Ryokan in Nyuto Onsen

All four reviewed Nyuto inns are reached by bus from JR Tazawako Station. Three have mixed baths, though the rules differ; Kyukamura Nyuto Onsenkyo has only separate men's and women's baths. Day visitors fill the baths from mid-morning, so evenings and early mornings belong to overnight guests.

Tsurunoyu Onsen (value) is the famous one: a thatched honjin and a milky mixed outdoor bath with no women-only hours and no towels, plus cold changing rooms, thin walls and rooms that are hard to book. Taenoyu (classic) is the gentler, more polished option recommended to first-timers, with two springs, a mixed bath with a women-only hour and warm service, but small rooms and a confusing layout. Magoroku Onsen Rokuan (premium), reopened in 2025 with six rooms and reached only on foot, adds a sauna and counter kaiseki; its mixed baths require robes, and some early guests found it overpriced. Kyukamura Nyuto Onsenkyo (value) is the easy, modern option: a 38-room resort lodge in beech forest with its own bus stop, the bath-hopping bus out front and rooms that can be booked online, two free-flowing springs including a milky sulphur bath that also fills an outdoor tub in the trees, and Akita buffets with kiritanpo hotpot ladled by staff, for about ¥18,000–23,000 per person with two meals. It is short on old-inn atmosphere: meals are buffets in a shared restaurant, there are no private baths, and recent guests mention fewer buffet dishes than before and rooms showing their age.