Secluded Retreats
Hard-to-reach settings — forests, gorges, boat-only access — built for quiet.
39 ryokan
Some of Japan's most rewarding ryokan are the hardest to reach: lone inns at the end of mountain roads or in river gorges, reached by the inn's own shuttle, a cable car or a long walk. Here the setting is the point — river sound, forest and no town around you.
Seclusion has practical consequences that Japanese guests mention again and again: shuttles that run only at set times and must be booked ahead, winter roads that need snow tyres or chains, no convenience store nearby, insects in summer, and in a few old inns no air conditioning. Our reports list access details and the catches so you can plan.
Compare at a glance
| Ryokan | Area | Price | Overall Score | Cuisine | Onsen Privacy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yamamizuki | Kurokawa Onsen | Classic | 4.6 | 4.3 | 4.1 |
| Hotel Iya Onsen | Iya Valley | Classic | 4.5 | 4.1 | 3.8 |
| Iya Onsen Hotel Kazurabashi | Iya Valley | Classic | 4.5 | 4.4 | 3.6 |
| Wasurenosato Gajoen | Kirishima | Premium | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.6 |
| Gekkoju Kurokawa | Kurokawa Onsen | Luxury | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.9 |
| Ryokan Sanga | Kurokawa Onsen | Classic | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.2 |
| Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan | Nishiyama Onsen | Classic | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.6 |
| Taenoyu | Nyuto Onsen | Classic | 4.5 | 4.3 | 3.6 |
| Tsurunoyu Onsen | Nyuto Onsen | Value | 4.5 | 4.3 | 2.8 |
| Yarimikan | Okuhida Onsen | Classic | 4.5 | 4.4 | 3.6 |
| Awanoyu | Matsumoto | Classic | 4.5 | 4.2 | 3.4 |
| Shirafuneso Shintaku Ryokan | Matsumoto | Classic | 4.5 | 4.5 | 4.2 |
| Tobira Onsen Myojinkan | Matsumoto | Luxury | 4.5 | 4.2 | 4.5 |
| Yachi Onsen | Oirase & Towada | Classic | 4.5 | 4.2 | 3.7 |
| Tsuta Onsen Ryokan | Oirase & Towada | Classic | 4.5 | 3.9 | 4.1 |
| Ryotei Hanzuiryo | Unzen Onsen | Luxury | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.0 |
| Taishoya Shiibasanso | Ureshino Onsen | Classic | 4.5 | 4.2 | 4.6 |
| Rankeiso | Echigo-Nagano Onsen | Classic | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.1 |
| Sumiya Kiho-an | Kyoto | Classic | 4.4 | 4.6 | 4.3 |
| Yamazato no Iori Soen | Okuhida Onsen | Classic | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.6 |
| Kamiyashiki Taira no Takafusa | Yunishigawa Onsen | Classic | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.3 |
| Hoshi Onsen Chojukan | Minakami | Classic | 4.3 | 3.9 | 3.0 |
| Hoshinoya Kyoto | Kyoto | Luxury | 4.3 | 4.0 | 3.0 |
| Hatcho no Yu | Okukinu Onsen | Value | 4.3 | 3.9 | 3.6 |
| Tateshina Ai | Tateshina | Classic | 4.3 | 4.2 | 3.9 |
| Tateshina Shinyu Onsen | Tateshina | Classic | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.3 |
| Zaborin | Hokkaido | Luxury | 4.3 | 4.1 | 4.9 |
| Fujisan Ryokan | Hanamaki Onsen | Value | 4.2 | 4.1 | 3.6 |
| Kyukamura Nyuto Onsenkyo | Nyuto Onsen | Value | 4.2 | 4.3 | 3.2 |
| Magoroku Onsen Rokuan | Nyuto Onsen | Premium | 4.2 | 4.0 | 4.2 |
| Yumoto Choza | Okuhida Onsen | Classic | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.6 |
| Kaniyu | Okukinu Onsen | Value | 4.2 | 3.8 | 3.7 |
| Yunishigawa Hakuun-no-yado Yamashiroya | Yunishigawa Onsen | Value | 4.2 | 4.4 | 4.2 |
| Lamp no Yado Aoni Onsen | Aoni Onsen | Value | 4.1 | 3.9 | 3.8 |
| KAI Kirishima | Kirishima | Classic | 4.1 | 4.0 | 3.8 |
| Takaragawa Onsen Osenkaku | Minakami | Value | 4.1 | 4.0 | 2.8 |
| Yufuin Gettoan | Yufuin | Premium | 4.1 | 4.4 | 4.4 |
| Irodori Yukashiki Hana to Hana | Yunishigawa Onsen | Classic | 4.0 | 3.9 | 3.6 |
| Kawayu Onsen Fujiya | Kawayu Onsen (Kumano) | Classic | 3.8 | 3.7 | 4.0 |
Area photoKurokawa OnsenClassic
Manganji, Minamioguni, Kumamoto — by a mountain stream about 2 km from the centre of Kurokawa Onsen
10 sources
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
Iya ValleyClassic
Iya Valley, Miyoshi, Tokushima — on a cliff above the Iya River, one of Japan's 'three great hidden regions'
9 sources
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
Area photoIya ValleyClassic
Zentoku, Nishi-Iyayama, Miyoshi, Tokushima — on a hillside in the Iya Valley, about five minutes by car from the Iya vine bridge (Kazurabashi); 20 minutes by bus or 15 by taxi from JR Oboke Station
10 sources
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
Area photoKirishimaPremium
Myoken Onsen, Kirishima, Kagoshima — relocated thatched farmhouses beside the Amori River, 15 minutes by car from Kagoshima Airport
11 sources
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
Area photoKurokawa OnsenLuxury
Manganji, Minamioguni, Kumamoto — on a private wooded hill above Kurokawa Onsen village, with free pickup from the Kurokawa Onsen bus stop; about 1½ hours by car from Kumamoto Airport
10 sources
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
Area photoKurokawa OnsenClassic
Manganji, Minamioguni, Kumamoto — on the forested edge of Kurokawa Onsen
10 sources
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
Nishiyama OnsenClassic
Nishiyama Onsen, Hayakawa, Yamanashi — at the head of the Hayakawa valley below the Southern Alps, about 50 minutes' mountain driving from the Shimobe-Onsen-Hayakawa IC or one daily shuttle from JR Minobu Station
11 sources
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
Area photoNyuto OnsenClassic
Nyuto Onsen, Semboku, Akita — on the Sendatsu River in Towada-Hachimantai National Park
9 sources
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
Nyuto OnsenValue
Nyuto Onsen, Semboku, Akita — at the end of a forest road in Towada-Hachimantai National Park
14 sources
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
Area photoOkuhida OnsenClassic
Shinhotaka Onsen, Okuhida, Takayama, Gifu — alone on the Kamata River below the Northern Alps
12 sources
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
MatsumotoClassic
Shirahone Onsen, Matsumoto, Nagano — alone in a mountain valley on the way to Kamikochi
12 sources
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
Area photoMatsumotoClassic
Shirahone Onsen, Matsumoto, Nagano — on a wooded rise above the mountain spa village, about 15 minutes by car from the Sawando bus terminal for Kamikochi
10 sources
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
Area photoMatsumotoLuxury
Tobira Onsen, in the mountains above Matsumoto, Nagano
7 sources
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
Area photoOirase & TowadaClassic
Hōryō Yachi, Towada, Aomori — a lone inn in the southern Hakkōda mountains beside the Yachi marshland, past Sukayu on the road to Lake Towada; five minutes on foot from the Yachi Onsen stop on the JR bus from Aomori
10 sources
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
Oirase & TowadaClassic
Okuse, Towada, Aomori — alone in beech forest on the Hakkoda–Towada road, about 20 minutes by car from the Oirase stream
9 sources
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
Area photoUnzen OnsenLuxury
Unzen Onsen, Nagasaki — secluded villas in a wooded garden at the edge of the hot-spring village
12 sources
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
Area photoUreshino OnsenClassic
Ureshino Onsen, Saga — alone in a wooded valley on the Shiiba river, about 10 minutes by car up a narrow mountain road from the spa town and 15 minutes from Ureshino-Onsen shinkansen station
10 sources
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
Echigo-Nagano OnsenClassic
Echigo-Nagano Onsen, Sanjō, Niigata — a lone inn on a mountain stream, about 45 minutes by car (or the inn's once-daily shuttle) from Tsubame-Sanjō Station on the Joetsu Shinkansen
9 sources
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
Area photoKyotoClassic
Yunohana Onsen, Kameoka, Kyoto — in wooded hills about 8km from JR Kameoka Station, itself about 20 minutes from Kyoto Station by train
10 sources
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
Area photoOkuhida OnsenClassic
Fukuchi Onsen, Okuhida Onsen-gō, Takayama, Gifu — on a quiet lane off the main road at about 1,000 m, a 3-minute walk from the Fukuchi Yurimizaka bus stop (about 75–80 minutes by bus from JR Takayama Station)
9 sources
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
Area photoYunishigawa OnsenClassic
Yunishigawa Onsen, Nikko, Tochigi — at the far end of the Heike-legend valley, 760 m up, beyond the village centre; 25 minutes by local bus from Yunishigawa Onsen Station plus a short inn pick-up
10 sources
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
MinakamiClassic
Hoshi Onsen, Minakami, Gunma — the only inn at the end of a mountain road
11 sources
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
KyotoLuxury
Arashiyama, Kyoto — reached by private boat
11 sources
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
Area photoOkukinu OnsenValue
Okukinu Onsen, Kawamata, Nikko, Tochigi — at about 1,300 m in Nikko National Park, beyond the end of the public road; cars stop at the Meotobuchi car park and guests ride the inn's shuttle about 30 minutes up a dirt forest road (or hike about 1.5–2 hours)
9 sources
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
Area photoTateshinaClassic
Kitayama, Chino, Nagano — in the larch and birch woods of the Yokoyakyō villa district at about 1,150 m in the Tateshina highlands, around 30 minutes from Suwa IC; from JR Chino Station it's about 30 minutes by bus (Takimidaira stop, then a 3-minute walk) or 20 minutes by taxi
11 sources
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
Area photoTateshinaClassic
Kitayama, Chino, Nagano — a riverside inn at about 1,350 m on the Takinoyu River in the Tateshina highlands, around 30 minutes from Suwa IC via the Venus Line, with a free shuttle from JR Chino Station
9 sources
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
Area photoHokkaidoLuxury
Hanazono, Kutchan (Niseko area), Hokkaido
9 sources
Zaborin
坐忘林
Every room has its own source-fed onsen — the service is where Japanese guests hesitate
- Private Onsen Rooms
- Secluded Retreats
Hanamaki OnsenValue
Namari Onsen, Hanamaki, Iwate — the only inn at Namari, on the Toyosawa river in the hills west of Hanamaki, about 35 minutes by car from Shin-Hanamaki shinkansen station
9 sources
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
Area photoNyuto OnsenValue
Nyuto Onsen, Semboku, Akita — in beech forest in Towada-Hachimantai National Park, with its own stop on the bus line from JR Tazawako Station (about 45 minutes)
14 sources
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
Nyuto OnsenPremium
Nyūtō Onsen-kyō, Semboku, Akita — the innermost inn of the Nyūtō valley, reached only on foot along a 5–15 minute forest path
9 sources
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
Area photoOkuhida OnsenClassic
Fukuchi Onsen, Okuhida Onsen-gō, Takayama, Gifu — about 15 minutes from Hirayu and 40 minutes by car from Takayama Station
9 sources
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
Area photoOkukinu OnsenValue
Okukinu Onsen, Kawamata, Nikko, Tochigi — about 1,340 m up on the Kinu River in Nikko National Park, past the end of the public road; cars stop at the Meotobuchi car park and guests ride the inn's free shuttle about 25 minutes up an unpaved forest road (or walk about 1.5 hours)
10 sources
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
Area photoYunishigawa OnsenValue
Yunishigawa Onsen, Nikko, Tochigi — on the Yunishigawa river in the middle of the village, about 20 minutes by local bus from Yunishigawa-Onsen Station on the Yagan Railway
9 sources
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
Aoni OnsenValue
Aoni valley, Kuroishi, Aomori — deep in the mountains east of Kuroishi; by car April–November (then a steep 100m walk down from the car park), by reservation-only shuttle from Michi-no-Eki Niji-no-Ko all year
9 sources
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
Area photoKirishimaClassic
Kirishima-Taguchi, Kirishima, Kagoshima — high on the slopes of Mt Takachiho-no-mine inside the Kirishima-Kinkōwan National Park, about 15 minutes by taxi from JR Kirishima-Jingū Station or 45 minutes by car from Kagoshima Airport
12 sources
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
MinakamiValue
Fujiwara, Minakami, Gunma — a lone inn on the Takaragawa stream at the top of the Tone River valley, about 40 minutes by the inn's shuttle from Jomo-Kogen shinkansen station
9 sources
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
Area photoYufuinPremium
Kawakami, Yufuin, Oita — 18 detached cottages on about 33,000㎡ of wooded hillside beside a stream off the Shirataki River, about 7 minutes by car from Yufuin Station
10 sources
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
Area photoYunishigawa OnsenClassic
Yunishigawa Onsen, Nikko, Tochigi — on the Yunishigawa river in the Heike-legend mountain village, 20 minutes by local bus from Yunishigawa Onsen Station
9 sources
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
Area photoKawayu Onsen (Kumano)Classic
Kawayu Onsen, Hongū, Tanabe, Wakayama — on the Ōtō River near Kumano Hongū Taisha, with the bus stop at the door (about 1 hour 50 minutes from JR Kii-Tanabe or 1 hour from JR Shingū)
9 sources
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
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Photo credits
- Kurokawa Onsen at night · MaedaAkihiko / CC0
- Hotel Iya Onsen's cable car down to the riverside baths · ブルーノ・プラス / CC BY-SA 4.0
- The Iya River in the Iya Valley, Tokushima · na0905 / CC BY 2.0
- Steam rising over the Kirishima hot springs, with Sakurajima beyond · 663highland / CC BY 2.5
- Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan above the Hayakawa river, Yamanashi · Boltor / CC BY-SA 4.0
- Autumn on the Sendatsu River, Nyuto Onsen, Akita · lumoplank / CC0
- Tsurunoyu — the gate and thatched honjin, Nyuto Onsen · lumoplank / CC0
- The Kamata River near Shinhotaka Onsen, Okuhida, Gifu · Tmv / CC BY 4.0
- Awanoyu in its valley, Shirahone Onsen · YOSHIFUMI OGISO / CC BY-SA 3.0
- Utsukushigahara plateau, above Matsumoto · MitsunoriEgawa / CC BY 4.0
- The Oirase stream, Towada, Aomori · MaedaAkihiko / CC BY-SA 4.0
- The facade of Tsuta Onsen Ryokan, Towada · Yuichi Kosio / CC BY 2.0
- Unzen Onsen town from Mount Myoken, Nagasaki · 663highland / CC BY 2.5
- Siebold-no-yu public bath, Ureshino Onsen, Saga · STA3816 / CC BY-SA 4.0
- Rankeiso, Echigo-Nagano Onsen · Bernie Ongewe / CC BY-SA 4.0
- Arashiyama and the Hozu River, Kyoto · KimonBerlin / CC BY-SA 2.0
- Yunishigawa Onsen village in autumn, Nikko, Tochigi · Abasaa / Public domain
- Hoshi Onsen Chojukan — the entrance in snow · veroyama / CC BY 2.0
- Hoshinoya Kyoto — the water garden · Hoshino Resorts / CC BY-SA 3.0
- The upper Kinu river near Kawamata Onsen, downstream of Okukinu (Nikko, Tochigi) · 690 Noda / CC BY 3.0
- Forest near Tateshina Great Falls, Chino, Nagano · Tmv / CC BY-SA 4.0
- Mount Yōtei from Niseko Annupuri · MIKI Yoshihito / CC BY 2.0
- Fujisan Ryokan, Namari Onsen · 掬茶 / CC BY-SA 4.0
- Magoroku Onsen in 2020, before its 2025 renovation, Nyūtō Onsen-kyō · Suicasmo / CC BY-SA 4.0
- Lamp no Yado Aoni Onsen · Raita Futo / CC BY 2.0
- Takaragawa Onsen Osenkaku in winter, Minakami · kallerna / CC BY-SA 3.0
- Mount Yufu from Yufuin Station · Kitayama / CC BY-SA 4.0
- Kawayu Onsen on the Kumano Kodo, Wakayama · Nekosuki / CC BY-SA 4.0