Hamachidori no Yu Kaishu (Kyoritsu Resort)

A 109-room cliff-top resort-ryokan with free-flowing baths, three free private open-air tubs and a mixed bath at the water's edge — but all except the ten cottages have heated plain water in the room bath, and 2026 reviews report crowds and patchy service

Kaishu is run by Kyoritsu Resort, the group behind the Dormy Inn hotels, and it stands on a headland over the Pacific with 109 rooms, a rose garden and a sunset lookout. The big draw is the water. Two springs — the sodium chloride-bicarbonate Aiki spring (55.5°C) and the sulphurous Monju spring (58.8°C) — supply the main baths, free-flowing with water added. Three private open-air baths sit along a path down the cliff, free and first-come, and 90 steps lead down to Hamachidori, a mixed open-air bath beside the waves that you enter in a bathing wrap. Almost every room has its own open-air tub facing the sea, but the inn's room pages say only the ten Hamaya cottages get spring water; the rest are heated plain water, which guests in 2024 and 2026 confirmed. Japanese guests rate it 4.37 across 3,649 reviews on one major site (baths 4.46), 4.5 across 120 on another and 4.33 across 209 on a third (baths 4.57, service 4.18). Bloggers who stayed in 2024–2026 praised the funamori sashimi kaiseki, the free lounge drinks (beer included) until 17:00, popsicles after the bath and Wakayama-style late-night ramen. The complaints in 2026 recur: summer crowds and children everywhere, a full ramen lounge, slow and uneven service, mould and dirty windows in some rooms, a fishy smell in the main bath, insects outdoors, and people staring in the mixed bath. Two-meal stays run about ¥22,000–50,000 per person; one cottage stay with the special kaiseki cost ¥130,000 for two in August 2026.