This area is best for easy access and a worry-free stay. Getting a hotel near the station area is practical, with hotels, restaurants, and transport links right outside. It's great for travelers hoping to use Matsumoto as a base for their Nagano explorations.

Closer to the castle, expect to pay higher prices but with a more local feel, with cozy eateries and historic streets like Nakamachi-dori within walking distance.

For a proper onsen stay, this quiet hot spring district is a short ride from downtown. They are brimming with traditional inns serving multi-course meals and equipped with deep-soaking baths—god-sent for unwinding after a day of sightseeing.

For those who’d rather wake up in the mountains, book a spot in Norikura Kogen. Enjoy skiing in winter, waterfalls and wildflower fields in summer, plus fewer throngs compared to other alpine spots.

Stay here if you’re serious about hiking. Private cars aren’t allowed, and there are no convenience stores, just lodges and mountain trails surrounded by some of Japan’s best highland views. Shutterbugs who want to snap the sunrise over the peaks should spend a night in this area.

Matsumoto has everything from traditional ryokans with futon bedding to simple guest houses run by families for generations. Onsen-focused hotels in Asama and Norikura draw those who want to spend a large chunk of their time in the hot springs. Boutique hotels near the castle showcase a more design-driven approach and the expected Japanese aesthetics. For those heading into the mountains, lodges in Kamikochi and Norikura put you directly at the trailheads.

Each accommodation on this list was curated based on its setting, mood, and whether it delivers views that stop you mid-step, onsen worth planning around, and staff who are always happy to help.

Accommodation Type: Hotel

If you think a perfectly located stay with solid amenities comes at a steep price, Toyoko Inn Matsumoto Eki Higashiguchi proves otherwise. This no-fuss hotel puts you right in the middle of Matsumoto’s action, just a short stroll from the castle and the city’s busiest streets lined with bars and restaurants.

Contemporary rooms with aquamarine accent walls, plush beds, soft pillows, and fluffy covers keep you comfy. Solo travelers can book the 12 m² Single room, and there's also a roomy 25 m² Accessible Twin Room available.

The free Japanese-style breakfast is a lovely perk, whether you sit down to eat or grab a takeaway set packed in bowls, cups, and bento boxes—perfect for catching an early train or bus from the nearby transport hubs.

Accommodation Type: Hotel

A fairly recent addition to the wave of hotels near Matsumoto Station, Tabi no Hotel Lit Matsumoto Milky White Onsen has quickly earned a loyal following for its spot-on location, reasonable rates, and impeccable service from English-speaking staff.

Rooms here cover all kinds of stays—some come with kitchenettes and washing machines for long-haulers, family rooms have tatami floors and futons for travelers craving a traditional feel, and there are spacious suites with cushy sofas and big desks for digital nomads who insist on working in comfort.

The rooms pop with patterned walls, bold accent furniture, and beds that practically pull you in. Soft pajamas are ready for lounging, but the real perk is the milky white onsen, which is just as soothing as it sounds. Near the bath, a freezer stocked with popsicles tempts anyone with a sweet tooth. And from 5–7 pm, free drinks make winding down even easier.

One thing to note: the hotel has a strict no-tattoo policy in the baths.

Don't skip breakfast at Seiryu. It's fresh, flavorful, and perfect to kick off the day on the right note. The spread is so good, it might just be reason enough to stay here again.

Accommodation Type: Hotel

Part of the Dormy Inn family, Onyado Nono Matsumoto Natural Hot Spring packs over 100 rooms into a space that feels anything but cramped. From the 15 m² Doubles to the 25 m² Comfort Twins, every room is laid out so efficiently that even the smaller ones feel surprisingly open.

The vibe is minimalist but far from cold. Think sliding doors, low lighting, and windows that open up to mountain views on a clear day. Aside from the proximity to the station, what's the real reason guests keep rebooking? The on-site natural hot spring. Azumi-no-Yu is a proper wind-down spot—follow it with a quick sauna, grab a post-bath ice cream or probiotic drink, then slurp down a free bowl of Yonaki Soba between 9:30 pm and 11 pm.

Return to the comforts of your cushy room to sink into Onyado Nono Matsumoto's Serta mattresses that are firm, luxurious, and dangerously good at making you sleep through alarms.

If you have tattoos, note that the onsen has a no-visible-ink policy. Body stickers are available at the front desk, or you can go to one of the nearby public baths instead.

Accommodation Type: Ryokan

Built in 1855 and expanded during the Taisho and Showa eras, Mitsubikiya's history is what sets it apart. This former townhouse has been recently refurbished and is ready to welcome guests.

Creaky floorboards, weathered timber beams, and original fixtures are still in place but are now paired with soft ambient lighting, warm futons, and just the right amount of stylish comforts to make the stay feel special without stripping away its character.

There are only four rooms, each named after the wood it's built from, so bookings go fast. Sakura (cherry blossoms) is the biggest and most popular of the lot. It's a Western-style room that can fit up to six people without cramping. Tamo (Japanese Ash tree) was once the kitchen, now a cozy two-person room that’s also pet-friendly. Matsu (pine tree) is a bright tatami space with original fittings and is an excellent choice for couples. And Tsuga, built during the Showa era, is a group hangout dream, with two adjoining rooms separated by a sliding door, tailored for up to eight people.

Mitsubikiya's famed on-site restaurant serves up insanely fresh hand-rolled noodles paired with wild Shinshu produce that changes with the season.

Accommodation Type: Guesthouse

Hanare Matsumoto is an unassuming yet lovely guesthouse that doesn’t try to impress with flashy design or big branding. Step in, and the owners greet you like they’ve been expecting you all week, and that warmth carries through the whole stay.

Pick from a few well-kept Japanese-style rooms: a 22 m² quad with garden views through wide balcony windows, an 18 m² quad with a terrace overlooking the Metoba River and distant Shinshu mountains, or a no-frills 8 m² twin for a tighter budget. All rooms are private and tatami-floored, and the shared bathrooms are spotless and bright.

After walking to and exploring Matsumoto Castle close by, come back to the shared lounge and sip on a complimentary tea or coffee.

Grab groceries from the Aeon Mall nearby and use the shared kitchen to whip up a meal, or head out to Nakamachi Street for a proper meal. It’s not fancy, but it nails everything that matters.

Accommodation Type: Hotel

Out of our selection of fabulous properties peppered around Matsumoto Castle, Marunouchi Hotel wins one of the top spots.

Rivaling luxury hotels around the world, the 92-room Matsumoto Marunouchi Hotel has rave reviews from all kinds of travelers. Deluxe Rooms (27 m²) have a modern look with smart Japanese touches, while the Executive Twin (42 m²) gives you extra space to stretch out. Leave bulky items behind because the hotel provides luxury robes, proper hairdryers, and quality toiletries, freeing up luggage room for your Don Quijote haul.

Walk for about 100 seconds, and Matsumoto Castle will stop you in your tracks. A short distance in the other direction leads to the Matsumoto Museum of Art.

But there's also a serious character inside the hotel—the on-site restaurant sits in a 1930s bank building with sky-high ceilings and a retro-chic feel.

Mornings start with a breakfast buffet loaded with local flavors, while Café Voir serves lunch plates (like the Black Daimyomachi Curry) and pastries & tea. For a boozy dinner with seasonal produce and a mix of Japanese and Western influences, The Shofu is where you need to be.

Accommodation Type: Hotel

The city's oldest hotel, Matsumoto Hotel Kagetsu, channels the spirit of old Matsumoto with exquisite Mingei furniture, handcrafted pieces made for daily life. Every room carries a bit of that history and whisks guests away to simpler times.

Accommodations in the towering Annex are bright and spacious, mixing exposed beams, vintage lamps, and minimalist interiors. The 50 m² Suite has a clean, almost European feel, while the Twin Rooms range from 20 to 34 m². Solo travelers will find the 15 m² Single Room perfect for a restful night. The Main Building has a lighter, more open aesthetic, with Twin Rooms starting at 36 m² and Singles at 18 m². Both wings have Japanese-style rooms for those who prefer tatami underfoot.

Our favorite part? Fukashi no Yu, the hotel’s onsen fed by spring water that previously flowed as snow through the Alps. That, and the restaurant—especially the breakfast buffet stacked with Shinshu flavors. Think seasonal obanzai dishes, Nagano-grown Koshihikari rice, and crisp veggies. Wash it all down with fresh juice made from 100% local fruit.

Lunch is a curated prix fixe affair, and dinner is French-Japanese plates. When you're ready to hit pause, Café Yatoro Onkan lures you in with dim lighting, retro chic vibes, and delicious Japanese coffee.

Accommodation Type: Hotel

Words don’t do justice to Matsumoto Jujo—a sublime sanctuary and easily the crown jewel of Asama Onsen’s boutique stays.

Once a 17th-century inn called Koyanagi, the inn was rebuilt and transformed into the opulent Matsumoto Jujo. The team at Suppose Design Office approached this ambitious revival with a clear mission: to turn forgotten corners into places that get etched into the guest's memory.

Now split into two sleek hotels, Matsumoto Jujo is home to a pair of very different stays under one legacy. Matsumoto Honbako is a book-lined hotel that preserves details from the original inn. Koyanagi, on the other hand, is modern, family-friendly, built with natural materials, and has wheelchair-accessible rooms.

Rooms come in all shapes and sizes, but our top picks? The 45 m² Designer’s Twin Room, with ash-grey walls, moody lighting, and sleek finishes, or the sprawling 145 m² Grand Suite, ideal for a group of four. Every room across both wings includes its spring-fed open-air onsen. It's private, quiet, and entirely yours.

The staff don’t miss a beat, they are always one step ahead, always ready to spoil you.

A big bonus is its sleek, red-accented library that looks straight out of an issue of Architectural Digest. If you manage to pull yourself away from the nook, there’s a Michelin-starred restaurant on-site serving mouthwatering pork, venison, and whatever else is in season.

Stay an extra night. The sunlit Japanese breakfast will make you glad you did.

The hotel is slightly remote, sitting about 30 minutes by bus or 10 minutes by cab from the castle. But that distance buys you peace, mountain panoramas, and glorious hiking spots. Converting day-trippers to overnight visitors in the Asama onsen area has been an easy feat for the hotel.

Park near Okyaki & Coffee, one of two off-site cafés, and take in the quiet, hilly beauty on your short walk to check-in.

Accommodation Type: Hotel

The Asama Onsen area is packed with onsen-focused stays, and one of the best in the mix is Hotel Tamanoyu. Set on the quiet edge of town, it isn’t the place to tick boxes. The hotel offers a rare kind of indulgence—letting time drift.

It’s where you go to drop your bag, disappear for a while, and let the steam from the hot springs do its magic. The pace is slow, the food is drool-worthy, and everything almost feels tuned to quiet, two-person romantic escapes.

Rooms are made for unwinding. Book the spacious Japanese-style Quad Room with a semi-open-air bath, or go for a Western-style room and reserve one of the four open-air baths with a view. Each soak runs 40 minutes to an hour.

Expect a full-blown kaiseki spread with stars like handmade soba made by a master, Shinshu Premium Beef, crispy tempura, and seasonal delicacies. Private dining rooms are an option if you’d rather keep the evening to yourselves.

Post dinner, swing by the lounge. Live music plays most nights, and it's something between a sing-along and a low-key concert. Then, head to your room for one final soak or turn down for a restful night’s sleep.

Planning to explore the area? Bring a rental vehicle as the public buses are few and far between, but the nearby strawberry farms and Meiji-era buildings are worth the drive. And if your Japanese is rusty, no stress because the staff speaks fluent English, and everything else is printed, labeled, and easy to follow.

Accommodation Type: Ryokan

Not too far from Matsumoto Castle, yet well outside the usual hotel circuit, Ryokan Seifuso is for travelers who’d rather trade in back-to-back sightseeing for a day wandering the high meadows of Utsukushigahara, teeing off at a local golf course, or catching a ball game before soaking in a hot bath.

There are no high ceilings with chandeliers, no marble check-in counter, and no attempt to impress with opulence. Ryokan Seifuso instead offers a warm welcome, simple but beautiful rooms, and home-cooked meals in a family-run inn that quickly wins you over.

The inn's main building has room for 30 guests, split between six tatami-style rooms and three Western ones. There’s a public bath on-site, but you can also hop on one of the Ryokan's free bikes and ride to the nearby hot springs around Asama Onsen.

Ryokan Seifuso’s owner's eldest son moonlights as a beekeeper, so the honey you’ll find drizzled into your yogurt is straight from the source. It’s also bottled for sale and served with meals built around local produce like soft-boiled eggs, colorful vegetables, and Hazekake rice dried slowly in the sun.

If you’re vegan or dairy-free, let them know in advance, and they’ll prepare a meal according to your preference. Visit in summer, and, if the timing’s right, you might spot fireflies flickering through the garden after dark.

Accommodation Type: Pension House / Guesthouse

Birdsong in summer, snow-melt steam rising in winter, trees set ablaze in autumn, and soft blooms in spring, Poetical brings you close to nature and offers a kind of peace that’s hard to find elsewhere. This family-run hideout near Mt. Norikura feels more like stumbling into someone’s forest lodge than checking into a hotel.

In an intimate setting like Poetical, the hosts shape the entire experience, and here, their warmth crosses any language barrier with ease. Whether it’s your first or fifth visit, you’re welcomed like an old friend.

Families, couples, groups of friends, and guests with pets will all find something to love in the quiet comfort of Poetical.

Rooms are minimalistic and beautifully put together, with soft-toned walls and light pouring in through wide windows with nature sounds spilling in as a soft lullaby.

Choose from a Twin for two, a Deluxe Twin for four, or the Superior with tall ceilings. Each room has air conditioning, though most guests find the mountain air cool enough. There are two private onsens full of minerals with milky white water, available for use at the property.

Meals rotate between Japanese, Chinese, and Western staples, and they’ll work around your dietary needs if you give them a heads-up.

You’re less than ten minutes on foot from the Norikura ski lifts, but other attractions and transportation hubs are further away, so you will need a car.

Accommodation Type: Guesthouse

Located in a lovely pocket of the Norikura highlands and surrounded by waterfalls, conifer forests, ponds, and walking trails, Guesthouse Hoshizora no Akari is a laid-back stay in the middle of the scenic highlands.

Room options range from fully Japanese-style private spaces to Western twin rooms, as well as larger 6 to 12 tatami mat rooms with a Showa-era feel, perfect for groups. Bathrooms are shared but stocked with quality skincare, lotions, and hairdryers.

Of course, the free-flowing milky onsen water is a draw on its own, but the real magic happens at night when the sky turns pitch black and the Milky Way cuts across it in full view. Many guests at Guesthouse Hoshizora no Akari are Mt. Norikura climbers looking for recovery on its pillow-soft futons.

The guesthouse encourages guests to chat in the shared lounge, with big wooden tables, a furnace to gather around, free drinks, and board games that spark easy conversation among strangers.

Beers and other beverages are available for purchase on-site, but shops and restaurants are few in the area, and no meals are provided, so stock up before you head in. Once you're here, there’s nowhere else you’ll need or even want to be.

Buy the soft, layered Baumkuchen from the bakery two minutes down the road, where seasonal flavors change often, and it’s absolutely worth hauling back.

Accommodation Type: Ryokan

Come autumn, guests at Yagura are welcomed first by a wave of red and gold maples, then by Tomoko-san and her husband, your lovely hosts at this mountain ryokan.

Once a guest herself at Suzumenoyado Yagura, Tomoko-san has preserved its original spirit to the fullest.

Book both breakfast and dinner, you’ll thank us later. Each meal is nourishing, simple, and full of flavor, pulled straight from the region.

As a family-run spot surrounded by thick woods, nearby there are plenty of opportunities for mountain climbing, cycling, and snowy activities in the colder months.

There are no eye-watering prices here, just an affordable, cozy ryokan with four rooms, some for one or two guests, others that comfortably sleep up to four.

Yagura follows sustainable practices, so bring your own toothbrush, use the shared hairdryer, and rent a yukata for 300 yen if you’d like one.

Put on a record, pour a coffee, and switch off for a while. When you’re ready, soak in Suzuran Onsen. Unlike the cloudy baths nearby, the water here is clear, clean, and without that heavy sulfur smell.

Accommodation Type: Hotel

Most visitors to Kamikochi swing by the Kamikochi Lemeiesta Hotel for a soak and a quick lunch. Big mistake! Stay the night, and you’ll wake up in a mountain-side room bathed in warm beige tones, with direct views of Mt. Kasumizawa, Mt. Rokuhyaku, and the Azusa River just outside your window.

Lace up your boots and head straight onto one of the many trails in the area, with options to suit every level. After your hike, return for a long soak in the spacious public bath.

Lunch sets often feature Wagyu steak and decadent chocolate cake. Dinner has French flavors with regional twists like roast beef, local vegetables, and a solid wine pairing.

Getting there takes a little planning. Private vehicles aren’t allowed in Kamikochi, so you’ll need to park at Sawando Parking Lot and take the shuttle to the hotel. If you’re coming by local bus from downtown Matsumoto, ride to Shinshimashima Station, then transfer to a public bus that stops at the Imperial Hotel. From there, it’s a ten-minute walk, so pack light.

Keep in mind that public transport shuts down between 19:00 and 5:00, and the roads aren’t lit, so aim to arrive before sunset.

Accommodation Type: Hotel

You can hike Kamikochi’s trails, loop around Taisho Pond, and catch the snow-dusted Hotaka peaks glowing at sunrise—all without straying far from Taishoike Hotel.

As the night fades, the sky is blanketed in stars as far as the eyes can see.

For a spot with direct views of everything that makes Kamikochi unforgettable, it keeps a low profile in the best way.

Rooms have been recently redone, and the service has stepped up with it. The staff at Taishoike Hotel are attentive without being stiff and genuinely helpful when it counts. Pick from a Deluxe Room, Standard Twin, Superior Twin, or a Japanese-style room with tatami floors.

The views from the windows are no joke. They are so good that you’ll find yourself wishing for floor-to-ceiling glass to take it all in.

Grab a seat by the window at the hotel restaurant, where you can watch the lake while digging into handmade soba and sipping on a cold craft beer. Before you leave, stop by the souvenir shop, which is stocked with Kamikochi-made treats and quirky gifts for friends back home.