Le Vert Zao

Le Vert Zao opened as a resort condominium and now runs as a hotel at about 900 metres in the middle of Zao Onsen. The Nakamori slope and the Haraigawa trailhead are each a minute's walk away. Its 39 rooms include singles with a desk, twins, small Japanese rooms and Japanese-Western rooms for up to five, and all have a bath and toilet. The artist Taro Okamoto used one Japanese-Western room on his Zao ski trips until he was 78, and his work hangs there.

A snow-shed corridor about ten metres long leads to separate cypress tubs for men and women, fed straight from the Nidogawa source and open 24 hours. The hotel says the tubs are small because of how strong the water is. For an outdoor soak, Genshichi Roten no Yu sits across the river, and the front desk sells discounted tickets.

Dinner can be a Japanese kaiseki, Yamagata beef sukiyaki, a Zao nabe of local chicken or a Western full course, which the hotel says no other inn in Zao Onsen serves. The restaurant looks over the Nakamori slope and opens at 17:00 in ski season. Staff drive guests to and from the Zao Onsen bus terminal for free, even on a same-day request.