Ryokan in Okuhida Onsen

All six reviewed inns are in the Okuhida Onsen-gō spa villages of Takayama, Gifu, below the Northern Alps; all serve Hida beef at dinner and hoba-miso at breakfast, and drivers need winter tyres or chains in winter, but they are spread across three villages. Two are in Hirayu, the oldest spa village in Okuhida, at 1,250 m, by the Hirayu Onsen bus terminal, the hub for buses to Kamikōchi, Norikura, Takayama and Matsumoto. Okada Ryokan & Warakutei, opened in 1921 and a 3-minute walk from the terminal, is two inns on one site, a 60-room main building of plain tatami rooms and Warakutei, a ten-room annex built from a 150-year-old farmhouse moved from Gujō Hachiman; Oyado Eitaro, a small family-run inn a minute from the terminal, was opened about 45 years ago by a Hirayu head chef holding Gifu's 'master of cuisine' title. Two are in Fukuchi Onsen, a hamlet of about ten inns some 1,000 m up and about 15 minutes from Hirayu: Yumoto Choza, opened in 1969, has 27 rooms in farmhouses moved here from elsewhere and joined by long covered corridors, and Yamazato no Iori Sōen has 15 rooms around an 1836 Hida farmhouse rebuilt here in 2004 and now a registered tangible cultural property. Yarimikan, opened in 1925, stands on the Kamata River in Shinhotaka Onsen, built around a 200-year-old village headman's farmhouse facing the peaks of the Northern Alps, about 1 hour 30 minutes by bus from Takayama plus a short walk or the inn's pickup. Hodakaso Yama no Hotel, an 85-room half-timbered mountain hotel, is also in the Shin-Hotaka area, above the Kamata River in Kansaka, five minutes by car from the Shin-Hotaka Ropeway and about an hour by car or bus from Takayama Station.

Okada Ryokan & Warakutei (value) suits budget travellers and anyone heading to Kamikōchi: its own four wells send sulphur-tinged water at 96°C free-flowing into a high-ceilinged koyamaki-wood bathhouse, dinners are more than most can finish, and two-meal stays run about ¥12,000–17,000 per person in the main building or ¥19,000–30,000 in Warakutei, where every room has its own free-flowing indoor and open-air bath. Reviews are more mixed (4.4 on one major site, 3.97 on another): 2026 reviewers often found the baths too hot, insects, slime and rotting wood around Warakutei's outdoor tubs in the warm months, worn main-building rooms and slow, lukewarm service, and its two private baths cost ¥2,800 for 50 minutes. Oyado Eitaro (value) has the best food and the highest scores (4.9 on one major site, 4.75 on another): an 11–12-course Hida-beef kaiseki sent out dish by dish, three springs poured with no added water, heating, recirculation or disinfectant, and two free private baths open 24 hours, at about ¥16,000–26,000 per person; but the nine-mat rooms are plain and smallish with no bath, the changing rooms are cramped, and the inn is small and often full. Yarimikan (classic) has the most dramatic bathing (4.7 on one major site, baths 4.8): riverside open-air baths facing Mount Yarigatake and four free private baths you lock without booking, at about ¥21,000–25,000 per person; but the main riverside baths are mixed, can run lukewarm and have no washing area, the steep stone steps have no lift, and stink bugs appear from October to March. Hodakaso Yama no Hotel (classic) is an 85-room half-timbered mountain hotel, with more Western rooms than tatami ones, that keeps a ryokan's essentials: a served Hida-beef kaiseki, every bath free-flowing, and a 33 m slope car down to a huge riverside mixed bath facing Mount Yarigatake, at about ¥18,000–28,000 per person (4.3 on one major site, 4.22 on another); but the building shows its age, with tired unit baths and musty smells, bathing wraps are compulsory in the mixed bath and cost ¥200–300 to rent, the three private baths cost ¥1,000 plus tax for 30 minutes, and it takes tour groups. Yumoto Choza (classic) has the most free private baths, up to eight with no booking, and dinners at private irori hearths, at roughly ¥30,000 per person; but old wooden rooms can feel damp, the layout is a maze, smoking is allowed in rooms with no non-smoking rooms, and the rock section of the main outdoor bath has been closed since January 2026. Sōen (classic) has the most atmosphere, with irori fires lit in the lobby, charcoal-hearth dinners with rice cooked over wood, and three free-flowing springs feeding riverside tubs and three free private baths open all night, at about ¥24,000–31,000 per person (4.4 on one major site, 4.69 on another); but no room has its own bath, there are many stairs and outdoor paths, and the riverside baths close in heavy rain.