Miyagi Zao Royal Hotel (by the family)

We spent a weekend at the local onsen resort, called the Miyagi Zao Royal Hotel, near Mount Zao. We were a bit anxious about going there at first, as we both have tattoos and have read several stories of onsens in Japan refusing people to enter who have tattoos. The resort that we booked didn't have any remarks during the booking process or webpage about tattoos, but most hot spring resorts do refuse entrance and will state this somewhere in the rules or terms of use.

Miyagi Zao Royal Hotel

The hotel was nice, a bit out dated, but the rooms were cozy (and warm 😅) and tidy. Service was really good, although the hotel seemed fully booked, they still managed to arrange a non-smoking room for us for two nights when we arrived (as when booking online, there was no option to choose that) even though I had requested such before hand and been declined it politely 😊. They did everything they could to get us such a room, going through different options like us sleeping the first night in a western style room and then changing immediately into a Japanese style room for the second night.

Mount Zao from Togata town

I have a small tattoo on my arm, which can't be really seen that well, but my husband has a very large tattoo, one that you cannot really hide. But he was okay in the onsen, and the Miyagi Zao Royal Hotels spa did not have any signs to say that tattoos where not allowed. He did say though, that in the onsen he received few looks, but no one said anything. It could also be that we were the only foreigners there... Because of our tattoos we haven't used any of the public onsens so far, as we know that most of these do not allow people with tattoos to enter. So this was our first hot spring bath experience 👍 and it was a successful one.

The hotel had few restaurants, a Japanese style restaurant, a Chinese style restaurant, a buffet restaurant and a Japanese style grill. We had breakfast at the buffet restaurant and dinners at the Chinese restaurant. The buffet was really nice, Japanese style with some western dishes. Really tasty miso -soup 😋. The Chinese restaurant was okay, some of the dishes were really nice and the prices weren't that bad either. They also serve the controversial shark fin (as a whole and in soup form) and out of curiosity we ordered the soup - not anything spectacular.

Delicious breakfast buffet

The hotel is located really near Mount Zao and you have beautiful views of the mountain from the hotel. It is a good 15 minute walk from the local Togata hot spring town, from where you can also admire the Mount Zao. Togata is a small town, with few shops and restaurants. At the centre of the town is a public (free) foot hot spring bath, which is open all year around.

Free foot bath in Togata town

Coffee break in Togata tow - Soba coffee

The best thing about such resorts is that they usually give every guest a Yukata to use freely during their stay. If we had realised that, we wouldn't have packed that much stuff with us. I mean you only need few pairs of underwear and socks with you... Because at the resort itself you can just wear your Yukata everywhere! You can use it to go and have your breakfast, lunch and dinner. And also when going into the onsen. And as the hotel provides free toiletries, including toothbrushes, and a huge shampoo bar, you don't really need to pack any toiletries either...