive, you may opt for driving to Yamagata City for dinner, as it is merely a 30mins drive if you drove yourself there, we had a fabulous meal of Japanese beef BBQ there.||||||Rooms and Sleep Quality:||||The rooms are quite small in size, but that should't be too much of a problem as you won't be spending much time inside. All rooms are in traditional Japanese layout, which means you'll be sleeping on Tatami. You're hereby reminded you're in an onsen hotel, which shower facility will not be included inside your room.||||||Onsen:||||I was honestly a bit disappointed with the onsen they have here. It is a bit small and not very scenic. The water is not as great as most onsen I've tired before. ||||||Tips:||||1. I'm unaware of the existence of WiFI services, may I just didn't check. If staying connected is very important to you, make sure you acquire a 3G/4G tourist sim prior or upon your arrival into Japan. They are available through major international gateways such as Narita, Haneda, Chubu, Osaka..., but if you happen to arrive through a smaller local airport, the chances of you ever seeing one is slim. ||||2. Yamagata Prefecture is famous for its beef, do try the A5 Grade beef at a Japanese BBQ if you have the chance to stop by Yamagata City for...

Tsuru-ya Hotel is a traditional Japanese inn (ryokan) located in Zao Onsen (spa). There’s a long, winding drive up the mountain to get there. We were six in a van, and the people in the back-most seats had to have strong stomachs.||You leave your shoes at the front entrance, and use their slippers. Whenever you want to go outside, the staff will get your shoes. ||All the staff were very, very kind and helpful, although none of them spoke English to me (everyone else in my group was Japanese).||There’s a big lobby with places to sit and relax, and interesting art works. Also, here and there throughout the hotel, there were attractive Japanese-style flower arrangements.||The flooring in the rooms is tatami mats. The room charge includes dinner and breakfast, plus the use of the large communal baths, both indoors and outdoors. For a small extra charge, you can use a private (indoor) onsen bath. That one is big enough for at least three adults, maybe four. I went by myself to the private one, and enjoyed it very much. The water was hot, but not excessively so, and whatever natural chemicals were in the water didn’t bother me. To use the private bath, you get a key to the room from the front desk staff.||Both the large and small public baths have soap, shampoo, and hair dryers.||The room (really a suite) where my friend and I stayed was very spacious, with a lovely view of mountains in the distance and greenery close by. There was a long, low table with two chairs, and a more ordinary table, also with two chairs. The room lighting was exceptionally good, better than most hotels. In the suite, there was a bedroom with two twin-size beds. We were given the choice of using the beds or sleeping on the floor on futon. The staff laid out the futons at night and took them up in the morning while we were at breakfast.||Our room was very quiet. Even though there were many other guests in the hotel, I heard no noise from them, other than occasionally from small children running in the hall.||The in-room amenities were excellent (soap, shampoo, toothbrush and toothpaste, hair dryer, and so on). The water pressure in the in-room shower was lower than I like, so I especially enjoyed being able to shower in the private onsen room. There was a refrigerator in the room (but the freezer part didn’t freeze), a safe, clear instructions on how to use the in-room telephone, and a TV with easy-to-understand instructions. We were there in August. The air conditioning system was easy to use and worked well. There were ample electrical outlets, but I didn’t have my computer with me and don’t know whether there was Internet access.||We had three breakfasts and two dinners. Everything was delicious Japanese food with ample portions and lots of vegetables. We negotiated the menus with the hotel staff.||The hotel’s web site, which is in Japanese, includes many wonderful photos of the hotel, the food, the rooms, and the...