Hatcho no Yu

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

Hatcho no Yu opened in 1929, before Nikko National Park existed, and had no electricity until 1988 — oil lamps are still lit at night. No private cars go past Meotobuchi, so you ride the inn's free shuttle (book it ahead) along a bumpy 30-minute forest road, or walk the trail in roughly 1.5–2 hours. Guests come for the water: a free-flowing, unfiltered simple hot spring, with three mixed-gender open-air baths beside a waterfall, a fourth open-air bath that alternates between women and men, indoor baths and a nightly women-only hour in all the open-air baths. Japanese guests score it 4.6 on Jalan (354 reviews) and 4.60 on Rakuten (269), with the baths rated highest. You can sleep in the original hut-style main building, with shared toilets, or in Canadian log cabins with their own toilets, including rooms with private open-air baths added in 2023. Dinner is a game-heavy country menu of venison, river fish and hot pots. The complaints are about comfort, not the water: no air conditioning in a hot July 2026, cabins where you hear the neighbours, tough venison, long waits at dinner, baths closed 9:00–14:00, and a mostly overseas staff whose Japanese is uneven. The inn's English page says it is tattoo friendly. Prices are modest: a main-building room ran ¥13,500–18,000 per person with two meals in 2023–2024, and log-cabin twins about ¥21,000–29,000 per person in 2025–2026.