Name: Guesthouse Mintaro Hut
Address: 990-0046 Yamagata, Yamagata, Otemachi 5-13, Japan, Yamagata, Yamagata, Yamagata, 990-0046, Japan
Rating: 9

Air conditioning

Smoking areas

Smoke-free property

General

Non-smoking rooms

Rooms

Laundry

Luggage storage

Services and amenities

Common kitchen

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

English

Japanese

Languages Spoken

Free parking

Parking

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the hotel

Yamagata Airport

Sendai Airport

Guesthouse Mintaro Hut

Yamagata

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

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king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

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not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

I spent 24 days traveling around japan with a friend, visiting a new city every 2 days. Before we hit Tokyo and prepared to fly home, we made a last minute decision to visit Yamagata and stay here. The entire trip was great, but as the title says, just staying here was my best memory about it. I don't have any descriptions to accurately portray the experience, just a warm thanks to the owner and other guest.

The highlight of a month long vacation in Japan.

Our time at Mintori hut has been wonderful. We were so lucky a spot opened up due to a cancellation. 

Staying at this Minshuku (guesthouse) gave us the best sleeping experience in Japan so far. Sato-San (who speaks English well by the way) goes beyond himself to make you feel at home, together with his wife. He picked us (and our heavy backpacks) up from the station and brought us back as well when we departed for Takayama. Without heavy packs the walk to the station is very doable!

Our 4-night stay at Mintaro Hut was beyond expectations because of inexpensive stay in combination with the many great aspects of this place: its homely feel, the quite spacious rooms, the 2 clean shared bathrooms (never had to wait in line), the fact that it had free laundry facilities, 2 bicycles that you can borrow, wifi, a well-filled kitchen, a great backyard, such a nice kuddly (19-year old) cat and moreover great food (tried so many things here!!) & conversation in the evenings. And in our case even a surprise concert in our case from Sato-san and his close harmony group! Furthermore our host gave us great tips on hikes in the area. Our tip to you: take his advice! It is worth your while.

Last but not least: don't let the fact that the main clientele is Japanese, hold you back. See it as a huge option to mix in conversation, find out about Japanese culture firsthand, learn your basic Japanese and have a good laugh and drink while your at it  :-). We spend all our evenings conversing with Sato-San and other guests in English. Sometimes some hand and foot-work or Google translate also helped :-), that was definetely part of the charm and would not have missed it for the world! 

Warm, welcoming and perfect value for money

A minshuku (traditional Japanese style of accommodation where the owner lives on site) cross hostel, Mintaro Hut is an unspoiled treasure in Yamagata.  With a communal kitchen/common area, and breakfast included in the room rate, it's easy to meet new, friendly people.  There are a couple of regulars who travel through and enjoy hanging out in the evenings, so be brave and have a go at chatting.   Sato-san, the owner, is highly accommodating and speaks good English.  He is happy to point out the best places to go or cater to any of your needs.   

The rooms all have two beds (no bunks, just singles) and a small desk.  The beds are comfy and the room is temperature controlled via air conditioning/heating.  Free wifi and laundry is also included.

Mintaro Hut is a little difficult to find if you don't have GPS/maps on your phone.  It's roughly a 20-25 minute walk from the station, located off the north east corner of Kajomachi park in the Otemachi suburb/area.  If you find the East gate of Kajomachi, walk with the river on your left (north) along the path until you get to the a narrow walkway beside the river.  Keep going until you are almost at the first bridge (there a couple that span the river at intervals).  Take the first right you find onto a road, then almost immediately go left up another street.  When you come to the end of that street, you turn right again and it's the second building on your right hand side.  There's an open space for a car park, but look for the small tell-tale green sign near the door.  As a warning, if you have to cross over the river at any point you're in the wrong district.  Stay on the east side of the park.

A Warm Minshuku Heart

This is the best place we stayed at in the last 3 years we went to Japan.
We were sad to go away!
The owner and his wife are very friendly people.
It was so nice to have dinner every evening with them and the other guests.
The house is very clean and the cats are so cute.
Really the best place in Japan!
Edward and Willy from the Netherlands

Best place in Japan

It felt like home stay. The house is very clean and the owner and wife are kind and generous. Guests can have access to lots of free food in the fridge. Their cats are friendly and adorable too. It was sakura peak during my stay there. The walk from the house to the station is lined with many beautiful sakura trees and Koen park which is one of the best sites for sakura viewing is a stone throw away. I extended my stay from 2 nights to 3. It was nice to just chill with the cats and talk to the owner and his friends. Truly memorable. Highly recommended if you don't mind walking 15 minutes from station to the house.

Guesthouse Mintaro Hut

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