Ryokan in Iya Valley

Three reviewed inns sit in this corner of Miyoshi, Tokushima, all reached from JR Oboke Station. Two are in the Iya Valley itself, one of Japan's 'three great hidden regions', and both are built around a cable car to their open-air baths. Hotel Iya Onsen sits on a cliff above the Iya River; its private cable car descends 170 metres at a 42-degree angle to two riverside baths of free-flowing, unheated alkaline sulphur water at about 38°C, silky and slightly fizzy. Iya Onsen Hotel Kazurabashi is a 22-room inn on a hillside about five minutes' drive from the Iya vine bridge; guests start its small hut-like cable car themselves and ride up to open-air baths of blue Awa stone looking across to mountainside hamlets, though its simple sulphur spring is listed as recirculated and filtered. Obokekyo Mannaka, the inn of the company that runs the Oboke Gorge sightseeing boats, is on the Yoshino River gorge instead, about 30 minutes' drive from the Iya Valley: 14 rooms beside a red bridge on Route 32, three minutes' walk from the boat pier and 1.5 km from the station, with free pick-ups. Its dated exterior hides rooms renovated in March 2024, a self-service löyly sauna and an open-air bath above the emerald river, but its cold 18°C spring is heated and recirculated, and the open-air and private baths are artificial mineral baths rather than spring water.

Hotel Iya Onsen (classic) suits those who come for the water: the riverside baths are its highest-scored feature, guests happily soak for a long time, and dinner highlights local amego trout, Iya soba and Awa beef. The 38°C water feels cold in winter, day visitors use the riverside baths until about 17:00, the in-room baths are heated and lose the fizz, there is no lift and a lot of stairs, the approach road is narrow and winding, and several reviewers felt dinner wasn't worth the price; bloggers paid about ¥39,000–40,000 per person in rooms with a bath. Iya Onsen Hotel Kazurabashi (classic) suits those who want warmth and local character: service is its top score, dinners are served round an irori hearth, the okami sings a local folk song, a free vintage bonnet bus runs to the lit-up vine bridge at night, and the inn lists itself as barrier-free; the hilltop baths can be crowded with groups, the cable car's bell can be heard from some rooms until 23:00, rooms book up, and two-meal stays run about ¥20,000–30,000 per person. Obokekyo Mannaka (classic) suits those who want polish, easy access and the lowest price of the three: it rates 4.60 across 1,935 reviews on one major Japanese booking site, rooms come with Dyson dryers and ReFa shower heads, dinner brings ayu, soba-subeshi and a white-miso country hotpot, children are very welcome, and two-meal stays ran about ¥15,000–26,000 per person in 2024–2026. Service is hotel-style with no room attendants, road traffic and trains are audible from the outdoor tub, most rooms have only a shower, river-side rooms are loud after rain, people with tattoos may not use the baths, and dinner pacing drew complaints in 2023–2024.