Kotohira Onsen Kotosankaku

Kotohira's 223-room onsen giant, five minutes from the Konpira steps: big shared baths, a 50-dish breakfast and corridors full of curios — but the water is recirculated, cheaper rooms feel dated, and it can be crowded and noisy

Kotosankaku is the big one in Kotohira: a 223-room onsen ryokan five minutes' walk from JR Kotohira Station and the foot of the Konpira-san approach, split between the larger Sansui-kan and the smaller, pricier Hiten-kan, whose guests get a tenth-floor open-air bath, Yakumo-no-yu, and their own restaurant, Ichiriki-chaya. Most rooms are tatami, plus 50 compact twins; rooms with private open-air baths were renovated in March 2023, though the inn notes those baths aren't onsen water. 2026 travelogues describe an escalator in the atrium lobby, very long corridors lined with vases, screens and platters, and Sansui-kan's shared baths — billed as among Shikoku's largest, with a garden open-air pool and sauna — as spacious and easy-going. The water is the town's Chikōin spring, a cold radioactive spring that Jalan lists as diluted, heated and recirculated. Japanese guests rate it 4.5 across 5,451 Jalan reviews (dinner and service 4.5, rooms 4.3) and 4.37 across 3,177 on Rakuten. They praise the location (free parking while you climb the 785 steps, walking sticks on loan), the roughly 50-dish breakfast buffet and kind staff. Dinner is kaiseki in partitioned private rooms or, on many plans, a buffet with free-flowing drinks; bloggers liked the sashimi and sea-bream rice, though one found portions small for a non-drinker. Complaints in 2025–2026: musty, dated rooms and a dark, slippery main bath, a 'private' dining room drowned out by a rowdy neighbour, breakfast queues in a packed hall, poor value on the fifth-floor special floor and some brusque staff. Two-meal stays run about ¥30,000–54,000 for two in Sansui-kan and ¥60,000–110,000 in Hiten-kan.