The local verdict on Japan's ryokan

Gora Hanaougi

強羅花扇

Twenty compact rooms, each with an open-air bath of the inn's own reddish spring, tatami corridors you walk barefoot, staff who remember your name — and one of the few Hakone ryokan that openly welcomes tattoos

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Tattoo-Friendly

Fukuzumiro

塔之沢温泉 福住楼

A Meiji-era wooden inn where Soseki and Kawabata stayed — in-room kaiseki, a giant round pine bath, no tattoo rules, and shared toilets down the corridor

• Historic Ryokan
• Tattoo-Friendly

Gora Kadan

強羅花壇

A former imperial villa, Michelin three-key rated, with spring-fed baths and famously attentive staff — superb in the top tiers, but 2026 reviews are more uneven in the standard rooms

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Historic Ryokan

Hakone Yumoto Onsen Yoshiike Ryokan

箱根湯本温泉 吉池旅館

A big 64-room inn wrapped around a 33,000㎡ garden that was once a Mitsubishi family villa, with six of its own free-flowing springs, seven minutes' walk from Hakone-Yumoto Station — but some rooms are dated, 'garden-side' doesn't always mean a view, and part of the Sansō wing is under renovation until January 2027

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Historic Ryokan

Gora Kansuiro

強羅環翠楼

A Mitsubishi family's Taishō-era villa where Emperor Shōwa slept, with two private springs, a 5,000-tsubo garden and nine of 14 rooms with their own spring-water bath — but it is genuinely old, and the cheaper rooms show it

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Historic Ryokan

Hakone Ginyu

箱根吟遊

Hakone's famously hard-to-book inn: 20 rooms, each with a terrace and open-air bath hanging over the Hayakawa gorge — but the room baths are recirculated, and 2026 reviews report long check-in waits, ageing rooms and slipping food

• Private Onsen Rooms

Hakone Kowakien Mikawaya Ryokan

箱根小涌園 三河屋旅館

The 1883 inn credited with starting Kowakudani Onsen: a cultural-property main building, a 16,000㎡ azalea garden and its own spring — book a room with a private open-air bath, because the bath-less twins, lukewarm water and slow service on busy nights are the recurring complaints

• Historic Ryokan
• Private Onsen Rooms

Hakone Kowakudani Onsen Mizunoto (Kyoritsu Resort)

箱根小涌谷温泉 水の音

Kyoritsu Resort's big Kowakudani inn: two different springs, three free private garden baths and freebies from ice lollies to late-night ramen at a mid-range price — but service is patchy, dinner slots go fast, and only some room baths use onsen water

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Easy From Tokyo

KAI Hakone

界 箱根

Hoshino Resorts' Hakone-Yumoto inn, reopened in August 2025 full of yosegi marquetry: every room faces the river, there's a free teahouse and a fun craft class — but the shared bath is a single heated, chlorinated semi-open-air tub, and most rooms have only a shower

• Design-Led
• Easy From Tokyo

Tonosawa Ichinoyu Honkan

塔ノ沢 一の湯本館

A wooden inn founded in 1630 and now a registered cultural property, run by Hakone's budget Ichinoyu group: free-flowing baths in some rooms, simmered kinmedai and free drinks at low prices — but no lift, no showers in the shared baths, and many rooms share toilets

• Historic Ryokan
• Private Onsen Rooms

Yagyu no Sho

柳生の庄

Fifteen sukiya rooms in a bamboo grove, Kyoto-style kaiseki in your room and empty garden baths — superb food and calm, but some rooms are showing their age

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Destination Dining

Asaba

あさば

A 540-year-old ryokan with a working Noh stage, and service that isn't always as polished as the history

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Historic Ryokan

Ochiairo

おちあいろう（旧 落合楼村上）

A registered-heritage Yugashima inn from 1874, now run as an all-inclusive luxury ryokan with celebrated saunas — but only three rooms have pure spring-water baths, and the 2025 switch to a swimsuit mixed bath splits guests

• Historic Ryokan
• Private Onsen Rooms

Sanyoso

伊豆長岡温泉 三養荘

A Mitsubishi family villa with a garden by Ogawa Jihei and a wing by Togo Murano, where every room has its own onsen bath — superb for architecture and gardens, less so for anyone who minds long corridors or wants a showpiece dinner

• Historic Ryokan
• Private Onsen Rooms

Izu-Nagaoka Onsen Fukuritei Ogawaya

伊豆長岡温泉 福狸亭 小川家

A century-old Izu-Nagaoka inn rebuilt around travelling with small dogs and cats: pets roam free in 16-tatami rooms, kaiseki dinner and breakfast are served in the room, and there's an onsen foot bath just for dogs — but the large baths are up a long staircase, neighbouring dogs bark, and the private baths cost extra

• Easy From Tokyo

Izu-Nagaoka Onsen Yumeguri no Yado Yoshiharu

伊豆長岡温泉 湯めぐりの宿 吉春

A 1952 garden inn built for 'bath-hopping': five free private open-air baths you simply walk into when they're free, two large baths and ten rooms with their own outdoor tub — but the spring water is heated and recirculated, the stairs make it a maze, and the facilities are starting to show their age

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Easy From Tokyo

Yukairo Kikuya (Kyoritsu Resort)

湯回廊 菊屋（共立リゾート）

The 400-year-old Shuzenji inn where Natsume Sōseki convalesced, now a Kyoritsu Resort of long corridors, four free private baths and an almost all-inclusive drinks list — loved for its atmosphere and beef stew, but the main baths are recirculated, the private baths are often taken and the dinner gets mixed reviews

• Historic Ryokan
• Easy From Tokyo

Arai Ryokan

修善寺温泉 新井旅館

Fifteen registered-heritage buildings around a carp pond and a 1934 hinoki bathhall designed by a painter — lovely, if you can manage the stairs and a cold winter corridor

• Historic Ryokan
• Private Onsen Rooms

Inatori Ginsuiso

稲取銀水荘

The big Izu ocean-view ryokan once voted No. 1 for hospitality 15 years running: simmered kinmedai, an all-day free lounge and suites with their own spring-fed open-air baths — but unrenovated rooms, recurring corridor smells and a dated main bath drag it down

Shuzenji Onsen Katsuragawa

湯めぐりの宿 修善寺温泉 桂川

A big, family-friendly Kyoritsu Resort inn with seven free, no-booking private onsen baths, buffet meals and free late-night ramen — good value, but the water is recirculated and chlorinated, and at busy times the private baths have queues

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Easy From Tokyo

Hiiragiya

柊家

Kyoto's 1818 inn of writers and film stars — near-flawless service and kaiseki, koyamaki-wood baths, and no hot spring

• Historic Ryokan
• Destination Dining

Tawaraya Ryokan

俵屋旅館

Kyoto's oldest standing inn, bookable online only since 2026: 18 one-of-a-kind sukiya rooms, nearly everything down to the soap designed in-house, and koyamaki-wood tubs instead of a hot spring — from about ¥164,000 a night for two

• Historic Ryokan
• Design-Led

Sumiya Kiho-an

京都 湯の花温泉 すみや亀峰菴

A quiet hot-spring inn half an hour from Kyoto, with rice cooked over a kamado, inari sushi left in your room at night and an art-filled lobby — choose a room with its own onsen bath, and expect some dated corners

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Design-Led

Kanamean Nishitomiya

要庵西富家

An eight-room sukiya inn in the heart of Kyoto where dinner is the point — a Michelin-starred kaiseki kitchen you tour before eating, hinoki baths in every room, and two MICHELIN Keys since 2026 — but it isn't an onsen, the water runs very hot, and old floors carry sound

• Destination Dining
• Historic Ryokan

Hoshinoya Kyoto

星のや京都

Reached only by boat, with no TV and no onsen by design — a stay built around stillness, with a few service slips

• Secluded Retreats
• Design-Led

Awanoyu

白骨温泉 泡の湯

A huge milky-blue mixed bath you can soak in for an hour — lukewarm by design, with bathing wraps for women — at a century-old mountain inn that's no longer for families

• Secluded Retreats

Shirafuneso Shintaku Ryokan

白骨温泉 白船荘 新宅旅館

Shirahone's own-spring inn: seven free-flowing milky baths open round the clock, two free private baths with water welling up from below, and spring-water rice porridge in a clay pot — but the buildings are old, dinner is usually in a partitioned hall, and last check-in at 17:00 is firm

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Secluded Retreats

Tobira Onsen Myojinkan

扉温泉 明神館

A valley hideaway with a famous standing bath, warm service and a new MICHELIN Key — the French dinner wins guests over, the Japanese course less so

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Destination Dining

KAI Matsumoto

界 松本

Hoshino Resorts' music-themed inn, rebuilt in August 2026 around record players, Nagano wine and a nightly lobby concert — but the dinner is now Italian, the onsen is recirculated, and almost every review predates the relaunch

• Design-Led
• Private Onsen Rooms

Oyado Eitaro (Hirayu Onsen)

平湯温泉 お宿 栄太郎

A small family-run Hirayu inn by the bus terminal where a Gifu master chef's Hida-beef kaiseki and three untouched hot springs — with two free 24-hour private baths — earn near-perfect scores; the rooms are plain and small, with no baths of their own

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Destination Dining

Yarimikan

槍見の湯 槍見舘

Riverside open-air baths facing the Northern Alps, four free private baths and Hida beef, in a 200-year-old farmhouse — rustic by design, with mixed bathing and a lot of steps

• Secluded Retreats
• Private Onsen Rooms

Yamazato no Iori Soen

山里のいおり 草円

An 1836 Hida farmhouse rebuilt in a quiet mountain hamlet, with charcoal-hearth dinners, wood-fired rice and free-flowing water from three springs — including free private baths open all night — but no room has its own bath, there are lots of stairs, and the hearth runs hot in summer

• Historic Ryokan
• Private Onsen Rooms

Yumoto Choza

湯元長座

Relocated farmhouses, irori dinners and up to eight free private baths in Okuhida — wonderful when the water and the hearth deliver, but the old buildings show their age

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Historic Ryokan

Hodakaso Yama no Hotel (Shin-Hotaka)

穂高荘 山のホテル

A big half-timbered mountain hotel run like an onsen inn: a tiny slope car down to a huge riverside mixed bath (bathing wraps required) facing Mt Yarigatake, all baths free-flowing, and Hida beef kaiseki that reviewers love — but most rooms are plain Western twins, and the building shows its age

Okada Ryokan & Warakutei (Hirayu Onsen)

奥飛騨 平湯温泉 岡田旅館・和楽亭

A big, century-old Hirayu inn by the bus terminal with free-flowing sulphur baths, an iron-pot open-air tub and generous Hida beef dinners — cheap in the main building, private open-air baths in the ten-room Warakutei annex, but the water can run too hot and upkeep is patchy

Shibu Onsen Shunran no Yado Sakaeya

渋温泉 春蘭の宿 さかえや

A young, prize-winning team and a creative Shinshu kaiseki that Japanese guests rate near-perfect, in a modern, spotless 23-room house — but the shared baths are modest, private baths come only with the two suites or at extra cost, and the car park is reached up narrow one-way lanes

• Destination Dining

Kanaguya

歴史の宿 金具屋

The four-storey 1936 wooden fantasy that crowds come to photograph at night — eight baths from four private springs, a nightly building tour, and a lot of stairs

• Historic Ryokan
• Private Onsen Rooms

Shibu Onsen Tamakyu Ryokan

渋温泉 玉久旅館

A family-run, eight-room Showa-era inn where the family's third generation cooks a playful Japanese-Western dinner that Japanese guests rate 5.0, with two small free-flowing cypress baths and Shibu's nine public baths on the doorstep — but rooms have no bath, the cheaper ones no toilet, and the old wooden building is steep and thin-walled

• Destination Dining

Shibu Onsen Kokuya

渋温泉 古久屋

A 400-year-old wooden inn sitting on its own springs, where all eight baths — including a room of six hinoki tubs, one per spring — are booked privately for free; expect stairs and no lift, a maze of corridors and scalding water

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Historic Ryokan

Mikiya

城崎温泉 三木屋

Shiga Naoya's inn, rebuilt in wood in 1927 — some of Kinosaki's warmest service and two free private baths, though winter crab doesn't always live up to the price

• Historic Ryokan

Nishimuraya Honkan

西村屋本館

Kinosaki's grand old ryokan wins on service and crab — just know the private baths aren't onsen

• Historic Ryokan
• Destination Dining

Kinosaki Onsen Nishimuraya Hotel Shogetsutei

城崎温泉 西村屋ホテル招月庭

Nishimuraya's big modern sister hotel in a forest garden: warm, polished service, kaiseki or Italian-French dinners and three themed private onsen spas — but the in-room open-air baths are plain heated water, the shared baths are recirculated, and breakfast is an ordinary buffet

• Destination Dining

Kinosaki Onsen Kiraku

城崎温泉 喜楽

A small, barefoot-friendly wooden inn in the middle of Kinosaki with two private baths that are free on most plans, Tajima beef or crab dinners in private dining rooms and some of the town's highest guest scores — but the house is old, sound carries, there's no lift and no room has its own bath

• Private Onsen Rooms

Kinosaki Onsen Yamamotoya

城崎温泉 山本屋

A 350-year-old, 15-room inn on Kinosaki's willow-lined canal with its own craft brewery, in-room kaiseki and two public baths on its doorstep — but its own baths are small and recirculated, and the 'semi-open-air' baths in the two special rooms aren't hot-spring water

• Historic Ryokan

Hotel Kinparo

ホテル金波楼

A big, family-friendly 'hotel' that is really a 70-room ryokan on the Hiyoriyama coast, next door to Kinosaki Marine World — sea views, Tsuiyama crab and warm service, but recirculated baths, no private baths, ageing rooms and a 10-minute ride to Kinosaki's onsen town

Araya Totoan

山代温泉 あらや滔々庵

The 18th-generation keepers of the lord's bath, Rosanjin's patrons, with Yamashiro's most generous spring flowing into most rooms — and winter crab that can cost over ¥200,000 for two

• Historic Ryokan
• Private Onsen Rooms

Yamanaka Onsen Shirasagiyu Tawaraya

山中温泉 白鷺湯たわらや

The last of Yamanaka's twelve founding inns: a riverside open-air bath on the Kakusenkei gorge and inventive Kaga kaiseki for a fair price — but the building is old, the water is recirculated, staff don't show you to your room, and insects find the in-room baths in late summer

• Historic Ryokan

Beniya Mukayu

べにや無何有

A calm, design-led ryokan with an onsen on every terrace and a kitchen that wins Japanese critics over — the layout is where it stumbles

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Destination Dining

Yamanaka Onsen Kagari Kisshotei

山中温泉 かがり吉祥亭

A big, cheerful 48-room inn stepped down the Kakusenkei gorge, where dinner comes with free-flowing drinks, all-you-can-eat tempura or pork shabu-shabu, and free coffee, pudding and taiko drumming — but most rooms are dated, only three have their own spring-fed bath, and the baths never swap

Houshi

粟津温泉 法師

A family inn said to date back 1,300 years, with a registered Meiji entrance hall and a moss garden laid out in the manner of Kobori Enshu — the history is real, but the buildings are tired and the big baths are recirculated

• Historic Ryokan

Yamashiro Onsen Rurikoh

山代温泉 瑠璃光

Yamashiro's big 116-room inn with a nightly taiko show, free round-the-clock lobby drinks, vast 24-hour baths and winter crab kaiseki — but the shared water is recirculated, the baths sit down a long flight of stairs, and the ageing building draws dust and upkeep complaints

Yamanaka Onsen Yubatake no Yado Hanatsubaki

山中温泉 湯畑の宿 花つばき

A 48-room value inn at the far end of Yamanaka Onsen, built around the Yubatake — a terrace of mixed-bathing riverside tubs worn with bathing robes — but 2025–2026 guests found the tubs too cool or too hot, part of it shut for works, and 65 steps to climb

Yamashiro Onsen Hatori

山代温泉 葉渡莉

A mid-priced, 67-room town-centre inn with free all-night drinks, weekend taiko drumming, real single rooms for solo travellers and a gentle ginger-and-koji kaiseki — but the 'open-air bath' suites use tap water, not onsen, and the building shows its age

Yamashiro Onsen Yuzankaku

加賀温泉郷 山代温泉 雄山閣

A 1950s Yamashiro landmark reborn as a budget all-inclusive: free drinks and oden from check-in, a crab-leg and sweet-shrimp buffet with free-flowing Ishikawa sake, and a kids' paradise — but the building is worn, the baths keep breaking down and the crab is often thin

Notoya Ryokan

銀山温泉 能登屋旅館

The towered Taisho-era inn everyone photographs in Ginzan — warm service, a cave bath and a waterfall-view bath, but book a river-side room and expect an audience

• Historic Ryokan

Ginzan Onsen Fujiya

銀山温泉 藤屋

Kengo Kuma's eight-room inn in the heart of Ginzan — five private onsen baths, and a design that sometimes forgets practicality

• Design-Led

Honke Bankyu

湯西川温泉 本家伴久

Irori-grilled mountain dinners across a swaying vine bridge, riverside baths and 360 years of Heike-refugee lore — loved for the food, with thin walls and lots of steps

• Private Onsen Rooms

Kamiyashiki Taira no Takafusa

湯西川温泉 上屋敷 平の高房

A timber 'mountain-fortress' inn at the far end of Yunishigawa, with irori-hearth dinners, its own free-flowing spring and two free private open-air baths — warmly reviewed, but expect endless stairs, summer horseflies and a tight dinner window

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Secluded Retreats

Yunishigawa Hakuun-no-yado Yamashiroya

湯西川白雲の宿 山城屋

A big, old-fashioned riverside inn in the Heike village of Yunishigawa, with three free private open-air baths above the gorge and charcoal irori dinners at value prices — if you can live with dated rooms and a chilly winter building

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Secluded Retreats

Irodori Yukashiki Hana to Hana

湯西川温泉 彩り湯かしき 花と華

A big riverside onsen inn with irori-hearth dinners, three bath houses on its own pH 9.3 spring and free drinks since December 2025 — good value, but ageing buildings, insects and a slimmer dinner draw 2026 complaints

• Secluded Retreats

Naraya

草津温泉 奈良屋

Kusatsu's famously soft-yet-acidic Shirahata water, cooled by hand the old way, a few steps from Yubatake — with tableside sushi, and dinners that can run long

Kusatsu Onsen Kanemidori

昔心の宿 金みどり

A 30-room Kusatsu inn, founded in 1902 as a restaurant, that guests choose for its nine-course dinners and two free-flowing springs — but the rooms have no views, the private baths cost extra and the portions defeat many

• Destination Dining

Kusatsu Onsen Boun

草津温泉 望雲

A Kusatsu inn dating to 1598, with strong, free-flowing acidic water from two springs and a new wing of onsen-bath rooms — but uneven service and dinners that recent guests rate below the baths

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Historic Ryokan

Kusatsu Onsen Hotel Ichii

草津温泉 ホテル一井

The closest hotel to Kusatsu's Yubatake, with two free-flowing springs and a much-praised live-kitchen buffet — but only 23 rooms see the hot-spring field, most rooms are dated, and it's a big, busy house with long corridors

• Historic Ryokan

Nushiyu Ryokan

草津温泉 ぬ志勇旅館

A small family-run inn on the Yubatake with Kusatsu's only open-air bath looking down on the hot-spring field, fed by the rare Shirahata spring, plus a free private bath — but it's an old stair-climbing house with smoking rooms, no air conditioning and cash-only payment, and the view is mostly from the men's side

• Private Onsen Rooms

Kusatsu Onsen Hotel Sakurai

草津温泉 ホテル櫻井

Kusatsu's biggest onsen 'hotel' is really a 179-room ryokan: mostly tatami rooms, a 30-metre bath fed by three free-flowing springs, a live-cooking buffet and a nightly yumomi show — but it's big and busy, and the in-room open-air baths aren't onsen

Yuyado Toki no Niwa

湯宿 季の庭

A tatami-floored Kusatsu inn where all 64 rooms have an open-air onsen bath, plus 23 tubs shared with a sister inn — but the room baths are filled on demand rather than free-flowing, it's a 15–20-minute walk from the Yubatake, and 2025–2026 guests report an ageing building

• Private Onsen Rooms

Kusatsu Onsen Daitokan

草津温泉 大東舘

A budget Meiji-era inn facing Kusatsu's Yubatake that pipes the Yubatake spring itself into its baths and serves big Gunma buffets — but the building is tired, every room is a smoking room, and a 'Yubatake-side' room doesn't guarantee a view

Bettei Senjuan

別邸 仙寿庵

Eighteen rooms, each with its own free-flowing open-air onsen, in a prize-winning earthen-walled building below Mount Tanigawa — a Relais & Châteaux favourite whose kitchen has lately lost some fans

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Design-Led

Ryokan Tanigawa

水上温泉郷 谷川温泉 旅館たにがわ

A 28-room inn below Mount Tanigawa where Osamu Dazai once wrote, loved for its free-flowing baths, private dining rooms and a stream of free snacks by the hearth — the sister of Bettei Senjuan at a fraction of the price, though views are limited and the baths run hot

• Easy From Tokyo

Hoshi Onsen Chojukan

法師温泉 長寿館

A lone Meiji-era inn where the water bubbles up through the stones beneath you — one of Japan's great baths, if you can handle mixed bathing, no air conditioning and autumn stink bugs

• Historic Ryokan
• Secluded Retreats

Takaragawa Onsen Osenkaku

宝川温泉 汪泉閣

470 tatami of riverside open-air baths, where everyone wears the inn's bathing robe — Japan's most spectacular mixed bathing at a bargain price, if you can live with an old building, day-trip crowds and summer horseflies

• Secluded Retreats

Shunmokutei Nakazawa Ryokan

四万温泉 春木亭 なかざわ旅館

A six-room hillside inn where all four baths are free-flowing, free and lockable for your party alone — no shared bathing at all — with home-style local cooking in semi-private rooms, from about ¥30,000 for two

• Private Onsen Rooms

Shima Onsen Kashiwaya Ryokan

四万温泉 柏屋旅館

A 14-room retro-modern inn where three private open-air baths are free, unbooked and usable as often as you like, with a noon check-out — but it's a wooden house with steep stairs, no lift and thin walls, and most rooms have no bath of their own

• Private Onsen Rooms

Sekizenkan

積善館

A 1691 bathhouse inn, a 1930 bathhall and a modern tower on one hillside — pick your building carefully, and stay the night for Genroku-no-yu without the day crowds

• Historic Ryokan
• Private Onsen Rooms

Shima Onsen Toshimaya

四万温泉 豊島屋

A 15-room riverside inn whose every bath — shared, private and in eight of the rooms — runs on its own springs with no water added, no heating and no recirculation; the catch is no lift, a modest dinner for the price and signs of thin staffing

• Private Onsen Rooms

Shima Tamura

四万たむら

A bath-keeper's inn since 1563 with seven free-flowing baths from its own riverbed sources — a mixed bath in the river, a waterfall-view open-air bath, a pebble-floored bath where the spring rises underfoot — in a big, ageing, maze-like building

• Historic Ryokan

Shima Yamaguchikan

四万やまぐち館

A big, Shōwa-retro riverside inn whose two long open-air baths sit right on the clear Shima river — come for the water and the okami's nightly picture-story show, not for the food or for quiet

Yamamizuki

山あいの宿 山みず木

Riverside open-air baths and some of Kurokawa's warmest service, a shuttle ride from the village — excellent value, if you book a room with its own bath

• Secluded Retreats

Fumoto Ryokan

ふもと旅館

Eleven free private baths you simply walk into, every tub 100% free-flowing, and the family who invented Kurokawa's bath-hopping pass — great water and big country dinners, with a lot of stairs

• Private Onsen Rooms

Gekkoju Kurokawa

月洸樹 黒川

Ten detached villas on a forested hill above Kurokawa, each with its own free-flowing onsen bath, some as big as a small public bath. Bloggers rave about it, but prices have climbed steeply and a few 2025 reviews flag upkeep, dinner and service slips

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Secluded Retreats

Ryokan Sanga

旅館 山河

Seven baths from two private springs in the forest outside Kurokawa — beloved for its water and warmth, and now with no mixed bath; pack layers in winter

• Secluded Retreats

Kurokawa Onsen Ikoi Ryokan

黒川温泉 いこい旅館

Kurokawa's bath-hopping inn: 13 free-flowing baths under one roof, including the famous open-air Taki-no-yu and four private baths that are free for guests. But the best outdoor baths are mixed, day bathers share them until 21:00, and there are no credit cards and no young children

• Private Onsen Rooms

Ryokan Wakaba

黒川温泉 旅館わかば

A friendly 16-room family inn with horse-sashimi kaiseki served in renovated rooms that have their own dining rooms, plus four detached rooms with free-flowing onsen baths. The shared baths are modest and close at 22:30

• Private Onsen Rooms

Yukyo no Hibiki Yusai

黒川温泉 湯峡の響き 優彩

Kurokawa's big, sociable inn: seven free-flowing baths, including a floodlit bamboo-grove bath and two free private baths, plus buffet dinners with free-flow drinks and a free evening bar. It's a busy house of about 55 rooms, though, and 2026 reviews flag grubby baths and cold grill dishes

• Private Onsen Rooms

Kamenoi Bessou

亀の井別荘

Yufuin's century-old forest retreat: Japanese guests rave about the space and the baths, and are more measured about the food

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Historic Ryokan

Sanso Murata

由布院 山荘 無量塔

Twelve villas built from relocated old farmhouses, each with its own onsen, and a bar with a 1930s theatre speaker — Yufuin's most atmospheric hideaway, if you don't need a view or a big bath

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Design-Led

Yufuin Souan Kosumosu

由布院温泉 草庵秋桜

A 12-room 'cooking inn' remodelled by Seven Stars train designer Eiji Mitooka, steps from Lake Kinrin, with free-flowing spring water in every bath and open-air tubs in the cottages — but it sits on Yufuin's busiest strip, the shared baths are small and the cheapest rooms have only a shower

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Destination Dining

Yufuin Tamanoyu

由布院 玉の湯

Sixteen cottages in a woodland garden, each with its own free-flowing hinoki bath, and a breakfast soup people call Japan's best — but dinner splits opinion

• Private Onsen Rooms

Yufuin Sanso Warabino

由布院温泉 山荘 わらび野

A 1988 inn rebuilt in concrete after the 2016 earthquake: 13 modern suites in a wooded garden, each with its own free-flowing onsen bath on heated stone floors, and noon check-out — Japanese guests rate it near-perfect, but most baths are indoor tubs with opening windows, not true open-air baths

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Design-Led

Yufuin Gettoan

ゆふいん 月燈庵

Eighteen detached cottages in the woods outside Yufuin, each with its own free-flowing onsen bath, reached by a suspension bridge from a 300-year-old farmhouse — the food wins praise, but the main-wing rooms are dated, the room baths are small and enclosed, and the paths are hard going

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Secluded Retreats

Arima Onsen Kinzan

有馬温泉 欽山

Arima's adults-most-of-the-year 'ryotei ryokan': Kyoto-style kaiseki served in your room, brown kinsen in the shared baths and 14 renovated rooms with their own silver-spring bath — the other 17 have none, and a couple of 2025 diners felt the food had slipped

• Destination Dining

Nakanobo Zuien

中の坊瑞苑

Arima's big classic inn: rust-red kinsen in the large baths, a shogi-title venue with a garden lobby — book a kinsen room by phone and you'll see why regulars keep coming back

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Historic Ryokan

Tosen Goshobo

有馬温泉 陶泉 御所坊

A shadowy, designer-restored wooden inn with centuries of history and a half-mixed bath of rust-red kinsen water — adored for its staff, divisive for its bath and its creaks

• Historic Ryokan
• Design-Led

Hyoe Koyokaku

有馬温泉 兵衛向陽閣

Arima's big all-rounder: a 126-room inn with three bath houses of rust-red kinsen, a live-cooking wagyu buffet or charcoal-grill private rooms, and free matcha and drinks — but the baths are partly recirculated, it's a maze, and tattoos are refused

Arima Onsen Gekkoen Korokan

有馬温泉 月光園 鴻朧館

Kaiseki served course by course in your room at both meals, a wall of mountain view and three bath houses of the inn's own kinsen — at a classic price, but it's a modern block where you fetch your own yukata, and the in-room and private baths aren't onsen

Motoyu Ryusenkaku

神戸有馬温泉 元湯龍泉閣

Arima's family ryokan: dinner in your room, its own brown kinsen spring, an indoor pool and 50-plus baby and child services — but the shared baths are heated and recirculated, the family bath isn't onsen, and the house is older and busier than most

Takinoya

登別温泉郷 滝乃家

Four kinds of Noboribetsu spring water, barefoot tatami corridors and private-room kaiseki — but only a dozen rooms have onsen of their own, and extras are thin for the price

• Private Onsen Rooms

Bourou Noguchi Noboribetsu

望楼NOGUCHI登別

An adults-only, all-suite 'Noboribetsu modern' inn where every room has its own big milky sulphur-spring bath and dinner is a Japanese-French kaiseki in a private dining room — superb for doing nothing, but the 20-year-old rooms are showing their age and the dinner divides opinion

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Design-Led

Noboribetsu Onsen Kashoutei Hanaya

登別温泉 花鐘亭はなや

A 21-room inn in a town of big hotels: milky free-flowing sulphur water, both meals served in your room and free draft beer and sake all stay — but the baths are tiny, the walls thin and the building showing its age

• Destination Dining

Oyado Kiyomizuya

登別温泉 御やど清水屋

A former kappo restaurant turned small Noboribetsu inn: 13-course kaiseki served in your room at both meals and milky, free-flowing sulphur water — in an old building with small baths, mould and insects in some rooms

• Destination Dining

Takinoya Bekkan Tamanoyu

滝乃家別館 玉乃湯

Takinoya's small, affordable annex on Noboribetsu's main street: milky free-flowing sulphur water, warm service and a careful multi-course dinner — but the baths are tiny, almost no rooms have a bath, and the building shows its age

Ryotei Hanayura

旅亭 花ゆら

The quiet 37-room top tier of a Noboribetsu hotel group: 27 rooms with their own free-flowing milky sulphur bath and kaiseki in private dining rooms — but the building is dated, the room baths run hot and 2026 reviews call dinner service rushed at times

• Private Onsen Rooms

Dogo Funaya

道後温泉 ふなや

Dogo's oldest inn — Soseki and Shiki wrote haiku here — with a 1,500-tsubo firefly garden and some of Shikoku's best-rated breakfasts, in a big, modern-looking building

• Historic Ryokan
• Destination Dining

Dogo Onsen Dogokan

道後舘

Kisho Kurokawa's postmodern take on an Edo inn town, on the hill above Dogo: some of Shikoku's best-rated kaiseki and service, nine rooms with their own open-air onsen bath — but the shared baths are recirculated and the building shows its age

• Design-Led
• Destination Dining

Dogo Onsen Yamatoya Honten

道後温泉 大和屋本店

A sukiya-style inn with its own hinoki noh stage, sea-bream rice with every dinner and a 100-dish Setouchi breakfast, steps from Dogo's famous bathhouse — the baths themselves are recirculated, and it's a big, busy house

• Historic Ryokan

Zao Onsen Uta no Yado Wakamatsuya

蔵王温泉 蔵王・和歌（うた）の宿 わかまつや

A 21-room inn tied to the poet Saitō Mokichi, with its own unwatered, unheated pH 1.8 sulphur spring, two free private baths and Yamagata-beef kaiseki in private dining rooms — the building itself is newer and some fittings are tired

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Historic Ryokan

Miyamaso Takamiya

蔵王温泉 深山荘 高見屋

A 300-year-old inn with its own fiercely acidic sulphur springs and some of Zao's best-loved cooking — in an old, maze-like building with no lift

• Historic Ryokan
• Private Onsen Rooms

Zao Onsen Kinosato

蔵王温泉 岩清水料理の宿 季の里

A warm, family-run 20-room inn at the edge of Zao Onsen, loved for its staff and hearty Yamagata-beef dinners, with a milky, free-flowing sulfur bath in a wooden bath house across the car park — the indoor baths aren't hot-spring water, and the 1993 building shows its age

Zao Onsen Oomiya Ryokan

蔵王温泉 おおみや旅館

A Taishō-romance inn where every corridor and stair is tatami, with 100% free-flowing sulphur water from its own spring and Yamagata-beef dinners at a fair price — but the baths are small and crowd easily, there's no lift, and the open-air bath shuts all winter

Chigira Jinsentei

伊香保温泉 千明仁泉亭

Ikaho's oldest inn on the stone steps, with free, unbookable private baths of rust-gold water — a bath-lover's favourite whose food divides opinion

• Historic Ryokan
• Private Onsen Rooms

Ikaho Onsen Nagomigokoro no Yado Omori

伊香保温泉 和心の宿 大森

A family-run, barefoot-on-tatami inn with two rooftop open-air baths 800 m up and Akagi-beef kaiseki, right by the bus terminus — but the water is the clear, recirculated Shirogane spring, you wash downstairs, and budget rooms have no bath

• Historic Ryokan

Ikaho Onsen Kishigon Ryokan

伊香保温泉 岸権旅館

A 450-year-old inn on Ikaho's stone steps with three free-flowing 'golden water' bath houses, free after-bath drinks and Akagi-beef kaiseki at mid-range prices — but the main bath is under renovation until January 2027, private baths cost extra, and older corners show their age

• Historic Ryokan

Ikaho Onsen Moriaki Ryokan

伊香保温泉 森秋旅館

A Meiji-era inn by Ikaho's stone steps where every bath — even the seven in-room tubs — runs free-flowing 'golden' water, with an okami at every dinner table and a breakfast hall full of mountains; but it's a big, busy 74-room house with banquet-hall dinners and view-less cheaper rooms

• Historic Ryokan

Ikaho Onsen Tsukagoshiya Shichibee

伊香保温泉 温泉宿 塚越屋七兵衛

An Edo-era Ikaho inn whose indoor bath pours the iron-brown 'golden' spring free-flowing, with warm, attentive service and table-grilled Gunma beef at modest prices — but the outdoor baths aren't hot-spring water, meals are mostly in halls, and 2026 reviews flag an ageing building

• Historic Ryokan

Ikaho Onsen Nyoshin-no-sato Hibikino

伊香保温泉 如心の里 ひびき野

A large, well-run Ikaho inn in a 15,000-tsubo garden with both of the town's springs — a free-flowing 'golden' outdoor bath and a recirculated 'silver' indoor one — plus sauna and in-room-bath rooms; the outdoor tub is small and the building is ageing

Ikaho Onsen Fukuichi

伊香保温泉 福一

A big, friendly inn at the very top of Ikaho's stone steps, with its own door onto the steps and both of Ikaho's springs in the large baths — but the water is heated, partly recirculated and disinfected, the one free-flowing private bath has been shut since a June 2026 earthquake, and dinner divides opinion

• Historic Ryokan

Sumiyoshiya

野沢温泉 村のホテル 住吉屋

An 1869 wooden inn beside Nozawa's boiling Ogama springs — stained-glass baths, near-perfect scores for its local cooking, and water so hot you'll need to go slowly

• Historic Ryokan
• Destination Dining

Nozawa Onsen Kawaichiya Ryokan

野沢温泉 河一屋旅館

A renovated Nozawa inn with two different springs under one roof, including the prized Shin-yu, piped free-flowing into its outdoor bath and newer in-room baths, plus a two-wagyu steak dinner and near-perfect service scores. The catches: thin walls, a maze of stairs and corridors, and very hot water

Ryokan Sakaya

野沢温泉 旅館さかや

The big inn beside Nozawa's Ōyu bathhouse, with its own sulphur spring rising in the garden and running unwatered through a shrine-carpenter bathhouse of hot, warm and lie-down tubs. The catches: plain cheaper rooms, weak summer air-conditioning and strict winter booking rules

• Private Onsen Rooms

Taenoyu

乳頭温泉郷 妙乃湯

Nyuto's gentler, more polished alternative — two different springs, a riverside mixed bath with women-only time, and warm service, though the rooms are small and the layout confusing

• Secluded Retreats

Tsurunoyu Onsen

乳頭温泉郷 鶴の湯温泉

Japan's most photographed milky mixed bath, a thatched samurai-guard house with irori hearths, and rooms from about ¥11,700 — rustic, cold in places, and hard to book

• Historic Ryokan
• Secluded Retreats

Kyukamura Nyuto Onsenkyo

休暇村 乳頭温泉郷

Nyuto's easy option: a modern 38-room resort lodge with two free-flowing springs, an outdoor bath in the beech forest, Akita buffets and the bath-hopping bus at the door — comfortable and easy to book, but short on old-inn atmosphere

• Secluded Retreats

Magoroku Onsen Rokuan

孫六温泉 六庵

Nyūtō's old self-catering hideaway, reborn in 2025 as a six-room inn with a barrel sauna, robed mixed baths and counter kaiseki — beautiful, remote and pricey, with early reviews still mixed

• Secluded Retreats

Yunoshimakan

下呂温泉 湯之島館

A 1931 wooden resort inn that hosted two emperors — red-carpeted corridors, a Showa-era bar and Hida beef at 4.9 — but also a maze of stairs and a persistent musty smell

• Historic Ryokan

Gero Onsen Sasara

下呂温泉 紗々羅

Gero's self-styled 'art inn' on the hill: antique-crammed lobbies, 20 of 44 rooms with their own open-air onsen, in-room Hida-beef dinners and a top-floor bath over the town lights — but breakfast underwhelms, the Moriyama wing is a long walk from the baths, and renovation noise runs until the end of 2026

• Design-Led

Gero Onsen Bosenkan

下呂温泉 望川館

A friendly, family-minded Gero inn founded in 1818, with a 1,100-tsubo garden, a big riverside open-air bath, Hida beef hoba-miso dinners in private rooms and trains rumbling over the bridge outside — but the building is old, the baths are partly recirculated and down a steep flight of stairs

• Historic Ryokan

Gero Onsen Ogawaya

下呂温泉 小川屋

Gero's big bath-hopping inn: a 100-tatami 'tatami bath', five shared baths, nine private ones and a menu of Hida-beef dinners in the middle of town — but it's a 120-room maze, the private baths cost extra, and 2026 reviews complain of queues and uneven service

Gero Onsen Suimeikan

下呂温泉 水明館

Gero's grand ryokan since 1932: four wings, three big baths of silky alkaline water and Hida beef everywhere — choose the Rinsenkaku wing for onsen in your room, and expect crowds and tired rooms elsewhere

• Historic Ryokan

KAI Tamatsukuri

界 玉造

Hoshino Resorts' 24-room inn in Tamatsukuri: every room has its own open-air onsen bath, staff perform Iwami kagura every night and dinner centres on a shijimi-clam beef shabu-shabu — but the water is diluted, heated and recirculated, the building is full of steps, and 2026 reviews note slips in service

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Design-Led

Kasuien Minami

佳翠苑 皆美

Tamatsukuri's big, polished all-rounder: 108 rooms with plenty of free-flowing in-room onsen baths, a rooftop view bath, sea-bream rice and very high guest scores — but it's large enough for check-in queues, tour groups and a crowded breakfast

Chorakuen

玉造温泉 湯之助の宿 長楽園

Japan's biggest mixed open-air bath in a 10,000-tsubo garden, made approachable with bathing wraps for everyone — at a big, dated, Showa-era inn with so-so food

• Historic Ryokan

Myoken Ishiharaso

妙見石原荘

Seven private springs of fizzy, untouched water, a 1931 stone rice warehouse turned into river-side suites, and a riverbank bath under a great muku tree — Kyushu's finest onsen inn, if you choose your room carefully

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Design-Led

Wasurenosato Gajoen

妙見温泉 忘れの里 雅叙苑

A hamlet of thatched farmhouses where chickens roam and every room has a rock-hewn onsen — 'as if time stopped fifty years ago', and priced accordingly high

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Secluded Retreats

KAI Kirishima

界 霧島

Hoshino Resorts' mountainside inn where every one of the 49 rooms looks across the Kirishima highlands to Sakurajima, with a glass slope car down to a bathhouse in a pampas-grass meadow — but most rooms have only a shower, Sakurajima often hides in haze, and recent reviews grumble about grubby windows and thin dinners

• Secluded Retreats

Ryotei Hanzuiryo

雲仙温泉 旅亭 半水盧

Fourteen private villas of 250㎡ each, kaiseki served in your own tatami room and a milky, tingling acidic spring — superb privacy, but a grand 1992 inn now showing its age

• Destination Dining
• Secluded Retreats

Unzen Miyazaki Ryokan

雲仙宮崎旅館

Unzen's 1929 inn, rebuilt from scratch in 2022 as a dim, design-award-winning 39-room house above the steaming Jigoku — milky free-flowing sulphur baths and widely praised local cooking, but most rooms have only a shower and the shared baths close at 9am

• Design-Led

Unzen Fukudaya

雲仙福田屋

Milky, free-flowing sulphur water in eight baths and a much-loved kaiseki with lava-grilled abalone and cheese fondue, at fair prices — but most main-building rooms have tap-water baths, and the old building is a maze of steps

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Destination Dining

Yuyado Unzen Shinyu

ゆやど 雲仙新湯

A 1908 inn with four hot springs of its own and a sea-bream shabu-shabu kaiseki from Shimabara produce, at fair prices — but only four rooms have their own onsen bath, one shared bath is recirculated, and the old building shows its age

• Destination Dining

Unzen Onsen Azumaen

雲仙温泉 東園

A big, older lakeside ryokan where every room looks over Oshidori Pond, the baths run on the inn's own free-flowing spring and dinner ends with sushi made at your table — but only 8 of 27 rooms have a private bath, the main baths are a long walk away, and the building shows its age

• Destination Dining

Mukaitaki

会津東山温泉 向瀧

Japan's first registered-heritage inn: a former Aizu clan bath retreat with scalding free-flowing water, free private baths and carp dinners in your room — and a lot of stairs

• Historic Ryokan

Kutsurogijuku Shintaki

会津東山温泉 くつろぎ宿 新滝

A big, well-run riverside inn with four truly free-flowing baths — including the Aizu lords' rock bath fed from the bedrock beneath it — free sake in the lounge and Aizu-style dinners at a fair price; it's busy, dim and full of stairs, and private baths cost extra

• Historic Ryokan

Shosuke no Yado Takinoyu

会津東山温泉 庄助の宿 瀧の湯

A big riverside inn on the spot where Higashiyama Onsen began, with open-air baths beside a floodlit waterfall, seven private baths and famous breakfast mochi — but the cheaper rooms are cramped, the building is full of steps, and 2026 reviews flag smells and patchy upkeep

Hotel Iya Onsen

和の宿 ホテル祖谷温泉

A private cable car drops 170 metres to riverside baths of fizzy, body-temperature sulphur water — Shikoku's great onsen adventure, if you don't mind stairs and a winding road

• Secluded Retreats
• Private Onsen Rooms

Iya Onsen Hotel Kazurabashi

新祖谷温泉 ホテルかずら橋

A 22-room Iya Valley inn where a little wooden cable car you start yourself climbs to open-air baths over the mountain hamlets, with irori-side local dinners, a singing okami and a free bonnet-bus tour to the lit-up vine bridge — but the onsen is recirculated and the hilltop baths can get crowded

• Secluded Retreats

Obokekyo Mannaka

峡谷の湯宿 大歩危峡まんなか

A 14-room gorge inn three minutes from its own sightseeing-boat pier, renovated in 2024 with gadget-packed rooms, a pour-your-own sauna and local-produce kaiseki at a fair price — but the spring is cold and recirculated, the open-air bath is an artificial mineral bath, and road and train noise reach it

HOSHINOYA Karuizawa

星のや軽井沢

Hoshino Resorts' flagship: a car-free village of rooms around a river, with no TVs, a light-and-dark Meditation Bath and seasonal Shinshu kaiseki — deeply restful, but meals cost extra and value is the sore point

• Design-Led
• Easy From Tokyo

Fukiya

ふきや

A 20-room sukiya inn above Yugawara with three free private open-air baths, vintage Scandinavian chairs in every room and old-style in-room dining — but only half the rooms have spring water in their hinoki tubs, and the food under a newer chef divides repeat guests

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Design-Led

Yugawara Onsen Itoya

湯河原温泉 島崎藤村ゆかりの宿 伊藤屋

A 13-room inn from 1888 where Shimazaki Tōson came to write, with Taishō-era rooms listed as cultural property, two free private baths and seafood dinners that reviewers love — but the spring water is recirculated, there's no lift, and the old wing runs cold in winter

• Historic Ryokan
• Private Onsen Rooms

Oku-Yugawara Tsubaki

奥湯河原 海石榴

A sukiya-style inn at the end of the Oku-Yugawara bus line, with in-room meals, a prize-winning five-room guest house and a much-praised breakfast — but its onsen is recirculated and the standard rooms' baths aren't onsen at all

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Design-Led

Yugawara Onsen Gensen Uenoya

湯河原温泉 源泉 上野屋

Yugawara's oldest inn: three registered-heritage wooden buildings, its own 82°C spring poured unrecirculated into every bath and two free private open-air tubs — but no lift, steep stairs, thin walls and modest dinners

• Historic Ryokan
• Private Onsen Rooms

Yugawara Onsen Onyado Megumi

湯河原温泉 おんやど恵

A Yugawara inn with an Edo theme, built for small children and older parents: room-served kaiseki, a stair-lift to the baths, a kids' room, and four rooms with their own free-flowing onsen. But the main baths are recirculated and cleaning slips

• Easy From Tokyo

Taishoya Shiibasanso

大正屋 椎葉山荘

Ureshino's valley hideaway: 20 rooms strung along a mountain stream, each with its own hinoki bath of free-flowing spring water, a huge riverside open-air bath and fireflies in June — but the big baths are recirculated, the outdoor corridors are a maze, and the food is solid rather than special

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Secluded Retreats

Ryokan Hatsuneso

嬉野温泉 旅館 初音荘

A 26-room Ureshino inn rebuilt entirely around small children — slide-and-loft rooms, tatami-floored baths, free nappies and baby food, a plated kaiseki at low prices — but the building is 30+ years old, there is no lift, and adults seeking quiet should look elsewhere

Ryokan Omuraya

旅館 大村屋

Ureshino's oldest inn, reinvented around records and books, with silky 'beauty' water and a breakfast of tofu melted in hot-spring water — great value in the renovated rooms, less so in the old washitsu

• Historic Ryokan

Ureshino Onsen Taishoya

嬉野温泉 大正屋

Ureshino's century-old town-centre inn: Junzo Yoshimura architecture around a cedar garden, spring water in every room's bath and the famous 'melting' onsen tofu at breakfast — but the shared baths are recirculated, the much-extended building is a maze of stairs, and the dining hall is big and busy

• Historic Ryokan
• Private Onsen Rooms

Ryokan Yoshidaya

旅館 吉田屋

A 1925 riverside inn reworked in dark wood and lamplight, where most rooms have their own free-flowing Ureshino spring bath and the lounge feeds you all day — but it is all stairs, and 2026 reviews flag uneven dinner service

• Private Onsen Rooms

Wataya Bessou

和多屋別荘

A sprawling riverside resort reinventing itself with tea, books, a Pierre Hermé shop and workspaces around a 1977 Kisho Kurokawa tower — great water and dinners, but choose a renovated room

• Design-Led

Ibusuki Onsen Koran no Yu Kinkoro

指宿温泉 こらんの湯 錦江楼

Bay-view baths on the inn's own cloudy 'skin-beautifying' spring, Kagoshima black-pork shabu-shabu and warm, unhurried service at a 32-room Ibusuki ryokan facing Sakurajima — in an older building, with a solar farm in the view and only two rooms with their own onsen

Ibusuki Shusuien

いぶすき秀水園

The ryokan that topped Japan's professional cuisine ranking for 40 straight years — miso-grilled abalone, Kagoshima black pork and a devoted room attendant — though the streak ended in 2024, and the baths and building lag behind the food

• Destination Dining

Ibusuki Hakusuikan

指宿白水館

A vast Edo-style bath hall, an indoor sand bath you can use in any weather, and black-pork shabu-shabu by the bay — Ibusuki's grand ryokan, if you don't mind long corridors, tour groups and an ageing building

Bettei Otozure

別邸 音信

A barefoot, tatami-floored 'modern tōji' retreat where every room has a free-flowing open-air bath and dinner is a light, local kaiseki — adults only, Michelin-keyed, and among western Japan's best-rated inns

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Design-Led

Otani Sanso

大谷山荘

A big, polished riverside inn with fugu dinners and a famous breakfast bread — book a suite if you want real onsen, because the large baths are recirculated

• Private Onsen Rooms

KAI Nagato

界 長門

Hoshino Resorts' craft-filled anchor of a revived onsen town: walkable riverside evenings, free post-bath sake and fugu in winter — but a small bath, heated water and some lacklustre 2026 meals

• Design-Led

Hatcho no Yu

奥鬼怒温泉 八丁の湯

A 1929 mountain hut past the end of the road in Okukinu, with three free-flowing mixed open-air baths by a waterfall and newer log cabins — wonderful water, but basic rooms, no air conditioning and a shuttle you have to plan around

• Secluded Retreats
• Tattoo-Friendly

Kaniyu

奥鬼怒温泉 加仁湯

The biggest inn on Okukinu's car-free road: five of its own sulphur springs flow, unheated and undiluted, into mixed and women-only open-air baths and a row of side-by-side 'tasting' tubs — but the rooms are plain, upkeep is patchy, and you pay in cash

• Secluded Retreats
• Private Onsen Rooms

Misasa Onsen Kiya Ryokan

三朝温泉 木屋旅館

A 14-room wooden inn listed as a cultural property, with its own very hot radium springs — a free private bath where the water bubbles up through the floor, a radon steam room and a warm-floor rest room — but expect stairs, stink bugs and simple, home-style food

• Historic Ryokan
• Private Onsen Rooms

Misasa Onsen Misasakan

三朝温泉 三朝館

Misasa's big, busy all-rounder: three private radon springs, twelve baths around a 1,000-tsubo garden and a crab-heavy table — just reopened after a 2026 refresh, but most rooms are standard Showa-era tatami rooms without spring water

Misasa Onsen Izanro Iwasaki

三朝温泉 依山楼 岩崎

Misasa's century-old grand inn, host to emperors and writers: a 12-bath garden onsen with free-flowing cave and rock tubs and private-room kaiseki — but it's a big 74-room concrete house with fixed air conditioning, thinning service and towels you carry to the bath yourself

• Historic Ryokan

Ryokan Ohashi

旅館大橋

A 1932 riverside inn registered as a cultural property, with a half-underground cave bath where radium and thorium water rises through the rock — unforgettable baths, uneven service

• Historic Ryokan

Okutsuso

名泉鍵湯 奥津荘

The 'locked bath' where alkaline water bubbles up through the granite riverbed beneath you — a registered-heritage inn of just ten rooms, with a new modern kitchen and prices that have climbed fast

• Historic Ryokan
• Private Onsen Rooms

Sendai Akiu Onsen Geihinkan Sakura Rikyu

仙台 秋保温泉 迎賓館 櫻離宮

A 13-room sukiya-style annex where most rooms have their own open-air onsen bath, plus a lounge with free drinks — but dinner is usually the buffet in the 117-room main hotel next door, and the water is recirculated

• Private Onsen Rooms

Densho Sennen no Yado Sakan

伝承千年の宿 佐勘

A 34th-generation family inn that once kept the Date lords' bathhouse, with a thatched riverside bath and a free-flowing-drinks half-buffet — strong on food and history, tired in the older rooms

• Historic Ryokan

Kashoen

佳松園

Hanamaki's top-tier inn: silky alkaline water from its own spring, in-room dinners with Maesawa beef, a free minibar and some of Tōhoku's highest guest scores — though the baths are part-recirculated and recent guests found the food banquet-like and the welcome cool

Fujisan Ryokan

鉛温泉 藤三旅館

A zelkova-wood inn beloved of Miyazawa Kenji, with a hand-dug rock bath 1.25 metres deep where you stand in water rising straight from the floor — superb free-flowing water, rustic rooms, and a self-catering tōji wing that divides opinion

• Historic Ryokan
• Secluded Retreats

Itamuro Onsen Daikokuya

板室温泉 大黒屋

A hot-spring inn founded in 1551 that doubles as a contemporary-art museum, with silky alkaline water flowing through every bath — calm and unusual, but rooms are old and the baths small

• Historic Ryokan
• Design-Led

Shiobara Onsen Yumori Tanakaya

塩原温泉 湯守田中屋

A family-run gorge-side inn at the gateway to Shiobara, loved for charcoal irori dinners, warm service and free-flowing water in every bath — but the famous riverside baths sit about 300 steps below, are mostly mixed-bathing, and two of the four are closed until about 2028

• Destination Dining
• Easy From Tokyo

Jozankei Onsen Nukumori no Yado Furukawa

定山渓温泉 ぬくもりの宿 ふる川

Jozankei's best-loved big inn: handmade kaiseki, a breakfast buffet people rave about, free drinks in three lounges and staff who make a fuss over birthdays — but only a few rooms have their own onsen, the bathhouse is a walk away, and 2026 brought some upkeep and privacy lapses

• Destination Dining

Jozankei Daiichi Hotel Suizantei

定山渓第一寶亭留 翠山亭

Every room has a bath of 100% spring water, the lounge pours free beer, sake and cheesecake from afternoon to midnight, and a free shuttle runs from central Sapporo — Hokkaido's easiest onsen escape, if you don't mind stairs and busy dinners

• Private Onsen Rooms

Jozankei Yuraku Soan

定山渓 ゆらく草庵

A new 102-room inn built like a tea-ceremony hut, tatami from the entrance to the lifts, a hiba onsen tub in every room and four free private baths — but it's big, busy with tour groups, and 2026 reviews complain about slow dinners and thin staffing

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Design-Led

Takayu Onsen Adachiya

高湯温泉 安達屋

A 1607 inn with milky, acidic sulphur water flowing through every bath, irori-grilled dinners and free drinks in the lounge — its famous mixed open-air bath has now been split into men's and women's sides

• Historic Ryokan

Takayu Onsen Ryokan Tamagoyu

高湯温泉 旅館 玉子湯

Takayu's best-known inn: a thatched bath hut from 1868 and garden rock baths full of free-flowing, bluish-milky sulphur water — with dated rooms, thin walls and a paid private bath

• Historic Ryokan

Ryokan Ohnuma

旅館大沼

Eight free-flowing baths of two baking-soda springs, four of them free private baths you just lock, a hillside garden bath and famous house natto — a modern tōji inn at old-fashioned prices, with stairs and shared toilets

• Historic Ryokan

Naruko Onsen Kanshichiyu

鳴子温泉郷 勘七湯

Higashi-Naruko's oldest inn (founded 1784): two free-flowing springs, including its own dark, oily-scented 'Furōsen' bath you can take privately for free, at self-catering prices — but the Shōwa-era building is cluttered and run largely by the owner alone

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Historic Ryokan

Yukiguni no Yado Takahan

雪国の宿 高半

The inn where Kawabata wrote 'Snow Country': silky, sulphurous 'egg water' that's genuinely free-flowing, the writer's preserved room, nightly screenings of the 1957 film and free local sake — in a plain concrete building with a simple breakfast

• Historic Ryokan
• Easy From Tokyo

Echigo-Yuzawa Onsen Shosenkaku Kagetsu

越後湯沢温泉 松泉閣花月

A warm, family-run 28-room inn five minutes from the Shinkansen, loved for its service, free lounge drinks and Uonuma rice — but only the five top-floor rooms have their own free-flowing bath, and 2026 reviewers keep calling dinner thin

• Easy From Tokyo

HATAGO Isen

越後湯澤 HATAGO井仙

A barefoot, 16-room station inn with free-flowing baths, clay-pot Uonuma Koshihikari and a 'village feast' restaurant — 70 minutes from Tokyo, strong on food and rooms, weak on service

• Easy From Tokyo

Kotohira Kadan

琴平花壇

A pilgrims' inn since 1627 where Mori Ōgai stayed, with three historic detached villas, newer rooms with private open-air baths and Olive-beef kaiseki at the foot of Konpira-san — a hilly, maze-like site, and service that's uneven

• Historic Ryokan

Kotohira Hananoyu Koubaitei

湯元こんぴら温泉華の湯 紅梅亭

A big, family-friendly onsen hotel below Konpira-san with 15 baths — rose-petal tubs, a garden bathhouse, a summer pool — and a decorated chef's stone-grill kaiseki; the water is heated and recirculated, and 2026 reviews flag upkeep slips

Kotohira Onsen Kotosankaku

ことひら温泉 琴参閣

Kotohira's 223-room onsen giant, five minutes from the Konpira steps: big shared baths, a 50-dish breakfast and corridors full of curios — but the water is recirculated, cheaper rooms feel dated, and it can be crowded and noisy

Konpira Onsen Yumoto Yachiyo

こんぴら温泉湯元八千代

Kotohira's original onsen inn, founded in 1725 and steps from the Konpira approach: cheap, generous kaiseki and a rooftop bath with views — but an ageing building, repeated cleanliness complaints and a rooftop bath that women can use only in the evening

Sansuikan Kawayu Midoriya

山水館 川湯みどりや

A big, good-value Kumano Kodo base whose river-level open-air bath you share in a bathing wrap, with all-you-can-drink beer and sake and unlimited grilled ayu at dinner — but the bath is mixed, and 2026 reviews flag tired rooms and patchy cleaning

Kawayu Onsen Fujiya

川湯温泉 冨士屋

Dig your own hot bath in the riverbed out front, soak in the winter Sennin-buro, and ride a free shuttle to the Kumano Kodo — a riverside base with real onsen character, in a dated building with patchy upkeep

• Secluded Retreats

Onyado Chikurintei

御宿 竹林亭

Eleven rooms, each with its own open-air bath, set inside the Mifuneyama Rakuen garden, with in-room kaiseki on old Imari and Arita ware and two MICHELIN Keys — but the onsen is heated and not free-flowing, and some rooms show their age

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Historic Ryokan

Takeo Onsen Kyotoya

武雄温泉 大正浪漫の宿 京都屋

A 1910 inn in the middle of Takeo Onsen, kept as a Taishō-era time capsule of music boxes, gramophones and pick-your-own-cup coffee — now room-only with a free bread breakfast, and its own spring is heated and recirculated in an ageing building

• Historic Ryokan

Lamp no Yado Aoni Onsen

ランプの宿 青荷温泉

A 1929 hot-spring retreat lit by about 160 oil lamps, with no electric lights, TV or phone signal, four free-flowing hiba and rock baths and Tsugaru dishes explained in dialect — a real digital detox, if you can live with darkness, thin walls and cool water

• Secluded Retreats

Yado Hanaya Tokubei

宿 花屋徳兵衛

Dorogawa's oldest inn, a 500-year-old pilgrims' lodge taking just six groups a night, with famous ayu, spring-water tofu and boar hotpot cooked by the okami — but the baths are small and recirculated, and the cheaper rooms share toilets

• Historic Ryokan

Kinokuniya Jinpachi

紀の国屋甚八

A 300-year-old pilgrims' inn of six retro tatami rooms where you check in and out at noon and lock either bath for yourself, free — but the spring is heated and recirculated, the tubs are small and most rooms share toilets

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Historic Ryokan

Chikurinan Mizuno

竹林庵みずの

Fourteen rooms, each with its own free-flowing open-air bath facing Hatsushima, six free private baths, horses in the garden and a famous whole fried scorpionfish — at the top of a very steep road, with no lift and no large bath

• Private Onsen Rooms

Atami Taikanso

熱海 大観荘

A 1940s steel magnate's villa named by the painter Yokoyama Taikan, with a big landscaped garden, a sea-view bathhouse and much-praised Kyoto-style kaiseki — but it's a rambling, older complex where people get lost, and only one of the three bathhouses is truly special

• Historic Ryokan
• Private Onsen Rooms

Atami Onsen Furuya Ryokan

熱海温泉 古屋旅館

Atami's oldest inn (1806), with its own Seizaemon spring piped untreated into the shared baths and most rooms, and every meal served in your room — but it's a modern building in a crowded town centre, with little view, and a few 2024–2026 guests found it overpriced

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Historic Ryokan

Shukaen Yunohanazen

秀花園 湯の花膳

A 23-room harbour-front inn that won Japan's Ryokan Koshien in 2025, famous for in-room dinners of whole simmered kinmedai and a front-row view of Atami's fireworks — but the shared baths are recirculated, most rooms allow smoking, and it can't adjust meals for allergies

• Destination Dining
• Easy From Tokyo

Atami Onsen Sakuraya Ryokan

熱海温泉 さくらや旅館

A family-run 1949 inn five minutes from Atami Station where both meals come to your room and every in-room bath runs on straight hot-spring water — but the shared baths are small and recirculated, there's no sea view to speak of, and the building shows its age

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Easy From Tokyo

Atami Sekitei

あたみ石亭

A village of sukiya cottages scattered through a 3,000-tsubo stone garden in the Atami hills, with onsen in every room's bath and much-praised kaiseki — but you walk outdoors over stone steps to everything, the shared baths are open-air only, and the cottages show their age

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Design-Led

Atami Tsukiemon

絶景掛け流しの宿 熱海月右衛門

A small, Edo-themed hillside inn from 2015 with a wide view over Atami to the sea, three free private open-air baths with free-flowing spring water, and kaiseki in semi-private booths — but the shared baths are recirculated, the private baths sit side by side, and only 5 of the 18 rooms have their own bath

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Easy From Tokyo

Shuhokaku Kogetsu

秀峰閣 湖月

A 43-room lakeside inn where every room faces Mt Fuji across Lake Kawaguchi, with kaiseki served in your room and free drinks on a foot-bath terrace — but the baths are recirculated, standard rooms have only a shower, and dinner moves to a dining hall from April 2027

Fuji-Kawaguchiko Onsen Konanso

富士河口湖温泉郷 湖南荘

A big, polished lakeside inn that still serves kaiseki dinner in your room, with Mt Fuji from the rooftop foot bath — but it stands on the town shore, so 40 of its 50 rooms face the lake rather than Fuji, and the heated spring water has little character

• Easy From Tokyo

FUFU Kawaguchiko

ふふ 河口湖

Thirty-two Mt Fuji-facing suites, each with a lava-stone open-air bath and fireplace, and two MICHELIN Keys — but the Fuji view varies by room, the in-room baths don't appear to be free-flowing, and 2025–2026 guests complain of three-hour dinners and uneven service

• Private Onsen Rooms

Kasuitei Ooya

花水庭おおや

A century-old, family-friendly lakeside inn with generous kaiseki dinners (often served in your room) and rooftop baths over Lake Kawaguchi — but Mt Fuji is behind the building, the in-room open-air baths aren't onsen, and the building shows its age

• Easy From Tokyo

Kozantei Ubuya

湖山亭うぶや

A big, celebration-themed lakeside inn where every room faces Mt Fuji across Lake Kawaguchi — but the in-room open-air baths aren't onsen, dinner is now a buffet or shabu-shabu, and Fuji often hides in summer

Rankeiso

妙湶和樂 嵐渓荘

A riverside secluded-onsen inn with a registered cultural-property wooden building, salty therapeutic water, free private baths and mountain-village kaiseki of carp and wild vegetables — but the spring is heated and recirculated, and the old wing carries sound

• Historic Ryokan
• Secluded Retreats

Nasu Kogen no Yado Sansuikaku

那須高原の宿 山水閣

A 13-room early-Shōwa wooden inn in the forest by the Nasu Imperial Villa, loved for its vintage-chair lounges, wagyu soy-milk shabu-shabu and attentive staff — but every bath, including the five in-room ones, is recirculated, there's no lift and no outdoor public bath

• Historic Ryokan
• Private Onsen Rooms

Nasu Onsen Sanraku

那須温泉 山楽

A 1923 inn whose own spring is piped 5.4 km from beside the Imperial Villa's source and never heated or recirculated, with a forest-ringed open-air bath of about 30 tatami and well-loved kaiseki — but 2026 reviews flag scalding in-room tubs, ageing fittings, empty lounge bottles and thin staffing

• Historic Ryokan
• Private Onsen Rooms

Okamotoya Ryokan

岡本屋旅館

A 150-year-old wooden inn in Beppu's sulphur-steam hamlet of Myoban, with a free-flowing milky-blue spring, Oita kaiseki and the original jigoku-mushi pudding — but only three of its 15 rooms have their own bath, the stairs are steep, and a renovated room disappointed in 2026

• Historic Ryokan

Beppu Onsen Hotel Shiragiku

別府温泉 ホテル白菊

A big, mostly tatami-room hotel-ryokan near Beppu Station, loved for its free welcome lounge, pâtissier-made breakfast sweets and a 265-tatami free-flowing bath — but it's a 1970s tower with busy shared baths, some thin walls and a 2026 data-breach notice

• Destination Dining

Sanso Kannawaen

山荘 神和苑

A 50-room hillside inn above Kannawa's steaming 'hells' where every room has its own free-flowing bath from two private wells, and the water can turn sea-blue — but it's a large, rebuilt complex, the blue isn't guaranteed, and 2026 dinners are uneven

• Private Onsen Rooms

KAI Beppu

界 別府

Kengo Kuma's bayfront 'onsen town under one roof': sea views from all 68 rooms and a festival in the lobby every night — but a small shared bath, shower-only standard rooms and uneven 2026 dinners

• Design-Led

Tateshina Ai

蓼科温泉 藍染と懐石料理の宿 たてしな藍

A 17-room forest inn built around indigo dyeing, monthly 'yamami' mountain kaiseki and a stream of small free treats — but the spring water is brought in and recirculated, only the ground-floor suites have their own onsen, and parts of the building are showing their age

• Secluded Retreats

Tateshina Shinyu Onsen

蓼科 親湯温泉

A 1926 riverside inn steeped in Japanese literature — Dazai's honeymoon, Ozu's diaries, 30,000 books — with free private open-air baths and dinner in Taisho-style private rooms; but the shared baths are recirculated and chlorinated, and dinner divides opinion

• Historic Ryokan
• Private Onsen Rooms

Hamachidori no Yu Kaishu (Kyoritsu Resort)

浜千鳥の湯 海舟（共立リゾート）

A 109-room cliff-top resort-ryokan with free-flowing baths, three free private open-air tubs and a mixed bath at the water's edge — but all except the ten cottages have heated plain water in the room bath, and 2026 reviews report crowds and patchy service

• Private Onsen Rooms

Kishu Shirahama Onsen Musashi

紀州・白浜温泉 むさし

A 148-room beach inn a minute from Shirarahama, loved for its open-kitchen buffet and two hot springs — book the high-floor Nagitei rooms for the sea view and rooftop bath, and expect crowds, long walks to the annex and no free toothbrush

Hidatei Hanaougi

飛騨亭 花扇

Takayama's crowd-pleaser: a wood-built, tatami-floored inn with its own silky spring piped into most rooms' open-air baths, one attendant from arrival to farewell and Hida-beef kaiseki in private dining rooms — though the water is recirculated and heated, and the cheapest rooms have no onsen at all

Honjin Hiranoya Kachoan

飛騨高山 本陣平野屋 花兆庵

Takayama's most central ryokan: 24 rooms and about 70 staff a minute from the Jinya, with a drum to welcome you, celebrations remembered and some of the region's top scores — but no room bath is onsen, and the better shared baths are across the street

Honjin Hiranoya Kofukan

飛騨高山 本陣平野屋 光風館

Kachoan's larger, cheaper sister by the red Nakabashi bridge: a taiko drum to greet you, names remembered and Hida-beef kaiseki in private dining rooms — but the rooms are plain, none of the in-room baths is described as onsen, and women get no open-air bath

Hida Takayama Onsen Hoshokaku

飛騨高山温泉 宝生閣

A five-storey hilltop inn above Takayama's old town, loved for warm, old-school service and huge Hida-beef dinners — but only the shared outdoor rock baths use (heated, recirculated) hot-spring water, and the in-room open-air baths are not onsen

KAI Enshu

界 遠州

Hoshino Resorts' tea-themed inn on Lake Hamana: every room looks over the water, there are a dozen-plus teas to brew for free and an eel-and-fugu dinner — but the salty spring is recirculated in two small baths, and most rooms have only a shower

• Design-Led

Hotel Kikusuitei

浜名湖かんざんじ温泉 ホテル鞠水亭

A plain Shōwa-era onsen inn on Lake Hamana where every room faces the water, dinner is a Yufuin-designed kaiseki with eel or abalone, and cheap weekday bookings are often upgraded — but the baths are recirculated and shared with day visitors, and the building shows its age

Iwaki Yumoto Onsen Iwaso

いわき湯本温泉 心やわらぐ宿 岩惣

A former kappō inn in Iwaki-Yumoto reborn as a bargain onsen stay: a top-floor, free-flowing sulphur bath open all night and the okami's homemade-jam breakfast — but there's no dinner, no private bath, and it's an old building with dark corridors at night

• Easy From Tokyo

Genroku Saigajuku Furutakiya

元禄彩雅宿 古滝屋

A 54-room, 330-year-old Iwaki-Yumoto inn with 100% free-flowing sulphur water, a ninth-floor open-air bath and its own nuclear-disaster museum — good-value and family-friendly, but it's a big, ageing concrete building, and 2026 reviews mention insects, a leak and crowded breakfasts

• Easy From Tokyo

Kanazawa Yuwaku Onsen Kokarian

金沢湯涌温泉 古香里庵

Four suites, each with its own onsen bath, in a quiet hot-spring village outside Kanazawa — known for its creative Hokuriku kaiseki, beef shabu-shabu breakfast, free drinks and 22:00 curry udon; the water is recirculated, the baths have little view, and there's no shared bath or lift

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Destination Dining

Kanazawa Yuwaku Onsen Hyakurakuso

金沢湯涌温泉 百楽荘

Two very different wings in one Yuwaku inn: a photogenic main building with a games lounge, and a suite-heavy annex with a free-drinks lounge and four private baths — 14 of the 24 rooms have their own onsen bath, but the water is recirculated, some smell chlorine, and smoke drifts into the annex's second floor

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Design-Led

Iwamuro Onsen Fujiya

岩室温泉 自家源泉の宿 富士屋

A friendly 64-room family inn with Iwamuro's only private hot-spring well, a sulphur spring that shifts from clear to green to milky, and a much-loved country breakfast — but the buildings are dated, dinner is often in a big open hall, and only three rooms have their own bath

Hoho, Iwamuro Onsen

越後平野と弥彦連山一望の宿 穂々 ―hoho―

A big, lively 50-room inn behind a bonfire-lit gate, renamed Hoho in 2023: Iwamuro's black sulphur water in two free-flowing private baths, a steam stone spa, and free beer, sake and wine with a seafood dinner — but the main baths are recirculated and the dining hall gets crowded

Tsukioka Onsen Hirosekan Hiten no Ne

月岡温泉 広瀬館 ひてんの音

A 12-room family inn in Tsukioka with emerald sulphur water, two free private baths and both meals served in your room — guests love the food and service, but some rooms are dated, winter heating can be a kerosene heater, and the water runs hot

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Destination Dining

Tsukioka Onsen Mashu

月岡温泉 摩周

An adults-only Niigata inn where emerald-green sulphur water fills four garden rotenburo and dinner is a Niigata kaiseki of A5 wagyu, nodoguro and Koshihikari — but only the outdoor tubs use spring water, and the private bath costs extra

• Destination Dining

Tsunagi Onsen Shikitei

盛岡つなぎ温泉 四季亭

A small, warmly run sukiya-style inn outside Morioka, rated 4.6 by over 500 Japanese guests for its staff and monthly Iwate kaiseki — the free-flowing sulphur water is best in the few rooms with their own open-air bath, since the shared baths are small, recirculated and never swap

Morioka Tsunagi Onsen Aishinkan

盛岡つなぎ温泉 愛真館

A big, cheerful onsen ryokan outside Morioka where beer, Iwate sake and soft drinks are free from check-in, with 17 tubs including deep 'Jomon' garden baths and an Iwate buffet — great value, but the building is old, the water recirculated and the mood busy rather than serene

Akan Tsuruga Bessou Hinanoza

あかん鶴雅別荘 鄙の座

Lake Akan's adults-only flagship: 25 suites, each with an open-air onsen bath, nearly all drinks included and Hokkaido seafood kaiseki in private rooms — but lake views vary sharply by room, the room baths are recirculated, and the price is steep

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Destination Dining

Akan Yuku no Sato Tsuruga

あかん遊久の里 鶴雅

The Tsuruga group's big flagship on Lake Akan: Ainu art everywhere, three bath complexes with a lake-level garden bath and a rooftop tub, and a huge Hokkaido buffet — but it's a busy, tour-heavy hotel, and 2026 reviews flag worn baths, smells in cheaper rooms and an offsite car park

• Design-Led

Hirugami Onsen Yurui no Yado Keizan

昼神温泉 ユルイの宿 恵山

A 47-room hillside inn in Hirugami where dinner is grilled over charcoal at your own irori hearth in a private room, with a big rock open-air bath and baby-friendly rooms — but the water is recirculated, much of the building is ageing and 2026 reviews describe uneven, trainee-heavy service

Hirugami Onsen Nitchoan Keigetsu

昼神温泉 日長庵 桂月

A 20-room inn in the 'starry village' of Achi with huge kōyamaki-wood baths of silky pH 9.7 water and the rare Murasawa beef — but the big baths are partly recirculated, 2026 guests say the outdoor tubs are gone, and the building shows its age

• Destination Dining

Ito Onsen Toshinan Komeya

伊東温泉 淘心庵 米屋

A 17-room 'ryotei ryokan' in an Itō bamboo grove where every room has its own free-flowing onsen bath and the monthly kaiseki is served in a private dining room — but there are no views to speak of, some cheaper rooms face walls, and the old building is full of steps

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Destination Dining

Ito Onsen Yokikan

伊東温泉 陽気館

A 1910 hillside inn where a tiny in-house cable car climbs 45 degrees to a free-flowing open-air bath over Itō, with both meals in your room — but the building is old and full of stairs, it shuts every Tuesday and Wednesday, and the view only appears when you stand up

• Historic Ryokan
• Easy From Tokyo

Kamisuwa Onsen Nunohan

上諏訪温泉 ぬのはん（布半）

The century-old inn where Suwa's first drilled hot spring was struck in 1920, known for award-winning kaiseki in private garden dining rooms and summer fireworks launched right in front — but the baths are recirculated, small outdoors and have no lake view, and low-floor 'lake view' rooms see the lake through trees

• Historic Ryokan
• Destination Dining

Kamisuwa Onsen Shinyu

上諏訪温泉 しんゆ（親湯）

A 39-room lakeside inn with its own jade-tinted spring in Art Deco tiled, tatami-floored baths, every meal in a private dining room and a free guided bus to all four Suwa Taisha shrines — but the shared baths are indoor, recirculated and chlorinated, and only eight suites have their own bath

• Design-Led
• Easy From Tokyo

Suwa Bettei Suhaku

信州上諏訪温泉 諏訪別邸 朱白

A lakefront onsen inn with two different springs — one rust-brown, one clear — in rooftop baths over Lake Suwa, renovated in 2025 with six lake-facing rooms that have their own baths; the shared baths are recirculated, and the other rooms vary a lot

• Easy From Tokyo

Lake Shikotsu Tsuruga Bessou Ao no Za

しこつ湖鶴雅別荘 碧の座

Hokkaido's all-inclusive lake retreat: 25 suites of 100㎡ or more, each with an open-air onsen bath, and drinks from champagne to craft gin included — book a high floor, because the view from the cheapest rooms takes in the road

• Private Onsen Rooms

Zaborin

坐忘林

Every room has its own source-fed onsen — the service is where Japanese guests hesitate

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Secluded Retreats

Yachi Onsen

谷地温泉

A creaky 400-year-old Hakkōda hot-spring inn where a 38°C 'lower spring' bubbles up through the floor of a wooden tub — loved for the water, the stars and the cheerful staff, if you can live with shared toilets, no air conditioning and no phone signal

• Historic Ryokan
• Secluded Retreats

Tsuta Onsen Ryokan

蔦温泉旅館

Hot water that rises through the floorboards under a 1918 wooden inn in the beech forest — superb baths, small dinners, and thin walls in the old wing

• Historic Ryokan
• Secluded Retreats

Kinsuikan

錦水館

A 1902-founded, sixth-generation inn on Miyajima's seafront with a free-drinks rooftop terrace facing the great torii and much-praised oyster-and-anago dinners — but the baths are its weak spot: a heated cold spring in the shared baths, and artificial mineral water or plain hot water in the in-room and private baths

• Destination Dining

Iwaso

みやじまの宿 岩惣

Miyajima's grand old inn since 1854 — the island after the day-trippers leave, historic villas and Hiroshima oysters, but a radon spring that is heated, and service that has thinned

• Historic Ryokan

Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan

西山温泉 慶雲館

Guinness's 'world's oldest hotel', freshly renovated: unheated, undiluted free-flowing water from every bath and tap, 24-hour baths and a seafood-free mountain kaiseki — at the end of a long road lined with dump trucks

• Historic Ryokan
• Secluded Retreats