Ryotei Hanzuiryo

Unzen Miyazaki Ryokan

雲仙宮崎旅館

Unzen's 1929 inn, rebuilt from scratch in 2022 as a dim, design-award-winning 39-room house above the steaming Jigoku — milky free-flowing sulphur baths and widely praised local cooking, but most rooms have only a shower and the shared baths close at 9am

• Design-Led

Unzen Fukudaya

雲仙福田屋

Milky, free-flowing sulphur water in eight baths and a much-loved kaiseki with lava-grilled abalone and cheese fondue, at fair prices — but most main-building rooms have tap-water baths, and the old building is a maze of steps

• Private Onsen Rooms
• Destination Dining

Yuyado Unzen Shinyu

ゆやど 雲仙新湯

A 1908 inn with four hot springs of its own and a sea-bream shabu-shabu kaiseki from Shimabara produce, at fair prices — but only four rooms have their own onsen bath, one shared bath is recirculated, and the old building shows its age

• Destination Dining

Unzen Onsen Azumaen

雲仙温泉 東園

A big, older lakeside ryokan where every room looks over Oshidori Pond, the baths run on the inn's own free-flowing spring and dinner ends with sushi made at your table — but only 8 of 27 rooms have a private bath, the main baths are a long walk away, and the building shows its age

• Destination Dining

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

Zao Onsen Oomiya Ryokan

蔵王温泉 おおみや旅館

A Taishō-romance inn where every corridor and stair is tatami, with 100% free-flowing sulphur water from its own spring and Yamagata-beef dinners at a fair price — but the baths are small and crowd easily, there's no lift, and the open-air bath shuts all winter