Ryokan Sanga

Seven baths from two private springs in the forest outside Kurokawa — beloved for its water and warmth, with a mixed-gender open-air bath to know about

Sanga sits in woodland about five minutes by car from the centre of Kurokawa Onsen, and Japanese guests keep returning for its baths: seven bathing spots fed by two of the inn's own springs, running as free-flowing hot water. Reviewers single out the gently sulfurous 'Yakushi-no-yu' indoor bath and the large, pale-green open-air 'Moyai-no-yu', and make good use of the private baths — especially the half-open 'Rokushaku-oke', a giant wooden tub. On two Japanese review sites the inn averages 4.5 and 4.6 out of 5, and the praise for staff is unusually personal: one guest felt 'as relaxed as visiting relatives', another watched an attendant map out the best onsen-hopping route and wrote simply that 'professionals are amazing'. Dinner is a multi-course kaiseki of Aso produce — horse sashimi, salt-grilled yamame trout, Aso red beef — which most loved, though a minority found it over-decorated and not freshly made. The main thing foreign guests should know: Moyai-no-yu is a mixed-gender open-air bath, and one reviewer asked for separate changing rooms; there is also a women-only open-air bath and the private baths. Smaller complaints include a lukewarm outdoor bath, a cobweb in a washroom and uneven greetings on some visits.