Hotel Zuiho

The hotel staff really looked after us, and we went from panicking to feeling incredibly grateful. We’d left the rental car headlights on after parking, and during dinner a kind front desk staff member came to tell us. By the time we got to the lot, the battery was dead and the car wouldn’t start. We asked the front desk about a jump start. They offered to arrange help the next morning, and someone got the car going then. We tried to pay, but they wouldn’t accept anything. This was the first time on my travels that hotel staff had taken such good care of us. Thank you very much, Hotel Zuiho. We’ll stay again.

There’s almost no English anywhere in the hotel, which is worth knowing. The rooms are spacious, and you get indoor and outdoor onsens plus a small pool. Dinner and breakfast are all-you-can-eat, with plenty of choice and solid quality, and the shuttle runs to and from Sendai. Not bad for the price.

The hotel is a bit out of the way, so allow about an extra hour for travel. There’s a bus from JR Sendai provided by the hotel. I stayed in the smoking room, which was spacious and comfortable, with around five reasonably priced vending machines just outside, including two ice cream machines. The buffet made the higher price completely worth it, and the outdoor onsen was amazing in the peak winter cold. There are two main outdoor baths, one with four styles and the other with two, six in total. They switch between men and women daily, so book at least two nights if you want to try all six.

I’d been curious about Zuiho for a while after seeing how many people boarded its popular buses on my earlier visits to Akiu onsen. I finally booked a night last November, though rates seemed higher than usual, perhaps because it was koyo season. We took the free shuttle from Sendai station, and sure enough, the bus was full. For the price, the room, service, onsens, and both meals were all more than acceptable. Japanese families were especially common, with lots of young children there with their parents. I had a pleasant stay and would recommend it, though I’m not very likely to return since there are still so many other onsens to experience.