Tsurunoyu Onsen
乳頭温泉郷 鶴の湯温泉
Tsurunoyu — the gate and thatched honjin, Nyuto Onsen · lumoplank / CC0
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
Tsurunoyu is the oldest of Nyuto Onsen's eight inns: an Akita lord came to bathe here in 1638, and it has taken ordinary guests since the late 1600s. Its thatched honjin, once quarters for the lord's guards, and the milky-blue mixed outdoor bath are among the most famous images of rural Japan — and staying the night is the way to enjoy them, because from 10:00 day visitors 'pour in'. Four springs rise within 50 metres, feeding the mixed bath, a women-only outdoor bath, several indoor baths and two private baths; bloggers call the water superb, though several found the baths lukewarm. Dinner is yamanoimo-nabe (a mountain-yam dumpling hotpot), grilled iwana and mountain vegetables, served on lacquer trays or around an irori. This is an inn to go into with eyes open: the mixed bath has no women-only hours and towels aren't allowed; changing rooms and some washrooms are cold; rooms in the cheaper wings have no toilet, no air conditioning and fusuma walls that let through the noise of 24-hour bathers; honjin rooms can't be locked from outside; there's no TV or fridge; and stink bugs appear in autumn. Rooms fill months ahead — bookings open six months out by phone or through the Japan Hitou Association site.
Latest updates
What newer Japanese stay reports, posts and official notices have added since this review was written
The official room page was updated in October 2026: Wing 1 is no longer described as toilet-less, matching the booking plans' note that it was renovated with a toilet and washbasin, and its meals are now served in the main hall. A 4travel reviewer who stayed there in June 2026 rated it 5 out of 5.
Room Selection Guide
What the guests who stayed here actually recommendRecommended
Honjin (本陣) — the thatched guard house
Five rooms with an irori hearth, toilet and kerosene lamp, each entered from outside — the classic Tsurunoyu experience, from about ¥15,550 per person with two meals. A solo guest in 2025 found one only by phoning after the website showed it full six months ahead. Note the doors can't be locked from outside, so use the free lockers for valuables.
Shin-honjin and Higashi-honjin
The comfortable option (about ¥17,750–24,350 per person): toilet and washbasin, warm in winter, and some rooms (Shin-honjin 5, Higashi-honjin 1 and 5) have an irori. They're in the same building as the guests-only indoor bath and the private baths, so you don't have to go outside in the snow.
Request To Avoid
Wings 2 and 3 (2号館・3号館), if you want comfort
The cheapest rooms (about ¥11,700 per person) are 6 tatami with no toilet — shared toilets and a ground-floor washroom that one January guest found poorly heated, with icy tap water. The steam heaters are powerful, but there's no air conditioning or fan for summer, and thin fusuma let in the sound of people going to the 24-hour baths. Meals are served in honjin rooms rather than your own.
Wing 1 (1号館) — renovated, but meals in the main hall
The inn's booking plans say Wing 1 has been renovated with a toilet and washbasin, and the official room page, updated in October 2026, no longer lists it as toilet-less. Its three rooms are all on the second floor, from about ¥18,080 per person, and meals are served in the main hall rather than in your room.
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Dining Deep Dive
Breakfast Consensus
4.0/5A simple Japanese breakfast from 7:00, usually at shared tables in the main hall
Bathe in the mixed outdoor bath early in the morning or in the evening, before the 10:00 rush of day visitors. The outdoor bath is drained for cleaning on Mondays, and the private riverside bath is closed in winter.
Dinner Insights
4.3/5Yamanoimo-nabe — a miso hotpot with chewy mountain-yam dumplings, refills allowed — grilled or raw iwana, soba and mountain vegetables, on local Kawatsura lacquerware. Honjin guests eat around their own irori (lit around 17:15, with dinner at 18:00, 18:30 or 19:00); other buildings get meals in the room or in shared honjin rooms, where guests end up chatting, and Wing 1 eats in the main hall. One blogger called the grilled iwana the best they'd eaten; another found the portions more than two could finish. Complaints: in-room meals can arrive lukewarm, and one guest found sitting at the irori uncomfortable.
Onsen & Wellness Realities
Four springs within 50 metres: Shiro-yu (sulphur with sodium/calcium chloride and bicarbonate, which also feeds the mixed outdoor bath), Kuro-yu (sodium chloride and bicarbonate), Naka-no-yu (bicarbonate with hydrogen sulphide) and Taki-no-yu (a waterfall shower, closed in winter). Free-flowing, with water added according to the Japan Hitou Association.
The famous outdoor bath is mixed with no women-only hours, and towels may not be worn; women enter from their own side, and a screen at the entrance helps, though a 2025 day visitor wished for more screening and found the steps hidden in the cloudy water. There are women-only outdoor baths, a guests-only indoor bath (with the only showers and hairdryer) and two private indoor baths, which get queues. Outer baths have no taps or showers, and changing rooms are cold.
Not addressed in any source we read. The two private baths are the only way to avoid sharing — ask the inn.
Local Warnings & Nuances
- 01
Booking: by phone (0187-46-2139, 7:00–22:00) or through the Japan Hitou Association website; phone bookings open on the 1st of the month six months ahead, and solo stays in the honjin are phone-only. The detached 'Hanare Honjin' is sold only through JR East packages.
- 02
Getting there: an hourly Ugo Kotsu bus from JR Tazawako Station to the Alpa Komakusa stop, where the inn will collect you if you phone ahead with your bus time; the last 3 km by car is a forest road. Check-in 15:00, check-out 10:00. Cards: Visa and Mastercard only.
- 03
A winter heating fee of about ¥1,100–1,320 per room applies roughly from October to May.
- 04
Day visitors bathe 10:00–15:00 (¥700, cash only), closed Mondays.
- 05
Mobile signal is patchy (au and SoftBank especially); Wi-Fi works in the lounge. No elevator, and not accessible for wheelchairs.
Before your stay
Souvenirs from Nyuto Onsen and practical help for your trip.
Nyuto Onsen souvenirs on Rakuten
Rakuten prices as of Oct 21, 2026 — check the shop for current price and stock. Supported by Rakuten Developers Rakuten links are affiliate links: we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Things to do nearby
Nyuto Onsen: sights, experiences and seasonal events from Trip Gacha, our sister site.
Sources
The real blog posts and stay reports this article draws on
- 乳頭温泉郷:鶴の湯温泉!本陣に負けてない?新本陣は最高だった! (やっぱ温泉でしょ。)
- 秋田 乳頭温泉の鶴の湯は温泉が素晴らしい!食事は江戸時代そのままに? (temahime's blog)
- 乳頭温泉・鶴の湯 本陣の予約方法&部屋タイプ完全ガイド (ひとり温泉はじめました。)
- 鶴の湯ひとり温泉旅 お風呂編 (ひとり温泉はじめました。)
- <きちたび>秋田県の旅2025 雪の秘湯「乳頭温泉 鶴の湯」 (吉祥寺@ブログ)
- 鶴の湯温泉 宿泊記 乳頭温泉郷最古の宿で雪見露天風呂を満喫してきた (TAMAISM)
- ぬくもる東北 ②雪の乳頭温泉「鶴の湯」離れ本陣 (4travel.jp)
- 鶴の湯温泉 クチコミ (近畿日本ツーリスト)
- 鶴の湯温泉 (日本秘湯を守る会)
- 乳頭温泉郷 鶴の湯温泉 (公式サイト)
- 乳頭温泉郷 鶴の湯温泉 部屋・予約 (公式サイト)
- 鶴の湯温泉 プラン一覧 (日本秘湯を守る会)
- 乳頭温泉郷 秘湯 鶴の湯温泉 クチコミ (フォートラベル)
- 田沢湖・乳頭温泉郷旅行記 鶴の湯 離れ本陣 2026年1月 (4travel.jp)
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Read the guidePhoto credits
- Magoroku Onsen in 2020, before its 2025 renovation, Nyūtō Onsen-kyō · Suicasmo / CC BY-SA 4.0
- Kamikochi, Matsumoto, Nagano · ウィキ太郎 / Public domain
- AEON Style store, Okinawa · Naha Mama Pavilionz / CC0
- Nano SIM card and SIM tray (studio photo) · BwDraco / CC BY-SA 3.0
- Notoya Ryokan, Ginzan Onsen (Obanazawa, Yamagata) · さかおり / CC BY-SA 4.0
- Tsubame-yu, Ueno, Tokyo · Thirteen-fri / CC BY-SA 3.0
- Lawson, Kasugai, Aichi · KKPCW(Kyu3) / CC BY-SA 4.0
- Takaragawa Onsen Osenkaku in winter, Minakami · kallerna / CC BY-SA 3.0
- Lamp no Yado Aoni Onsen · Raita Futo / CC BY 2.0
More Consensus Reports
Nyuto 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 — 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
Echigo-Yuzawa OnsenClassic
Echigo-Yuzawa, Niigata — on the hillside above town, about 30 minutes' walk or a short free shuttle ride from Echigo-Yuzawa Station on the Joetsu Shinkansen
9 sources
Yukiguni no Yado Takahan
雪国の宿 高半
The inn where Kawabata wrote 'Snow Country': silky, sulphurous 'egg water' that's genuinely free-flowing, the writer's preserved room, nightly screenings of the 1957 film and free local sake — in a plain concrete building with a simple breakfast
- Historic Ryokan
- Easy From Tokyo
HokkaidoLuxury
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
Zao OnsenClassic
Zao Onsen, Yamagata City — at the quiet lower edge of the hot-spring village beside Shiginoyachi marsh, a 5-minute walk from the Zao Ropeway base station and the ski slopes
9 sources
Zao Onsen Kinosato
蔵王温泉 岩清水料理の宿 季の里
A warm, family-run 20-room inn at the edge of Zao Onsen, loved for its staff and hearty Yamagata-beef dinners, with a milky, free-flowing sulfur bath in a wooden bath house across the car park — the indoor baths aren't hot-spring water, and the 1993 building shows its age
Read the ConsensusPhoto credits: Autumn on the Sendatsu River, Nyuto Onsen, Akita · lumoplank / CC0 / Magoroku Onsen in 2020, before its 2025 renovation, Nyūtō Onsen-kyō · Suicasmo / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Entrance to Echigo-Yuzawa Onsen, Niigata · Abasaa / Public domain / Mount Yōtei from Niseko Annupuri · MIKI Yoshihito / CC BY 2.0 / Zao Onsen, Yamagata · Raita Futo from Tokyo, Japan / CC BY 2.0
Tsurunoyu Onsen
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