Ryokan in Yugawara

The five reviewed Yugawara inns use the same type of water, a sodium-calcium chloride-sulfate spring, but sit in different parts of the valley. Gensen Uenoya is in the old hot-spring quarter, about 12 minutes by bus from JR Yugawara Station, and Itoya is in the middle of the hot-spring town at the entrance to Man'yō Park, directly in front of the Kōen-iriguchi bus stop, about 13 minutes by bus; Onyado Megumi is on the main bus road through the hot-spring town, a 1-minute walk from the Risōkyō bus stop, about 7 minutes by bus or 5 minutes by taxi; Oku-Yugawara Tsubaki is at the end of the bus line, about 20 minutes out, in a ravine below the Hakone outer rim. Fukiya, a 20-room sukiya-style inn, is at the top of a steep lane above the old spa quarter, about 8 minutes by taxi from the station, with no shuttle and buses not recommended.

Gensen Uenoya (classic), which calls itself Yugawara's oldest inn, has three registered-heritage wooden buildings, its own 82°C well feeding every bath without recirculation, and two free private open-air baths; expect no lift, steep stairs, thin walls and deliberately small dinners. Itoya (classic), a 13-room inn from 1888 where the novelist Shimazaki Tōson came to write, has Taishō-era main-building rooms registered as cultural property, two free private baths that need no booking and seafood dinners that reviewers love, at about ¥28,000–42,000 per person with two meals; but its water is recirculated in part, it has no lift either, and the old rooms run cold in winter. Oku-Yugawara Tsubaki (classic) is the strongest table, with meals in the room, a much-praised breakfast and a prize-winning five-room guest house. Its water, though, is heated and recirculated, the standard rooms' indoor baths are not onsen, and there are no private baths to reserve. Fukiya (premium) is the priciest of the five, at ¥31,900–53,900 per person with two meals on weekdays, and the best for private bathing: three private open-air hinoki baths, all free (two on the roof that you use whenever the lamp shows them empty), two shared baths with rock open-air tubs, a monthly kaiseki and a clay-pot rice breakfast served in your room, and vintage Scandinavian chairs in every room. But only ten of its 20 rooms have spring water in their hinoki tubs, the official site doesn't say whether the shared baths are free-flowing, one 2026 guest found a top room dated, and a long-time guest felt the food had slipped since the chef changed in 2024. Yugawara Onsen Onyado Megumi (classic) is the easiest with small children or older parents: a modern, Edo-themed building from 1996 rather than an old wooden inn, it is barrier-free with a stair-lift to the large baths, lends out baby gear, has a kids' room and serves its seasonal kaiseki in your room on many plans, from ¥17,600 per person with two meals in a small Western room and ¥20,900–35,200 in a standard tatami room. Its large baths are recirculated and filtered, only the two suites and two annex rooms (¥30,800–50,600) have free-flowing onsen of their own, cleaning complaints keep coming up, and big eaters find dinner small.