Apa Hotel Yamagata Tsuruoka Ekimae

“Great base for Dewa Sanzan”

The entrance to APA Hotel Tsuruoka-Ekimae is immediately outside of Tsuruoka station so its location cannot be beat. As the bus to Dewa Sanzan leaves from the station, the hotel was the perfect base. The double room was a decent size for two and was comfortable. Staff were efficient with the che… more

The entrance to APA Hotel Tsuruoka-Ekimae is immediately outside of Tsuruoka station so its location cannot be beat. As the bus to Dewa Sanzan leaves from the station, the hotel was the perfect base. The double room was a decent size for two and was comfortable. Staff were efficient with the check in. While nothing really stood out from the typical Japanese chain hotels, our stay was pleasant and it served its purpose as our base for Dewa Sanzan.

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“Nice stay with helpful staff”

Our one night stay was comfortable and pleasant. The room was, as expected, not large but was quite well setup and comfortable, the bed was also comfortable and the blackout curtains effective. The 11 o'clock check out made for a smooth start to the next leg of our journey at the very close train s… more

Our one night stay was comfortable and pleasant. The room was, as expected, not large but was quite well setup and comfortable, the bed was also comfortable and the blackout curtains effective. The 11 o'clock check out made for a smooth start to the next leg of our journey at the very close train station. One thing of very positive note was the helpfulness, and friendliness of the staff.

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“Good Basecamp for Dewa Sanzan - But Check AC”

My sister and I used the Tsuroaka APA as our basecamp for the Dewa Sanzan, the third leg of our extended trip across Tohoku. After 3 challenging days in Semboku/Kuroyu with no AC, we did some investigations about our planned guesthouse for the Dewa Sanzan and discovered no AC. We consequently fou… more

My sister and I used the Tsuroaka APA as our basecamp for the Dewa Sanzan, the third leg of our extended trip across Tohoku. After 3 challenging days in Semboku/Kuroyu with no AC, we did some investigations about our planned guesthouse for the Dewa Sanzan and discovered no AC. We consequently found the Tsuroaka APA had rooms - with stated AC - and booked those about 3 days before arriving. We arrived in Tsuroaka our first night - after climbing Mt. Haguro (mountain #1, see separate review). It should be noted that the parking for the hotel is very limited (there are about 10 spots right outside the hotel) and they cost about $10/day; the front desk said there was a cheaper multi-story lot nearby but our one effort to find a place there did not work out because it was farther away and hauling luggage all over looked to be seriously challenging. We were given a room on the top floor but, after over an hour, it had not cooled down. In the city, it was 86-88 daytime, with over 80% humidity. We called the front desk who basically indicated the AC wasn't working in the room and brought up 2 fans; they seemed very apologetic. They said we could move to a new/better room with AC tomorrow morning - but they were out of rooms that night. Given that we were to climb Mt. Gassan the next morning (a 9-hour day with driving/hiking - with an early departure), it was not great to repack our stuff, have the front desk keep it all day, and HOPE there was a room with AC when we came back. On the plus side, APA's breakfast buffet was probably our second favorite of the whole trip (we stayed at over 8 hotels); they did a great French toast bite plate, had excellent salad, and did some really nice stir fry Japanese sides. After climbing Gassan, we returned to a new room that had a visible AC unit on the ceiling (the old room had no actual AC unit - it was just a general vent attached to whatever heating/cooling system the hotel used) - and it actually cooled down. The hotel desk attendant was very apologetic and gave us several boxes of curry - but never offered to refund us any money for the booking-promised AC situation. Although the beds were comfortable, the rooms were so small that part of my luggage blocked part of my bed (in both rooms). Several other reviewers have commented on the small rooms - and I have to say: the APA rooms were the smallest we encountered on our whole trip. We did appreciate the hotel's coin-op laundry, which was right by the front desk. After Gassan, we were able to wash and dry all our dirty clothes - the first time we were able to do so on our own during this trip (we were 10 days in by this point). While other hotels had laundry service, APA's coin-op laundry was more in line with how we liked to do things.

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