Yugawara Onsen Onyado Megumi
湯河原温泉 おんやど恵
Area photo — not the ryokan itself · The Fujiki river through Yugawara Onsen, Kanagawa · Quercus acuta / CC BY-SA 4.0
A Yugawara inn with an Edo theme, built for small children and older parents: room-served kaiseki, a stair-lift to the baths, a kids' room, and four rooms with their own free-flowing onsen. But the main baths are recirculated and cleaning slips
Megumi opened in 1944 as Megumi Ryokan, named after the spring it first used. The current five-floor main building, Seseragi-kan, went up in 1996, when the inn took an Edo theme, and the two-room annex Tsuki no Takumi followed in 2008. It is a modern building with tiled, black-walled Edo touches, not an old wooden inn. Its real strength is ease. It is barrier-free, with a chair stair-lift on the 12 steps to the large baths, and it lends out baby gear, bath toys and building blocks. It has a kids' room, and many plans serve dinner in your room. Most recent evidence comes from booking-site reviews rather than blogs. Japanese guests rate it 4.3 across 669 reviews on one major site (rooms, baths, service and cleanliness all 4.4) and 4.21 across 555 on another. Reviewers in 2026 bring parents in their 80s, 90s and even one aged 100, plus toddlers, and praise the attentive staff, the seasonal kaiseki and the moderate portions. A 2022 blogger on a first trip with a two-year-old found everything they needed here. Know before you book: the large baths are recirculated and filtered, and only the two suites and two annex rooms have onsen in the room. Cleaning comes up again and again, from dusty fittings in 2025 to water stains and a grubby hinoki tub in August 2026. Big eaters find dinner small. Two-meal stays cost from ¥17,600 per person in a small Western room and ¥20,900–35,200 in a standard tatami room, while the rooms with their own onsen cost ¥30,800–50,600.
Room Selection Guide
What the guests who stayed here actually recommendRecommended
Annex Tsuki no Takumi: Yamabuki (Japanese room) and Tachibana (Japanese-Western room with twin beds)
These are the only two rooms with their own open-air bath, filled with free-flowing onsen (no recirculation). Each has 10 tatami, a dining room where both meals are served and a small courtyard, and Tachibana adds a bedroom with two single beds. Reviewers from June to October 2026 brought parents in their 80s and 90s and toddlers, and praised the non-slip bath with handrails, the quiet and eating at a table instead of on the floor. One October 2026 guest wanted a handrail along the metre of floor out to the bath. Expect ¥30,800–47,300 per person for Yamabuki and ¥33,000–50,600 for Tachibana.
Main-building suites Ruri (501) and Toki (401)
A 10-tatami room plus a bedroom with two semi-double beds, a private dining room for both meals and an indoor bath of free-flowing onsen. An October 2026 guest travelling with a parent in their 80s chose it for in-room meals and an onsen bath in the room, and gave it full marks. Prices run ¥30,800–47,300 per person with two meals.
Request To Avoid
Standard Japanese rooms, the hinoki special room 301 and the Western rooms (about 12–13 m²)
Every main-building room except the two suites gets heated tap water in its bath, not onsen. That includes the hinoki tub in special room 301. In August 2026 a family in 301 found water stains in the washroom and bath and said the hinoki tub wasn't clean. The Western twins and semi-double rooms are the size of business-hotel rooms. They are cheap (from ¥17,600 per person with two meals), but meals are in the dining area, not your room.
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Dining Deep Dive
Breakfast Consensus
4.3/5A Japanese set breakfast built around local produce. There's raw shirasu (whitebait) marinated in the inn's own sauce, bought from fishers at nearby Fukura port, and free-range eggs to eat over rice from Yugawara's only poultry farm. 2026 guests singled out the fatty dried horse mackerel and the eggs, and one went back for seconds
Many plans include one free 40-minute session in a private bath (normally ¥3,000). Book your slot at the front desk as soon as you arrive. Order soft-simmered abalone if you can: regulars lay two slices on their last bowl of rice and pour the broth over it to make 'awabi-meshi'. You can order extras like spiny lobster sashimi (¥7,700), simmered kinmedai (¥4,950) or a Hida beef steak (¥4,400 for 100 g). The inn can't do a seafood-free menu, though raw fish can be swapped for cooked dishes.
Dinner Insights
4.2/5Dinner is a seasonal kaiseki of about 9–11 courses. It comes in three grades (Yuki, Tsuki and Hana) and is served in your room, in the restaurant or in a private room depending on the plan. The autumn 2026 menu has Hida beef shoulder grilled on a magnolia leaf (hōba-yaki), buri daikon and a sashimi plate with shima-aji, and the Hana menu adds a matsutake-and-clam dobin-mushi. Winter brings Hida beef sukiyaki and the inn's signature soft-simmered abalone. The rice is low-pesticide Akitakomachi bought straight from a grower in Akita. Reviewers in 2025–2026 call the portions just right for older diners. Heartier eaters found them small, as an August 2026 family did. A guest staying two nights in October 2026 found the first dinner plain and the beef smaller than in the photos. The inn replied that each adult gets 40 g of Hida beef (50 g on the top menu).
Onsen & Wellness Realities
Colourless, odourless sodium-calcium chloride-sulfate spring. The inn owns two-thirds of source No. 53 (Ume-no-yu), about 1 km away, and also buys from a private supplier. Its water reaches the inn through Yugawara's town-run shared supply, from a distribution station across the road, so the 82.2°C measured at the source arrives at 61.7°C. The large indoor and open-air baths use 'flow-through plus recirculation': fresh onsen keeps flowing in while sand filters clean the water, and overflow is not reused. Jalan lists the onsen as water-added and recirculated. Only the two private baths, the two annex rooms and the two suites get free-flowing onsen; showers and taps use heated tap water.
Ebisu-no-yu (women's) and Bishamon-no-yu (men's) each have an indoor bath, an open-air bath and a sauna. The indoor baths are open 14:00–10:00, except for cleaning around 23:00. The open-air baths are open 14:00–24:00 and 6:00–10:00. The inn keeps the large baths at about 41–42°C, and an August 2026 guest found them lukewarm. The two private baths, open-air Ginga and indoor Suisei, look onto a small courtyard garden and cost ¥3,000 for 40 minutes (booked on arrival, until 21:40). There is also a free onsen foot bath facing a courtyard that is lit up at night. Both changing rooms have baby-changing tables, and the inn recommends its mild water for a baby's first bath.
No policy found on the official site or Japanese booking sites — contact the inn. The private baths and the onsen in the suites and annex rooms can be used alone.
Local Warnings & Nuances
- 01
Check-in 15:00 (last 18:00), check-out 10:00. Rates are per person and exclude bathing tax (¥150) and accommodation tax (¥300). Visa, JCB, Amex, Diners and Mastercard are accepted. Solo guests are welcome except at peak times.
- 02
No station shuttle: Yugawara's inns on bus routes agree not to run one. Take bus stop 2 at Yugawara Station toward Fudō-taki/Oku-Yugawara and ride 7 stops to Risōkyō (¥260), or take a taxi for about ¥1,000. A 2025 guest couldn't see the building from that stop and found it easier to spot from the next one. Free parking for 30 cars. Set your car navigation to the bus road (prefectural road 75), not the narrow lane beside the inn.
- 03
Cleaning is the most common complaint. A 2022 blogger found uncleaned corners, a November 2025 guest found a dusty air purifier and umbrella, and an August 2026 family found water stains and a grubby hinoki tub. The same November 2025 guest was unnerved by dimmed corridors on the 2nd floor late at night. The inn says night lights stay on and staff are on duty all night.
- 04
Built for families: a kids' room (set up in a banquet hall, open almost all year), baby sofas, B-type strollers, bottle-sterilising kits, bath toys and KAPLA blocks on loan. Book these in advance. Toddlers can use the large baths. In August 2026 the Wi-Fi slowed when the inn was full.
- 05
The neighbourhood is quiet, with little to eat or do nearby beyond Manyō Park, and a 2025 guest suggested eating near the station if you skip dinner. There's a convenience store right next door. The old karaoke bar has closed, but the multipurpose room can be booked for karaoke from ¥5,500 an hour, and there is a table-tennis room.
Before your stay
Souvenirs from Yugawara and practical help for your trip.
Yugawara souvenirs on Rakuten
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Sources
The real blog posts and stay reports this article draws on
Featured in our guides
Side-by-side comparisons that include this ryokan.
Photo credits
- The Fujiki river through Yugawara Onsen, Kanagawa · Quercus acuta / CC BY-SA 4.0
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Photo credits: The Fujiki river through Yugawara Onsen, Kanagawa · Quercus acuta / CC BY-SA 4.0 / The Arayu spring at Yumura Onsen, Hyogo · KishujiRapid / CC BY-SA 4.0
Yugawara Onsen Onyado Megumi
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