4 Best Hotels in Morioka, Tohoku

Namari's most famous ryokan (and its most famous onsen) is a dark wood house made of Japanese zelkova trees that is starting to show its age but still seems to have stories to tell, with rustic rooms without private baths in the main building and newer rooms with private baths in a concrete annex. The main reason to stay here is to have the opportunity to steep in the venerable Namari Onsen, which has a high ceiling and a round shape that resembles nothing so much as a giant inkwell. It is not the only hot spring available to you (and the water in the hot springs can be hot to the uninitiated), but the outdoor baths along the river are more milky. Relatively rare in these modern times, the ryokan has mixed-sex bathing with some hours reserved solely for women or men depending on the bath. Although the rooms in the main building have no private toilet, many find them nicer and more atmospheric than those in the newer annex, where the rooms do have private baths; the corner rooms overlooking a waterfall are particularly roomy and tastefully furnished. You can also use their bath for ¥800 per person without staying, and rent a towel for a few hundred yen extra.

Tastefully furnished, spacious rooms and English-speaking staff make this hotel—run by the same group as the Hotel Metropolitan Morioka (original branch)—a safe choice for visitors to Morioka. The hotel is conveniently close to Morioka Station. The presence of a large wedding altar right in the middle of the coffee lounge in the lobby gives it a rather over-the-top appearance. 

This friendly and cozy Japanese inn attracts budget-minded travelers, and it is a lot like visiting someone's grandmother's house. There's a small dining area where optional Japanese and Western breakfasts and Japanese dinners are served. Locals often gather in the restaurant for drinks or dinner. The clean and comfortable rooms are traditional in style but are equipped with toilets and showers. 

A half-hour bus ride from JR Morioka Station takes you to this quiet hot-spring town and its upscale (and expensive), traditional ryokan, which serves two meals a day in your tatami room. If you're coming here, you're coming to get away, relax, and not have to think. The walls around the premises obstruct what seem like they could be picturesque mountain views, but rooms peer out on a Japanese garden where goldfish swim in a pond. Some rooms have a private outdoor bath and some rooms, unlike many ryokan, have beds.