Chorakuen
玉造温泉 湯之助の宿 長楽園
Chorakuen — the garden, Tamatsukuri Onsen · 663highland / CC BY 2.5
Japan's biggest mixed open-air bath in a 10,000-tsubo garden, made approachable with bathing wraps for everyone — at a big, dated, Showa-era inn with so-so food
Chorakuen was founded in 1868 by the family who managed Tamatsukuri's hot spring in the Edo period, and it is famous for one thing: Ryugu-no-yu, a 1909 garden bath of 395㎡ that the inn calls the largest mixed open-air bath in Japan. Unusually, it's easy for first-timers — wraps for women (in several sizes, including children's) and paper trunks for men are provided, and women reach it from a women-only indoor bath with its own powder room — 'you wear a wrap, so it isn't intimidating even for women', one guest wrote. Japanese guests rate the baths highest (4.6 across 3,634 reviews on one site; 4.48 across 1,955 on another) and praise the garden and staff. Everything else is more mixed. It's a large inn of around 60 rooms that reviewers repeatedly call old — rotary phones, a musty old room bath, a moldy shared toilet, confusing extensions, hot corridors without central air-conditioning — and the food, served in banquet halls unless you pay for a private room, is often described as set out in advance and unremarkable. There is also a gap between the 'no heating, no dilution' claim and a posted notice at the indoor baths listing chlorine, recirculation and added water. Basic plans start around ¥19,250 per person with two meals.
Latest updates
What newer Japanese stay reports, posts and official notices have added since this review was written
Checked in October 2026: no closures or policy changes; official starting prices have risen slightly (basic plans from about ¥19,250 per person). Autumn 2026 reviews still praise the garden bath and staff, and still mention sticky locker keys and an ageing building.
Room Selection Guide
What the guests who stayed here actually recommendRecommended
Renovated Japanese-Western and concept rooms
Guests in renovated rooms with beds were delighted — 'the food, the room, the bath, the garden: all superb', wrote one New Year 2024 guest. Concept rooms such as Ryokuteika and Oukaka are universal-design rooms with a sloped entrance and handrails, and Hakuginka is wheelchair-accessible.
Aioi annex and garden rooms with their own bath
The Aioi annex (15 tatami plus a bedroom) has an open-air bath and foot bath, and the Sanso rooms Kotobuki and Tokiwa have garden open-air baths — the way to enjoy the spring privately. All in-room baths use spring water.
Request To Avoid
Older standard rooms (e.g. in the annex or Kaseikaku)
The complaints concentrate here: a July 2026 annex guest found the facilities 'very old', with a rotary phone and a smelly old room bath; a 2019 guest's Kaseikaku room had no bath at all. A June 2026 reviewer also found a three-bed universal room cramped with an old bathroom.
Know which room you want?
Check live rates and availability for Chorakuen.
Rakuten Travel, one of Japan's biggest booking sites, lists plans and prices in Japanese — your browser's translate button works on it.
We may earn a commission if you book through these links, at no extra cost to you. Affiliate disclosure
Dining Deep Dive
Breakfast Consensus
4.0/5Lake Shinji clam miso soup, herbal rice porridge and ago-yaki fish cake; one 2026 guest also had overnight-dried nodoguro
Bathe early (from 5:30) or late (until 23:30) to have Ryugu-no-yu quieter, and try the free spring-water-fed private bath Seisen, bookable in 45-minute slots from 16:00 to 21:00 and barrier-free. Wraps and trunks are in the changing rooms.
Dinner Insights
3.8/5Kaiseki with winter crab, nodoguro and Shimane wagyu (one 2025 stay let guests choose nodoguro, steak or abalone), served in banquet halls — or in a private room for ¥3,300 extra per room, which a 2023 family loved for the calm. There's no in-room dining, and a kids' meal is available. Reviewers most often call dinner so-so: dishes mostly set out before you sit down, 'no sign of the chef's personality', and slow service on some nights.
Onsen & Wellness Realities
A weakly alkaline sodium-calcium sulphate-chloride spring. The inn advertises free-flowing water 'neither heated nor diluted'; Jalan's listing says the garden bath is partly recirculated and filtered, a 2026 guest photographed a notice at the Keisen/Kasen baths listing chlorine, recirculation and added water, and a staff member said Ryugu-no-yu is cooled with added water.
Ryugu-no-yu (mixed, outdoor, 5:30–9:30 and 15:00–23:30) is reached by women through the women-only indoor bath Suisho-no-yu; wraps and paper trunks are provided, and there's a private changing room. Two large indoor baths (Keisen and Kasen) swap between men and women. Guests' gripes: a weak shower at the mixed bath, paper trunks that are too small, locker keys that are hard to open (a repeated complaint), unclear instructions, a walk outdoors in geta, and the bath feeling hot in summer or lukewarm to some.
No policy on the official FAQ, terms or booking sites — contact the inn. The private bath Seisen and rooms with their own bath avoid sharing.
Local Warnings & Nuances
- 01
No day-bathing — the baths are for overnight guests only.
- 02
Getting there: JR to Tamatsukuri-Onsen Station (9 minutes from Matsue), then the shuttle between the station, Tamatsukuri Kokusai Hotel and the inn (book the day before). From Izumo Airport, take the bus to Matsue Station. Free parking.
- 03
Check-in 15:00 (last 18:00), check-out 10:00. The whole inn has been non-smoking since February 2026, with smoking booths beside the front desk and outdoors.
- 04
Children under primary-school age are welcome, with child rates and kids' meals; there's no game corner.
- 05
Prices (October 2026, official site): basic kaiseki plans from about ¥19,250 per person, breakfast-only from ¥13,200, room-only from ¥12,100, and private-room dining plans around ¥42,000–46,000 per person.
Before your stay
Souvenirs from Tamatsukuri Onsen and practical help for your trip.
Tamatsukuri Onsen souvenirs on Rakuten
Rakuten prices as of Oct 18, 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
Tamatsukuri Onsen: sights, experiences and seasonal events from Trip Gacha, our sister site.
Photo credits
- Matsue Castle: 663highland / CC BY 2.5, Wikimedia Commons
Sources
The real blog posts and stay reports this article draws on
- 玉造温泉で美肌祈願!! 日本一の大きさ☆混浴大露天風呂があるお宿に宿泊 (4travel.jp)
- 美肌になれるかな玉造温泉 (4travel.jp)
- 2023 秋 ３世代 山陰ドライブ旅 (4travel.jp)
- お正月 松江・出雲の旅３ (4travel.jp)
- 湯之助の宿 長楽園 (お銀ちゃんの大日本漫遊記)
- 【写真39枚】玉造温泉の長楽園の感想。大露天風呂や夕食レビュー (専業主夫だより)
- 湯之助の宿 長楽園 クチコミ・感想 (楽天トラベル)
- 湯之助の宿 長楽園 クチコミ (じゃらんnet)
- 湯之助の宿 長楽園 クチコミ (一休.com)
- 玉造温泉 湯之助の宿 長楽園 (公式サイト)
- 弾丸旅とは思えない満足度だった島根旅行【島根県・湯之助の宿 長楽園】 (note, October 2025)
- 長楽園 公式ブログ (September 2026)
Featured in our guides
Side-by-side comparisons that include this ryokan.
Sore feet or blisters in Japan? What to buy today (and have delivered to your ryokan)
Blister on your heel, sore soles or heavy legs after a day of temples and stone steps? The Japanese words for plasters, blister pads, insoles, compression socks and cooling sheets; what konbini, drugstores and 100-yen shops list; what the labels say; ordering to your ryokan or a konbini; geta, slippers and steep steps at the inn; soaking tired legs in the onsen; and when a blister needs a doctor.
Read the guide
Forgot your towel or brought a swimsuit to an onsen in Japan? What to do
No towel, only a swimsuit, or no shampoo, hair tie or tattoo cover? What public baths sell at the counter, what a ryokan normally provides, where to buy towels and toiletries at a konbini today, why most Japanese baths don't allow swimsuits (and the mixed baths where wraps or bath wear are allowed), tattoo cover stickers, and Amazon or Rakuten delivery to your inn or a konbini.
Read the guidePhoto credits
- Matsumoto Kiyoshi drugstore near Himeji Station (Hyogo) · Corpse Reviver / CC BY-SA 3.0
- Tsubame-yu, Ueno, Tokyo · Thirteen-fri / CC BY-SA 3.0
More Consensus Reports
Area photoTamatsukuri OnsenPremium
Tamatsukuri Onsen, Matsue, Shimane — beside the Tamayu river in the spa town, about 5 minutes by car from JR Tamatsukuri-Onsen Station (no pick-up)
10 sources
KAI Tamatsukuri
界 玉造
Hoshino Resorts' 24-room inn in Tamatsukuri: every room has its own open-air onsen bath, staff perform Iwami kagura every night and dinner centres on a shijimi-clam beef shabu-shabu — but the water is diluted, heated and recirculated, the building is full of steps, and 2026 reviews note slips in service
- Private Onsen Rooms
- Design-Led
Area photoTamatsukuri OnsenPremium
Tamatsukuri Onsen, Matsue, Shimane — on the onsen town's riverside, 5 minutes by car (station pickup by reservation) from JR Tamatsukuri-Onsen Station
9 sources
Kasuien Minami
佳翠苑 皆美
Tamatsukuri's big, polished all-rounder: 108 rooms with plenty of free-flowing in-room onsen baths, a rooftop view bath, sea-bream rice and very high guest scores — but it's large enough for check-in queues, tour groups and a crowded breakfast
Read the Consensus
Gero OnsenClassic
Gero Onsen, Gifu — on the wooded hillside above the town, with a free shuttle from JR Gero Station
13 sources
Yunoshimakan
下呂温泉 湯之島館
A 1931 wooden resort inn that hosted two emperors — red-carpeted corridors, a Showa-era bar and Hida beef at 4.9 — but also a maze of stairs and a persistent musty smell
- Historic Ryokan
Ginzan OnsenPremium
Ginzan Onsen, Obanazawa, Yamagata
9 sources
Ginzan Onsen Fujiya
銀山温泉 藤屋
Kengo Kuma's eight-room inn in the heart of Ginzan — five private onsen baths, and a design that sometimes forgets practicality
- Design-Led
Ginzan OnsenClassic
Ginzan Onsen, Obanazawa, Yamagata — the towered wooden inn at the heart of the riverside street
12 sources
Notoya Ryokan
銀山温泉 能登屋旅館
The towered Taisho-era inn everyone photographs in Ginzan — warm service, a cave bath and a waterfall-view bath, but book a river-side room and expect an audience
- Historic Ryokan
Area photoHakonePremium
Gora, Hakone, Kanagawa — high on the slope by Sōunzan cable-car station, with the inn's own inclined lift and a call-on-arrival car from Gora Station
9 sources
Gora Hanaougi
強羅花扇
Twenty compact rooms, each with an open-air bath of the inn's own reddish spring, tatami corridors you walk barefoot, staff who remember your name — and one of the few Hakone ryokan that openly welcomes tattoos
- Private Onsen Rooms
- Tattoo-Friendly
Photo credits: The Tamayu River in spring, Tamatsukuri Onsen, Shimane · Matsue / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Yunoshimakan — the registered-heritage main building, Gero · 大野 一将 / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Ginzan Onsen Fujiya — the facade, Ginzan Onsen · bryan... / CC BY-SA 2.0 / Notoya Ryokan in the snow, Ginzan Onsen · さかおり / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Gōra Park, Hakone · Daderot / CC0
Chorakuen
Compare rates across trusted booking partners · Affiliate disclosure