Chigira Jinsentei

Ikaho's oldest inn on the stone steps, with free, unbookable private baths of rust-gold water — a bath-lover's favourite whose food divides opinion

Chigira Jinsentei has stood on Ikaho's famous stone steps for about 500 years by its own account (bloggers date it to 1502), and it was the novelist Tokutomi Roka's regular inn — the opening of his novel Hototogisu is set here, and a copy sits in every room. Japanese guests love it for the water: the inn draws only Ikaho's brown 'golden' kogane-no-yu and says every bath is free-flowing with no added water or recirculation. Baths score highest on both major booking sites (4.9 on one, 4.70 across 599 reviews on the other). The favourite feature is four private baths that are free and need no booking — just walk in if one is empty — alongside two large indoor baths that swap around 1am and separate open-air baths. Criticism centres on the food and the building. Some guests find the in-room kaiseki generous and good value; others found it homely, ordinary or rushed, with little local character. It is a maze of stairs where sound carries, private baths are hard to get in the evening, and one guest noticed cigarette smoke in a room with an open-air bath. It is not cheap — bloggers paid from about ¥27,500 to ¥33,000 per person.