El veredicto local sobre los ryokan de Japón

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

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Admiten tatuajes

Fukuzumiro

塔之沢温泉 福住楼

Un ryokan de madera de la era Meiji donde se alojaron Soseki y Kawabata — kaiseki en la habitación, una enorme bañera redonda de pino, sin normas sobre tatuajes y aseos compartidos en el pasillo

• Ryokan históricos
• Admiten tatuajes

Gora Kadan

強羅花壇

A former imperial villa, Michelin three-key rated, with spring-fed baths and famously attentive staff — superb in the top tiers, but 2026 reviews are more uneven in the standard rooms

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Ryokan históricos

Hakone Yumoto Onsen Yoshiike Ryokan

箱根湯本温泉 吉池旅館

Un gran ryokan de 64 habitaciones en torno a un jardín de 33.000㎡ que fue villa de la familia Mitsubishi, con seis manantiales propios de agua que fluye sin recircular, a siete minutos a pie de la estación de Hakone-Yumoto — pero algunas habitaciones están anticuadas, «lado del jardín» no siempre significa vistas y parte del ala Sansō está en obras hasta enero de 2027

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Ryokan históricos

Gora Kansuiro

強羅環翠楼

La villa de la era Taishō de una familia de Mitsubishi donde durmió el emperador Shōwa, con dos manantiales propios, un jardín de 5.000 tsubo y nueve de sus 14 habitaciones con baño propio de agua de manantial — pero es realmente antiguo, y las habitaciones más baratas lo notan

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Ryokan históricos

Hakone Ginyu

箱根吟遊

Hakone's famously hard-to-book inn: 20 rooms, each with a terrace and open-air bath hanging over the Hayakawa gorge — but the room baths are recirculated, and 2026 reviews report long check-in waits, ageing rooms and slipping food

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Hakone Kowakien Mikawaya Ryokan

箱根小涌園 三河屋旅館

The 1883 inn credited with starting Kowakudani Onsen: a cultural-property main building, a 16,000㎡ azalea garden and its own spring — book a room with a private open-air bath, because the bath-less twins, lukewarm water and slow service on busy nights are the recurring complaints

• Ryokan históricos
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Hakone Kowakudani Onsen Mizunoto (Kyoritsu Resort)

箱根小涌谷温泉 水の音

Kyoritsu Resort's big Kowakudani inn: two different springs, three free private garden baths and freebies from ice lollies to late-night ramen at a mid-range price — but service is patchy, dinner slots go fast, and only some room baths use onsen water

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Cerca de Tokio

KAI Hakone

界 箱根

Hoshino Resorts' Hakone-Yumoto inn, reopened in August 2025 full of yosegi marquetry: every room faces the river, there's a free teahouse and a fun craft class — but the shared bath is a single heated, chlorinated semi-open-air tub, and most rooms have only a shower

• Diseño
• Cerca de Tokio

Tonosawa Ichinoyu Honkan

塔ノ沢 一の湯本館

Un ryokan de madera fundado en 1630 y hoy bien cultural registrado, gestionado por el grupo económico Ichinoyu de Hakone: baños de agua que fluye sin recircular en algunas habitaciones, kinmedai guisado y bebidas gratuitas a precios bajos — pero sin ascensor, sin duchas en los baños compartidos y muchas habitaciones con aseo compartido

• Ryokan históricos
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Yagyu no Sho

柳生の庄

Fifteen sukiya rooms in a bamboo grove, Kyoto-style kaiseki in your room and empty garden baths — superb food and calm, but some rooms are showing their age

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Cocina como destino

Asaba

あさば

A 540-year-old ryokan with a working Noh stage, and service that isn't always as polished as the history

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Ryokan históricos

Ochiairo

おちあいろう（旧 落合楼村上）

Un ryokan de Yugashima de 1874, patrimonio registrado, que hoy funciona como ryokan de lujo todo incluido con saunas célebres — pero solo tres habitaciones tienen baños de agua de manantial pura, y el cambio en 2025 a un baño mixto en bañador divide opiniones

• Ryokan históricos
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Sanyoso

伊豆長岡温泉 三養荘

A Mitsubishi family villa with a garden by Ogawa Jihei and a wing by Togo Murano, where every room has its own onsen bath — superb for architecture and gardens, less so for anyone who minds long corridors or wants a showpiece dinner

• Ryokan históricos
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Yukairo Kikuya (Kyoritsu Resort)

湯回廊 菊屋（共立リゾート）

El ryokan de 400 años de Shuzenji donde convaleció Natsume Sōseki, hoy un Kyoritsu Resort de largos pasillos, cuatro baños privados gratuitos y una carta de bebidas casi todo incluido — muy querido por su ambiente y su estofado de ternera, pero los baños principales son de agua recirculada, los baños privados suelen estar ocupados y la cena recibe opiniones dispares

• Ryokan históricos
• Cerca de Tokio

Arai Ryokan

修善寺温泉 新井旅館

Fifteen registered-heritage buildings around a carp pond and a 1934 hinoki bathhall designed by a painter — lovely, if you can manage the stairs and a cold winter corridor

• Ryokan históricos
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Inatori Ginsuiso

稲取銀水荘

The big Izu ocean-view ryokan once voted No. 1 for hospitality 15 years running: simmered kinmedai, an all-day free lounge and suites with their own spring-fed open-air baths — but unrenovated rooms, recurring corridor smells and a dated main bath drag it down

Shuzenji Onsen Katsuragawa

湯めぐりの宿 修善寺温泉 桂川

A big, family-friendly Kyoritsu Resort inn with seven free, no-booking private onsen baths, buffet meals and free late-night ramen — good value, but the water is recirculated and chlorinated, and at busy times the private baths have queues

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Cerca de Tokio

Hiiragiya

柊家

El ryokan de 1818 de escritores y estrellas de cine en Kioto — servicio y kaiseki casi impecables, baños de madera de koyamaki y sin aguas termales

• Ryokan históricos
• Cocina como destino

Tawaraya Ryokan

俵屋旅館

Kyoto's oldest standing inn, bookable online only since 2026: 18 one-of-a-kind sukiya rooms, nearly everything down to the soap designed in-house, and koyamaki-wood tubs instead of a hot spring — from about ¥164,000 a night for two

• Ryokan históricos
• Diseño

Sumiya Kiho-an

京都 湯の花温泉 すみや亀峰菴

A quiet hot-spring inn half an hour from Kyoto, with rice cooked over a kamado, inari sushi left in your room at night and an art-filled lobby — choose a room with its own onsen bath, and expect some dated corners

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Diseño

Kanamean Nishitomiya

要庵西富家

An eight-room sukiya inn in the heart of Kyoto where dinner is the point — a Michelin-starred kaiseki kitchen you tour before eating, hinoki baths in every room, and two MICHELIN Keys since 2026 — but it isn't an onsen, the water runs very hot, and old floors carry sound

• Cocina como destino
• Ryokan históricos

Hoshinoya Kyoto

星のや京都

Reached only by boat, with no TV and no onsen by design — a stay built around stillness, with a few service slips

• Refugios apartados
• Diseño

Awanoyu

白骨温泉 泡の湯

A huge milky-blue mixed bath you can soak in for an hour — lukewarm by design, with bathing wraps for women — at a century-old mountain inn that's no longer for families

• Refugios apartados

Tobira Onsen Myojinkan

扉温泉 明神館

A valley hideaway with a famous standing bath, warm service and a new MICHELIN Key — the French dinner wins guests over, the Japanese course less so

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Cocina como destino

KAI Matsumoto

界 松本

Hoshino Resorts' music-themed inn, rebuilt in August 2026 around record players, Nagano wine and a nightly lobby concert — but the dinner is now Italian, the onsen is recirculated, and almost every review predates the relaunch

• Diseño
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Oyado Eitaro (Hirayu Onsen)

平湯温泉 お宿 栄太郎

A small family-run Hirayu inn by the bus terminal where a Gifu master chef's Hida-beef kaiseki and three untouched hot springs — with two free 24-hour private baths — earn near-perfect scores; the rooms are plain and small, with no baths of their own

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Cocina como destino

Yarimikan

槍見の湯 槍見舘

Riverside open-air baths facing the Northern Alps, four free private baths and Hida beef, in a 200-year-old farmhouse — rustic by design, with mixed bathing and a lot of steps

• Refugios apartados
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Yamazato no Iori Soen

山里のいおり 草円

An 1836 Hida farmhouse rebuilt in a quiet mountain hamlet, with charcoal-hearth dinners, wood-fired rice and free-flowing water from three springs — including free private baths open all night — but no room has its own bath, there are lots of stairs, and the hearth runs hot in summer

• Ryokan históricos
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Yumoto Choza

湯元長座

Casas de campo trasladadas, cenas junto al irori y hasta ocho baños privados gratuitos en Okuhida — maravilloso cuando el agua y el hogar cumplen, pero los viejos edificios acusan los años

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Ryokan históricos

Okada Ryokan & Warakutei (Hirayu Onsen)

奥飛騨 平湯温泉 岡田旅館・和楽亭

A big, century-old Hirayu inn by the bus terminal with free-flowing sulphur baths, an iron-pot open-air tub and generous Hida beef dinners — cheap in the main building, private open-air baths in the ten-room Warakutei annex, but the water can run too hot and upkeep is patchy

Shibu Onsen Shunran no Yado Sakaeya

渋温泉 春蘭の宿 さかえや

Un equipo joven y premiado y un kaiseki creativo de Shinshu que los huéspedes japoneses puntúan casi a la perfección, en una casa moderna e impecable de 23 habitaciones — pero los baños comunes son modestos, los baños privados solo vienen con las dos suites o se pagan aparte, y al aparcamiento se llega por estrechos callejones de sentido único

• Cocina como destino

Kanaguya

歴史の宿 金具屋

La fantasía de madera de cuatro plantas de 1936 que la gente viene a fotografiar de noche — ocho baños de cuatro fuentes propias, una visita guiada nocturna al edificio y muchas escaleras

• Ryokan históricos
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Shibu Onsen Kokuya

渋温泉 古久屋

A 400-year-old wooden inn sitting on its own springs, where all eight baths — including a room of six hinoki tubs, one per spring — are booked privately for free; expect stairs and no lift, a maze of corridors and scalding water

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Ryokan históricos

Mikiya

城崎温泉 三木屋

Shiga Naoya's inn, rebuilt in wood in 1927 — some of Kinosaki's warmest service and two free private baths, though winter crab doesn't always live up to the price

• Ryokan históricos

Nishimuraya Honkan

西村屋本館

Kinosaki's grand old ryokan wins on service and crab — just know the private baths aren't onsen

• Ryokan históricos
• Cocina como destino

Kinosaki Onsen Nishimuraya Hotel Shogetsutei

城崎温泉 西村屋ホテル招月庭

Nishimuraya's big modern sister hotel in a forest garden: warm, polished service, kaiseki or Italian-French dinners and three themed private onsen spas — but the in-room open-air baths are plain heated water, the shared baths are recirculated, and breakfast is an ordinary buffet

• Cocina como destino

Kinosaki Onsen Kiraku

城崎温泉 喜楽

A small, barefoot-friendly wooden inn in the middle of Kinosaki with two private baths that are free on most plans, Tajima beef or crab dinners in private dining rooms and some of the town's highest guest scores — but the house is old, sound carries, there's no lift and no room has its own bath

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Kinosaki Onsen Yamamotoya

城崎温泉 山本屋

A 350-year-old, 15-room inn on Kinosaki's willow-lined canal with its own craft brewery, in-room kaiseki and two public baths on its doorstep — but its own baths are small and recirculated, and the 'semi-open-air' baths in the two special rooms aren't hot-spring water

• Ryokan históricos

Hotel Kinparo

ホテル金波楼

A big, family-friendly 'hotel' that is really a 70-room ryokan on the Hiyoriyama coast, next door to Kinosaki Marine World — sea views, Tsuiyama crab and warm service, but recirculated baths, no private baths, ageing rooms and a 10-minute ride to Kinosaki's onsen town

Araya Totoan

山代温泉 あらや滔々庵

The 18th-generation keepers of the lord's bath, Rosanjin's patrons, with Yamashiro's most generous spring flowing into most rooms — and winter crab that can cost over ¥200,000 for two

• Ryokan históricos
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Yamanaka Onsen Shirasagiyu Tawaraya

山中温泉 白鷺湯たわらや

The last of Yamanaka's twelve founding inns: a riverside open-air bath on the Kakusenkei gorge and inventive Kaga kaiseki for a fair price — but the building is old, the water is recirculated, staff don't show you to your room, and insects find the in-room baths in late summer

• Ryokan históricos

Beniya Mukayu

べにや無何有

A calm, design-led ryokan with an onsen on every terrace and a kitchen that wins Japanese critics over — the layout is where it stumbles

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Cocina como destino

Yamanaka Onsen Kagari Kisshotei

山中温泉 かがり吉祥亭

Un ryokan grande y alegre de 48 habitaciones escalonado sobre la garganta de Kakusenkei, donde la cena incluye bebidas sin límite, tempura o shabu-shabu de cerdo a voluntad, y café, flan y tambores taiko gratis — pero la mayoría de las habitaciones están anticuadas, solo tres tienen baño propio con agua de manantial y los baños nunca se alternan

Houshi

粟津温泉 法師

A family inn said to date back 1,300 years, with a registered Meiji entrance hall and a moss garden laid out in the manner of Kobori Enshu — the history is real, but the buildings are tired and the big baths are recirculated

• Ryokan históricos

Yamashiro Onsen Rurikoh

山代温泉 瑠璃光

Yamashiro's big 116-room inn with a nightly taiko show, free round-the-clock lobby drinks, vast 24-hour baths and winter crab kaiseki — but the shared water is recirculated, the baths sit down a long flight of stairs, and the ageing building draws dust and upkeep complaints

Yamanaka Onsen Yubatake no Yado Hanatsubaki

山中温泉 湯畑の宿 花つばき

Un ryokan económico de 48 habitaciones en el extremo de Yamanaka Onsen, construido en torno al Yubatake — una terraza de bañeras mixtas junto al río donde se lleva prenda de baño —, pero en 2025–2026 hubo quien encontró las bañeras demasiado frescas o demasiado calientes, parte cerrada por obras y 65 escalones que subir

Yamashiro Onsen Hatori

山代温泉 葉渡莉

A mid-priced, 67-room town-centre inn with free all-night drinks, weekend taiko drumming, real single rooms for solo travellers and a gentle ginger-and-koji kaiseki — but the 'open-air bath' suites use tap water, not onsen, and the building shows its age

Yamashiro Onsen Yuzankaku

加賀温泉郷 山代温泉 雄山閣

A 1950s Yamashiro landmark reborn as a budget all-inclusive: free drinks and oden from check-in, a crab-leg and sweet-shrimp buffet with free-flowing Ishikawa sake, and a kids' paradise — but the building is worn, the baths keep breaking down and the crab is often thin

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

• Ryokan históricos

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

• Diseño

Honke Bankyu

湯西川温泉 本家伴久

Irori-grilled mountain dinners across a swaying vine bridge, riverside baths and 360 years of Heike-refugee lore — loved for the food, with thin walls and lots of steps

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Yunishigawa Hakuun-no-yado Yamashiroya

湯西川白雲の宿 山城屋

A big, old-fashioned riverside inn in the Heike village of Yunishigawa, with three free private open-air baths above the gorge and charcoal irori dinners at value prices — if you can live with dated rooms and a chilly winter building

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Refugios apartados

Irodori Yukashiki Hana to Hana

湯西川温泉 彩り湯かしき 花と華

A big riverside onsen inn with irori-hearth dinners, three bath houses on its own pH 9.3 spring and free drinks since December 2025 — good value, but ageing buildings, insects and a slimmer dinner draw 2026 complaints

• Refugios apartados

Naraya

草津温泉 奈良屋

La famosa agua Shirahata de Kusatsu, suave y a la vez ácida, enfriada a mano a la manera tradicional, a pocos pasos del Yubatake — con sushi preparado en la mesa y cenas que pueden alargarse

Kusatsu Onsen Kanemidori

昔心の宿 金みどり

A 30-room Kusatsu inn, founded in 1902 as a restaurant, that guests choose for its nine-course dinners and two free-flowing springs — but the rooms have no views, the private baths cost extra and the portions defeat many

• Cocina como destino

Kusatsu Onsen Boun

草津温泉 望雲

A Kusatsu inn dating to 1598, with strong, free-flowing acidic water from two springs and a new wing of onsen-bath rooms — but uneven service and dinners that recent guests rate below the baths

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Ryokan históricos

Kusatsu Onsen Hotel Ichii

草津温泉 ホテル一井

The closest hotel to Kusatsu's Yubatake, with two free-flowing springs and a much-praised live-kitchen buffet — but only 23 rooms see the hot-spring field, most rooms are dated, and it's a big, busy house with long corridors

• Ryokan históricos

Nushiyu Ryokan

草津温泉 ぬ志勇旅館

A small family-run inn on the Yubatake with Kusatsu's only open-air bath looking down on the hot-spring field, fed by the rare Shirahata spring, plus a free private bath — but it's an old stair-climbing house with smoking rooms, no air conditioning and cash-only payment, and the view is mostly from the men's side

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Kusatsu Onsen Hotel Sakurai

草津温泉 ホテル櫻井

El mayor «hotel» onsen de Kusatsu es en realidad un ryokan de 179 habitaciones: casi todas de tatami, un baño de 30 metros alimentado por tres fuentes sin recircular, un bufé con cocina en directo y un espectáculo de yumomi cada noche — pero es grande y concurrido, y los baños al aire libre de las habitaciones no son de agua termal

Yuyado Toki no Niwa

湯宿 季の庭

A tatami-floored Kusatsu inn where all 64 rooms have an open-air onsen bath, plus 23 tubs shared with a sister inn — but the room baths are filled on demand rather than free-flowing, it's a 15–20-minute walk from the Yubatake, and 2025–2026 guests report an ageing building

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Kusatsu Onsen Daitokan

草津温泉 大東舘

A budget Meiji-era inn facing Kusatsu's Yubatake that pipes the Yubatake spring itself into its baths and serves big Gunma buffets — but the building is tired, every room is a smoking room, and a 'Yubatake-side' room doesn't guarantee a view

Bettei Senjuan

別邸 仙寿庵

Eighteen rooms, each with its own free-flowing open-air onsen, in a prize-winning earthen-walled building below Mount Tanigawa — a Relais & Châteaux favourite whose kitchen has lately lost some fans

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Diseño

Hoshi Onsen Chojukan

法師温泉 長寿館

A lone Meiji-era inn where the water bubbles up through the stones beneath you — one of Japan's great baths, if you can handle mixed bathing, no air conditioning and autumn stink bugs

• Ryokan históricos
• Refugios apartados

Takaragawa Onsen Osenkaku

宝川温泉 汪泉閣

470 tatamis de baños al aire libre junto al río, donde todo el mundo lleva la prenda de baño del ryokan — el baño mixto más espectacular de Japón a precio económico, si toleras un edificio antiguo, las multitudes de visitantes de día y los tábanos del verano

• Refugios apartados

Shima Onsen Kashiwaya Ryokan

四万温泉 柏屋旅館

A 14-room retro-modern inn where three private open-air baths are free, unbooked and usable as often as you like, with a noon check-out — but it's a wooden house with steep stairs, no lift and thin walls, and most rooms have no bath of their own

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Sekizenkan

積善館

A 1691 bathhouse inn, a 1930 bathhall and a modern tower on one hillside — pick your building carefully, and stay the night for Genroku-no-yu without the day crowds

• Ryokan históricos
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Shima Onsen Toshimaya

四万温泉 豊島屋

A 15-room riverside inn whose every bath — shared, private and in eight of the rooms — runs on its own springs with no water added, no heating and no recirculation; the catch is no lift, a modest dinner for the price and signs of thin staffing

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Shima Tamura

四万たむら

A bath-keeper's inn since 1563 with seven free-flowing baths from its own riverbed sources — a mixed bath in the river, a waterfall-view open-air bath, a pebble-floored bath where the spring rises underfoot — in a big, ageing, maze-like building

• Ryokan históricos

Shima Yamaguchikan

四万やまぐち館

Un gran ryokan junto al río con estética retro de la era Shōwa, cuyos dos largos baños al aire libre están justo sobre el cristalino río Shima — ven por el agua y por el kamishibai nocturno de la dirección del ryokan (okami), no por la comida ni por la tranquilidad

Yamamizuki

山あいの宿 山みず木

Riverside open-air baths and some of Kurokawa's warmest service, a shuttle ride from the village — excellent value, if you book a room with its own bath

• Refugios apartados

Fumoto Ryokan

ふもと旅館

Once baños privados gratuitos en los que basta con entrar, todas las bañeras con agua 100 % sin recircular, y la familia que inventó el pase de baños de Kurokawa — agua excelente y abundantes cenas caseras de campo, con muchas escaleras

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Gekkoju Kurokawa

月洸樹 黒川

Ten detached villas on a forested hill above Kurokawa, each with its own free-flowing onsen bath, some as big as a small public bath. Bloggers rave about it, but prices have climbed steeply and a few 2025 reviews flag upkeep, dinner and service slips

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Refugios apartados

Ryokan Sanga

旅館 山河

Seven baths from two private springs in the forest outside Kurokawa — beloved for its water and warmth, and now with no mixed bath; pack layers in winter

• Refugios apartados

Kurokawa Onsen Ikoi Ryokan

黒川温泉 いこい旅館

Kurokawa's bath-hopping inn: 13 free-flowing baths under one roof, including the famous open-air Taki-no-yu and four private baths that are free for guests. But the best outdoor baths are mixed, day bathers share them until 21:00, and there are no credit cards and no young children

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Ryokan Wakaba

黒川温泉 旅館わかば

A friendly 16-room family inn with horse-sashimi kaiseki served in renovated rooms that have their own dining rooms, plus four detached rooms with free-flowing onsen baths. The shared baths are modest and close at 22:30

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Yukyo no Hibiki Yusai

黒川温泉 湯峡の響き 優彩

Kurokawa's big, sociable inn: seven free-flowing baths, including a floodlit bamboo-grove bath and two free private baths, plus buffet dinners with free-flow drinks and a free evening bar. It's a busy house of about 55 rooms, though, and 2026 reviews flag grubby baths and cold grill dishes

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Kamenoi Bessou

亀の井別荘

Yufuin's century-old forest retreat: Japanese guests rave about the space and the baths, and are more measured about the food

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Ryokan históricos

Sanso Murata

由布院 山荘 無量塔

Twelve villas built from relocated old farmhouses, each with its own onsen, and a bar with a 1930s theatre speaker — Yufuin's most atmospheric hideaway, if you don't need a view or a big bath

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Diseño

Yufuin Souan Kosumosu

由布院温泉 草庵秋桜

A 12-room 'cooking inn' remodelled by Seven Stars train designer Eiji Mitooka, steps from Lake Kinrin, with free-flowing spring water in every bath and open-air tubs in the cottages — but it sits on Yufuin's busiest strip, the shared baths are small and the cheapest rooms have only a shower

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Cocina como destino

Yufuin Tamanoyu

由布院 玉の湯

Dieciséis casitas en un jardín boscoso, cada una con su propio baño de hinoki de agua que fluye sin recircular, y una sopa de desayuno que llaman la mejor de Japón — pero la cena divide opiniones

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Yufuin Sanso Warabino

由布院温泉 山荘 わらび野

A 1988 inn rebuilt in concrete after the 2016 earthquake: 13 modern suites in a wooded garden, each with its own free-flowing onsen bath on heated stone floors, and noon check-out — Japanese guests rate it near-perfect, but most baths are indoor tubs with opening windows, not true open-air baths

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Diseño

Yufuin Gettoan

ゆふいん 月燈庵

Eighteen detached cottages in the woods outside Yufuin, each with its own free-flowing onsen bath, reached by a suspension bridge from a 300-year-old farmhouse — the food wins praise, but the main-wing rooms are dated, the room baths are small and enclosed, and the paths are hard going

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Refugios apartados

Arima Onsen Kinzan

有馬温泉 欽山

Arima's adults-most-of-the-year 'ryotei ryokan': Kyoto-style kaiseki served in your room, brown kinsen in the shared baths and 14 renovated rooms with their own silver-spring bath — the other 17 have none, and a couple of 2025 diners felt the food had slipped

• Cocina como destino

Nakanobo Zuien

中の坊瑞苑

El gran ryokan clásico de Arima: kinsen rojo óxido en los baños grandes, sede de títulos de shogi con un vestíbulo-jardín — reserva por teléfono una habitación con kinsen y entenderás por qué la clientela habitual repite

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Ryokan históricos

Tosen Goshobo

有馬温泉 陶泉 御所坊

A shadowy, designer-restored wooden inn with centuries of history and a half-mixed bath of rust-red kinsen water — adored for its staff, divisive for its bath and its creaks

• Ryokan históricos
• Diseño

Hyoe Koyokaku

有馬温泉 兵衛向陽閣

Arima's big all-rounder: a 126-room inn with three bath houses of rust-red kinsen, a live-cooking wagyu buffet or charcoal-grill private rooms, and free matcha and drinks — but the baths are partly recirculated, it's a maze, and tattoos are refused

Arima Onsen Gekkoen Korokan

有馬温泉 月光園 鴻朧館

Kaiseki served course by course in your room at both meals, a wall of mountain view and three bath houses of the inn's own kinsen — at a classic price, but it's a modern block where you fetch your own yukata, and the in-room and private baths aren't onsen

Takinoya

登別温泉郷 滝乃家

Four kinds of Noboribetsu spring water, barefoot tatami corridors and private-room kaiseki — but only a dozen rooms have onsen of their own, and extras are thin for the price

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Bourou Noguchi Noboribetsu

望楼NOGUCHI登別

An adults-only, all-suite 'Noboribetsu modern' inn where every room has its own big milky sulphur-spring bath and dinner is a Japanese-French kaiseki in a private dining room — superb for doing nothing, but the 20-year-old rooms are showing their age and the dinner divides opinion

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Diseño

Noboribetsu Onsen Kashoutei Hanaya

登別温泉 花鐘亭はなや

A 21-room inn in a town of big hotels: milky free-flowing sulphur water, both meals served in your room and free draft beer and sake all stay — but the baths are tiny, the walls thin and the building showing its age

• Cocina como destino

Oyado Kiyomizuya

登別温泉 御やど清水屋

A former kappo restaurant turned small Noboribetsu inn: 13-course kaiseki served in your room at both meals and milky, free-flowing sulphur water — in an old building with small baths, mould and insects in some rooms

• Cocina como destino

Takinoya Bekkan Tamanoyu

滝乃家別館 玉乃湯

Takinoya's small, affordable annex on Noboribetsu's main street: milky free-flowing sulphur water, warm service and a careful multi-course dinner — but the baths are tiny, almost no rooms have a bath, and the building shows its age

Ryotei Hanayura

旅亭 花ゆら

La tranquila categoría superior, de 37 habitaciones, de un grupo hotelero de Noboribetsu: 27 habitaciones con su propio baño de agua sulfurosa lechosa que fluye sin recircular y kaiseki en comedores privados — pero el edificio está anticuado, los baños de las habitaciones salen muy calientes y las reseñas de 2026 describen a veces un servicio de cena apresurado

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Dogo Funaya

道後温泉 ふなや

Dogo's oldest inn — Soseki and Shiki wrote haiku here — with a 1,500-tsubo firefly garden and some of Shikoku's best-rated breakfasts, in a big, modern-looking building

• Ryokan históricos
• Cocina como destino

Dogo Onsen Dogokan

道後舘

Kisho Kurokawa's postmodern take on an Edo inn town, on the hill above Dogo: some of Shikoku's best-rated kaiseki and service, nine rooms with their own open-air onsen bath — but the shared baths are recirculated and the building shows its age

• Diseño
• Cocina como destino

Dogo Onsen Yamatoya Honten

道後温泉 大和屋本店

A sukiya-style inn with its own hinoki noh stage, sea-bream rice with every dinner and a 100-dish Setouchi breakfast, steps from Dogo's famous bathhouse — the baths themselves are recirculated, and it's a big, busy house

• Ryokan históricos

Zao Onsen Uta no Yado Wakamatsuya

蔵王温泉 蔵王・和歌（うた）の宿 わかまつや

A 21-room inn tied to the poet Saitō Mokichi, with its own unwatered, unheated pH 1.8 sulphur spring, two free private baths and Yamagata-beef kaiseki in private dining rooms — the building itself is newer and some fittings are tired

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Ryokan históricos

Miyamaso Takamiya

蔵王温泉 深山荘 高見屋

A 300-year-old inn with its own fiercely acidic sulphur springs and some of Zao's best-loved cooking — in an old, maze-like building with no lift

• Ryokan históricos
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Zao Onsen Kinosato

蔵王温泉 岩清水料理の宿 季の里

Un ryokan familiar y acogedor de 20 habitaciones en el borde de Zao Onsen, querido por su personal y sus abundantes cenas de ternera de Yamagata, con un baño sulfuroso lechoso de agua que fluye sin recircular en una casa de baños de madera al otro lado del aparcamiento — los baños interiores no son de agua termal, y el edificio de 1993 acusa los años

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

Chigira Jinsentei

伊香保温泉 千明仁泉亭

Ikaho's oldest inn on the stone steps, with free, unbookable private baths of rust-gold water — a bath-lover's favourite whose food divides opinion

• Ryokan históricos
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Ikaho Onsen Nagomigokoro no Yado Omori

伊香保温泉 和心の宿 大森

A family-run, barefoot-on-tatami inn with two rooftop open-air baths 800 m up and Akagi-beef kaiseki, right by the bus terminus — but the water is the clear, recirculated Shirogane spring, you wash downstairs, and budget rooms have no bath

• Ryokan históricos

Ikaho Onsen Moriaki Ryokan

伊香保温泉 森秋旅館

A Meiji-era inn by Ikaho's stone steps where every bath — even the seven in-room tubs — runs free-flowing 'golden' water, with an okami at every dinner table and a breakfast hall full of mountains; but it's a big, busy 74-room house with banquet-hall dinners and view-less cheaper rooms

• Ryokan históricos

Ikaho Onsen Tsukagoshiya Shichibee

伊香保温泉 温泉宿 塚越屋七兵衛

An Edo-era Ikaho inn whose indoor bath pours the iron-brown 'golden' spring free-flowing, with warm, attentive service and table-grilled Gunma beef at modest prices — but the outdoor baths aren't hot-spring water, meals are mostly in halls, and 2026 reviews flag an ageing building

• Ryokan históricos

Ikaho Onsen Nyoshin-no-sato Hibikino

伊香保温泉 如心の里 ひびき野

A large, well-run Ikaho inn in a 15,000-tsubo garden with both of the town's springs — a free-flowing 'golden' outdoor bath and a recirculated 'silver' indoor one — plus sauna and in-room-bath rooms; the outdoor tub is small and the building is ageing

Ikaho Onsen Fukuichi

伊香保温泉 福一

A big, friendly inn at the very top of Ikaho's stone steps, with its own door onto the steps and both of Ikaho's springs in the large baths — but the water is heated, partly recirculated and disinfected, the one free-flowing private bath has been shut since a June 2026 earthquake, and dinner divides opinion

• Ryokan históricos

Sumiyoshiya

野沢温泉 村のホテル 住吉屋

An 1869 wooden inn beside Nozawa's boiling Ogama springs — stained-glass baths, near-perfect scores for its local cooking, and water so hot you'll need to go slowly

• Ryokan históricos
• Cocina como destino

Nozawa Onsen Kawaichiya Ryokan

野沢温泉 河一屋旅館

A renovated Nozawa inn with two different springs under one roof, including the prized Shin-yu, piped free-flowing into its outdoor bath and newer in-room baths, plus a two-wagyu steak dinner and near-perfect service scores. The catches: thin walls, a maze of stairs and corridors, and very hot water

Ryokan Sakaya

野沢温泉 旅館さかや

The big inn beside Nozawa's Ōyu bathhouse, with its own sulphur spring rising in the garden and running unwatered through a shrine-carpenter bathhouse of hot, warm and lie-down tubs. The catches: plain cheaper rooms, weak summer air-conditioning and strict winter booking rules

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Taenoyu

乳頭温泉郷 妙乃湯

Nyuto's gentler, more polished alternative — two different springs, a riverside mixed bath with women-only time, and warm service, though the rooms are small and the layout confusing

• Refugios apartados

Tsurunoyu Onsen

乳頭温泉郷 鶴の湯温泉

Japan's most photographed milky mixed bath, a thatched samurai-guard house with irori hearths, and rooms from about ¥11,700 — rustic, cold in places, and hard to book

• Ryokan históricos
• Refugios apartados

Kyukamura Nyuto Onsenkyo

休暇村 乳頭温泉郷

Nyuto's easy option: a modern 38-room resort lodge with two free-flowing springs, an outdoor bath in the beech forest, Akita buffets and the bath-hopping bus at the door — comfortable and easy to book, but short on old-inn atmosphere

• Refugios apartados

Magoroku Onsen Rokuan

孫六温泉 六庵

El antiguo refugio de autoservicio de Nyūtō, renacido en 2025 como un ryokan de seis habitaciones con sauna de barril, baños mixtos con bata y kaiseki en barra — precioso, remoto y caro, con reseñas iniciales todavía dispares

• Refugios apartados

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

• Ryokan históricos

Gero Onsen Sasara

下呂温泉 紗々羅

Gero's self-styled 'art inn' on the hill: antique-crammed lobbies, 20 of 44 rooms with their own open-air onsen, in-room Hida-beef dinners and a top-floor bath over the town lights — but breakfast underwhelms, the Moriyama wing is a long walk from the baths, and renovation noise runs until the end of 2026

• Diseño

Gero Onsen Bosenkan

下呂温泉 望川館

A friendly, family-minded Gero inn founded in 1818, with a 1,100-tsubo garden, a big riverside open-air bath, Hida beef hoba-miso dinners in private rooms and trains rumbling over the bridge outside — but the building is old, the baths are partly recirculated and down a steep flight of stairs

• Ryokan históricos

Gero Onsen Ogawaya

下呂温泉 小川屋

Gero's big bath-hopping inn: a 100-tatami 'tatami bath', five shared baths, nine private ones and a menu of Hida-beef dinners in the middle of town — but it's a 120-room maze, the private baths cost extra, and 2026 reviews complain of queues and uneven service

Gero Onsen Suimeikan

下呂温泉 水明館

Gero's grand ryokan since 1932: four wings, three big baths of silky alkaline water and Hida beef everywhere — choose the Rinsenkaku wing for onsen in your room, and expect crowds and tired rooms elsewhere

• Ryokan históricos

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

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Diseño

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

Chorakuen

玉造温泉 湯之助の宿 長楽園

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

• Ryokan históricos

Myoken Ishiharaso

妙見石原荘

Siete fuentes privadas de agua efervescente y sin tratar, un almacén de arroz de piedra de 1931 convertido en suites junto al río y un baño en la orilla bajo un gran árbol muku — el mejor ryokan onsen de Kyushu, si eliges bien la habitación

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Diseño

Wasurenosato Gajoen

妙見温泉 忘れの里 雅叙苑

A hamlet of thatched farmhouses where chickens roam and every room has a rock-hewn onsen — 'as if time stopped fifty years ago', and priced accordingly high

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Refugios apartados

KAI Kirishima

界 霧島

El ryokan de montaña de Hoshino Resorts donde cada una de sus 49 habitaciones mira a través de las tierras altas de Kirishima hacia Sakurajima, con un funicular de cristal que baja a una casa de baños en un prado de hierba de la pampa — pero la mayoría de las habitaciones solo tienen ducha, Sakurajima suele esconderse tras la bruma y las reseñas recientes se quejan de ventanas sucias y cenas escasas

• Refugios apartados

Ryotei Hanzuiryo

雲仙温泉 旅亭 半水盧

Fourteen private villas of 250㎡ each, kaiseki served in your own tatami room and a milky, tingling acidic spring — superb privacy, but a grand 1992 inn now showing its age

• Cocina como destino
• Refugios apartados

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

• Diseño

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

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Cocina como destino

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

• Cocina como destino

Mukaitaki

会津東山温泉 向瀧

Japan's first registered-heritage inn: a former Aizu clan bath retreat with scalding free-flowing water, free private baths and carp dinners in your room — and a lot of stairs

• Ryokan históricos

Kutsurogijuku Shintaki

会津東山温泉 くつろぎ宿 新滝

A big, well-run riverside inn with four truly free-flowing baths — including the Aizu lords' rock bath fed from the bedrock beneath it — free sake in the lounge and Aizu-style dinners at a fair price; it's busy, dim and full of stairs, and private baths cost extra

• Ryokan históricos

Shosuke no Yado Takinoyu

会津東山温泉 庄助の宿 瀧の湯

A big riverside inn on the spot where Higashiyama Onsen began, with open-air baths beside a floodlit waterfall, seven private baths and famous breakfast mochi — but the cheaper rooms are cramped, the building is full of steps, and 2026 reviews flag smells and patchy upkeep

Hotel Iya Onsen

和の宿 ホテル祖谷温泉

A private cable car drops 170 metres to riverside baths of fizzy, body-temperature sulphur water — Shikoku's great onsen adventure, if you don't mind stairs and a winding road

• Refugios apartados
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Iya Onsen Hotel Kazurabashi

新祖谷温泉 ホテルかずら橋

A 22-room Iya Valley inn where a little wooden cable car you start yourself climbs to open-air baths over the mountain hamlets, with irori-side local dinners, a singing okami and a free bonnet-bus tour to the lit-up vine bridge — but the onsen is recirculated and the hilltop baths can get crowded

• Refugios apartados

Obokekyo Mannaka

峡谷の湯宿 大歩危峡まんなか

A 14-room gorge inn three minutes from its own sightseeing-boat pier, renovated in 2024 with gadget-packed rooms, a pour-your-own sauna and local-produce kaiseki at a fair price — but the spring is cold and recirculated, the open-air bath is an artificial mineral bath, and road and train noise reach it

HOSHINOYA Karuizawa

星のや軽井沢

Hoshino Resorts' flagship: a car-free village of rooms around a river, with no TVs, a light-and-dark Meditation Bath and seasonal Shinshu kaiseki — deeply restful, but meals cost extra and value is the sore point

• Diseño
• Cerca de Tokio

Fukiya

ふきや

A 20-room sukiya inn above Yugawara with three free private open-air baths, vintage Scandinavian chairs in every room and old-style in-room dining — but only half the rooms have spring water in their hinoki tubs, and the food under a newer chef divides repeat guests

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Diseño

Yugawara Onsen Itoya

湯河原温泉 島崎藤村ゆかりの宿 伊藤屋

A 13-room inn from 1888 where Shimazaki Tōson came to write, with Taishō-era rooms listed as cultural property, two free private baths and seafood dinners that reviewers love — but the spring water is recirculated, there's no lift, and the old wing runs cold in winter

• Ryokan históricos
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Oku-Yugawara Tsubaki

奥湯河原 海石榴

Un ryokan de estilo sukiya al final de la línea de autobús de Oku-Yugawara, con comidas en la habitación, una casa de invitados premiada de cinco habitaciones y un desayuno muy elogiado — pero su onsen es de agua recirculada y los baños de las habitaciones estándar ni siquiera son onsen

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Diseño

Yugawara Onsen Gensen Uenoya

湯河原温泉 源泉 上野屋

Yugawara's oldest inn: three registered-heritage wooden buildings, its own 82°C spring poured unrecirculated into every bath and two free private open-air tubs — but no lift, steep stairs, thin walls and modest dinners

• Ryokan históricos
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Taishoya Shiibasanso

大正屋 椎葉山荘

Ureshino's valley hideaway: 20 rooms strung along a mountain stream, each with its own hinoki bath of free-flowing spring water, a huge riverside open-air bath and fireflies in June — but the big baths are recirculated, the outdoor corridors are a maze, and the food is solid rather than special

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Refugios apartados

Ryokan Omuraya

旅館 大村屋

Ureshino's oldest inn, reinvented around records and books, with silky 'beauty' water and a breakfast of tofu melted in hot-spring water — great value in the renovated rooms, less so in the old washitsu

• Ryokan históricos

Ureshino Onsen Taishoya

嬉野温泉 大正屋

Ureshino's century-old town-centre inn: Junzo Yoshimura architecture around a cedar garden, spring water in every room's bath and the famous 'melting' onsen tofu at breakfast — but the shared baths are recirculated, the much-extended building is a maze of stairs, and the dining hall is big and busy

• Ryokan históricos
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Wataya Bessou

和多屋別荘

A sprawling riverside resort reinventing itself with tea, books, a Pierre Hermé shop and workspaces around a 1977 Kisho Kurokawa tower — great water and dinners, but choose a renovated room

• Diseño

Ibusuki Shusuien

いぶすき秀水園

The ryokan that topped Japan's professional cuisine ranking for 40 straight years — miso-grilled abalone, Kagoshima black pork and a devoted room attendant — though the streak ended in 2024, and the baths and building lag behind the food

• Cocina como destino

Ibusuki Hakusuikan

指宿白水館

A vast Edo-style bath hall, an indoor sand bath you can use in any weather, and black-pork shabu-shabu by the bay — Ibusuki's grand ryokan, if you don't mind long corridors, tour groups and an ageing building

Bettei Otozure

別邸 音信

A barefoot, tatami-floored 'modern tōji' retreat where every room has a free-flowing open-air bath and dinner is a light, local kaiseki — adults only, Michelin-keyed, and among western Japan's best-rated inns

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Diseño

Otani Sanso

大谷山荘

Un ryokan grande y pulido junto al río, con cenas de fugu y un pan del desayuno famoso — reserva una suite si quieres auténtico onsen, porque los baños grandes son de agua recirculada

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

KAI Nagato

界 長門

Hoshino Resorts' craft-filled anchor of a revived onsen town: walkable riverside evenings, free post-bath sake and fugu in winter — but a small bath, heated water and some lacklustre 2026 meals

• Diseño

Hatcho no Yu

奥鬼怒温泉 八丁の湯

Un refugio de montaña de 1929 más allá del final de la carretera en Okukinu, con tres baños mixtos al aire libre de agua sin recircular junto a una cascada y cabañas de troncos más nuevas — agua maravillosa, pero habitaciones básicas, sin aire acondicionado y un traslado que hay que planificar

• Refugios apartados
• Admiten tatuajes

Kaniyu

奥鬼怒温泉 加仁湯

The biggest inn on Okukinu's car-free road: five of its own sulphur springs flow, unheated and undiluted, into mixed and women-only open-air baths and a row of side-by-side 'tasting' tubs — but the rooms are plain, upkeep is patchy, and you pay in cash

• Refugios apartados
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Misasa Onsen Kiya Ryokan

三朝温泉 木屋旅館

A 14-room wooden inn listed as a cultural property, with its own very hot radium springs — a free private bath where the water bubbles up through the floor, a radon steam room and a warm-floor rest room — but expect stairs, stink bugs and simple, home-style food

• Ryokan históricos
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Misasa Onsen Misasakan

三朝温泉 三朝館

Misasa's big, busy all-rounder: three private radon springs, twelve baths around a 1,000-tsubo garden and a crab-heavy table — just reopened after a 2026 refresh, but most rooms are standard Showa-era tatami rooms without spring water

Misasa Onsen Izanro Iwasaki

三朝温泉 依山楼 岩崎

Misasa's century-old grand inn, host to emperors and writers: a 12-bath garden onsen with free-flowing cave and rock tubs and private-room kaiseki — but it's a big 74-room concrete house with fixed air conditioning, thinning service and towels you carry to the bath yourself

• Ryokan históricos

Ryokan Ohashi

旅館大橋

A 1932 riverside inn registered as a cultural property, with a half-underground cave bath where radium and thorium water rises through the rock — unforgettable baths, uneven service

• Ryokan históricos

Okutsuso

名泉鍵湯 奥津荘

The 'locked bath' where alkaline water bubbles up through the granite riverbed beneath you — a registered-heritage inn of just ten rooms, with a new modern kitchen and prices that have climbed fast

• Ryokan históricos
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Sendai Akiu Onsen Geihinkan Sakura Rikyu

仙台 秋保温泉 迎賓館 櫻離宮

Un anexo de estilo sukiya con 13 habitaciones, la mayoría con su propio baño onsen al aire libre, y un salón con bebidas gratuitas — pero la cena suele ser el bufé del hotel principal contiguo, de 117 habitaciones, y el agua es recirculada

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Densho Sennen no Yado Sakan

伝承千年の宿 佐勘

A 34th-generation family inn that once kept the Date lords' bathhouse, with a thatched riverside bath and a free-flowing-drinks half-buffet — strong on food and history, tired in the older rooms

• Ryokan históricos

Kashoen

佳松園

Hanamaki's top-tier inn: silky alkaline water from its own spring, in-room dinners with Maesawa beef, a free minibar and some of Tōhoku's highest guest scores — though the baths are part-recirculated and recent guests found the food banquet-like and the welcome cool

Fujisan Ryokan

鉛温泉 藤三旅館

A zelkova-wood inn beloved of Miyazawa Kenji, with a hand-dug rock bath 1.25 metres deep where you stand in water rising straight from the floor — superb free-flowing water, rustic rooms, and a self-catering tōji wing that divides opinion

• Ryokan históricos
• Refugios apartados

Itamuro Onsen Daikokuya

板室温泉 大黒屋

A hot-spring inn founded in 1551 that doubles as a contemporary-art museum, with silky alkaline water flowing through every bath — calm and unusual, but rooms are old and the baths small

• Ryokan históricos
• Diseño

Shiobara Onsen Yumori Tanakaya

塩原温泉 湯守田中屋

A family-run gorge-side inn at the gateway to Shiobara, loved for charcoal irori dinners, warm service and free-flowing water in every bath — but the famous riverside baths sit about 300 steps below, are mostly mixed-bathing, and two of the four are closed until about 2028

• Cocina como destino
• Cerca de Tokio

Jozankei Onsen Nukumori no Yado Furukawa

定山渓温泉 ぬくもりの宿 ふる川

Jozankei's best-loved big inn: handmade kaiseki, a breakfast buffet people rave about, free drinks in three lounges and staff who make a fuss over birthdays — but only a few rooms have their own onsen, the bathhouse is a walk away, and 2026 brought some upkeep and privacy lapses

• Cocina como destino

Jozankei Daiichi Hotel Suizantei

定山渓第一寶亭留 翠山亭

Every room has a bath of 100% spring water, the lounge pours free beer, sake and cheesecake from afternoon to midnight, and a free shuttle runs from central Sapporo — Hokkaido's easiest onsen escape, if you don't mind stairs and busy dinners

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Jozankei Yuraku Soan

定山渓 ゆらく草庵

Un nuevo ryokan de 102 habitaciones concebido como una cabaña de ceremonia del té, con tatami desde la entrada hasta los ascensores, una bañera onsen de hiba en cada habitación y cuatro baños privados gratuitos — pero es grande, con mucho trasiego de grupos turísticos, y las reseñas de 2026 se quejan de cenas lentas y escasez de personal

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Diseño

Takayu Onsen Adachiya

高湯温泉 安達屋

Un ryokan de 1607 con agua sulfurosa ácida y lechosa que fluye por todos los baños, cenas a la brasa en irori y bebidas gratis en el salón — su famoso baño mixto al aire libre se ha dividido ahora en lado de hombres y lado de mujeres

• Ryokan históricos

Ryokan Ohnuma

旅館大沼

Eight free-flowing baths of two baking-soda springs, four of them free private baths you just lock, a hillside garden bath and famous house natto — a modern tōji inn at old-fashioned prices, with stairs and shared toilets

• Ryokan históricos

Naruko Onsen Kanshichiyu

鳴子温泉郷 勘七湯

Higashi-Naruko's oldest inn (founded 1784): two free-flowing springs, including its own dark, oily-scented 'Furōsen' bath you can take privately for free, at self-catering prices — but the Shōwa-era building is cluttered and run largely by the owner alone

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Ryokan históricos

Yukiguni no Yado Takahan

雪国の宿 高半

The inn where Kawabata wrote 'Snow Country': silky, sulphurous 'egg water' that's genuinely free-flowing, the writer's preserved room, nightly screenings of the 1957 film and free local sake — in a plain concrete building with a simple breakfast

• Ryokan históricos
• Cerca de Tokio

Echigo-Yuzawa Onsen Shosenkaku Kagetsu

越後湯沢温泉 松泉閣花月

A warm, family-run 28-room inn five minutes from the Shinkansen, loved for its service, free lounge drinks and Uonuma rice — but only the five top-floor rooms have their own free-flowing bath, and 2026 reviewers keep calling dinner thin

• Cerca de Tokio

HATAGO Isen

越後湯澤 HATAGO井仙

A barefoot, 16-room station inn with free-flowing baths, clay-pot Uonuma Koshihikari and a 'village feast' restaurant — 70 minutes from Tokyo, strong on food and rooms, weak on service

• Cerca de Tokio

Kotohira Kadan

琴平花壇

Una posada de peregrinos desde 1627 donde se alojó Mori Ōgai, con tres villas independientes históricas, habitaciones más nuevas con baño privado al aire libre y kaiseki de ternera Olive al pie del Konpira-san — un recinto en cuesta y laberíntico, con un servicio desigual

• Ryokan históricos

Kotohira Hananoyu Koubaitei

湯元こんぴら温泉華の湯 紅梅亭

A big, family-friendly onsen hotel below Konpira-san with 15 baths — rose-petal tubs, a garden bathhouse, a summer pool — and a decorated chef's stone-grill kaiseki; the water is heated and recirculated, and 2026 reviews flag upkeep slips

Kotohira Onsen Kotosankaku

ことひら温泉 琴参閣

Kotohira's 223-room onsen giant, five minutes from the Konpira steps: big shared baths, a 50-dish breakfast and corridors full of curios — but the water is recirculated, cheaper rooms feel dated, and it can be crowded and noisy

Konpira Onsen Yumoto Yachiyo

こんぴら温泉湯元八千代

Kotohira's original onsen inn, founded in 1725 and steps from the Konpira approach: cheap, generous kaiseki and a rooftop bath with views — but an ageing building, repeated cleanliness complaints and a rooftop bath that women can use only in the evening

Sansuikan Kawayu Midoriya

山水館 川湯みどりや

A big, good-value Kumano Kodo base whose river-level open-air bath you share in a bathing wrap, with all-you-can-drink beer and sake and unlimited grilled ayu at dinner — but the bath is mixed, and 2026 reviews flag tired rooms and patchy cleaning

Kawayu Onsen Fujiya

川湯温泉 冨士屋

Cava tu propio baño termal en el lecho del río, sumérgete en el Sennin-buro de invierno y toma un traslado gratuito al Kumano Kodo — una base junto al río con auténtico carácter onsen, en un edificio anticuado y con un mantenimiento irregular

• Refugios apartados

Onyado Chikurintei

御宿 竹林亭

Once habitaciones, cada una con su propio baño al aire libre, dentro del jardín Mifuneyama Rakuen, con kaiseki en la habitación servido en antigua porcelana de Imari y Arita y dos MICHELIN Keys — pero el onsen se calienta y no fluye sin recircular, y algunas habitaciones acusan los años

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Ryokan históricos

Takeo Onsen Kyotoya

武雄温泉 大正浪漫の宿 京都屋

A 1910 inn in the middle of Takeo Onsen, kept as a Taishō-era time capsule of music boxes, gramophones and pick-your-own-cup coffee — now room-only with a free bread breakfast, and its own spring is heated and recirculated in an ageing building

• Ryokan históricos

Lamp no Yado Aoni Onsen

ランプの宿 青荷温泉

Un refugio termal de 1929 iluminado por unas 160 lámparas de aceite, sin luz eléctrica, televisión ni cobertura móvil, con cuatro baños de hiba y de roca de agua que fluye sin recircular y platos de Tsugaru explicados en dialecto — una auténtica desconexión digital, si soportas la oscuridad, las paredes finas y el agua templada

• Refugios apartados

Yado Hanaya Tokubei

宿 花屋徳兵衛

Dorogawa's oldest inn, a 500-year-old pilgrims' lodge taking just six groups a night, with famous ayu, spring-water tofu and boar hotpot cooked by the okami — but the baths are small and recirculated, and the cheaper rooms share toilets

• Ryokan históricos

Kinokuniya Jinpachi

紀の国屋甚八

A 300-year-old pilgrims' inn of six retro tatami rooms where you check in and out at noon and lock either bath for yourself, free — but the spring is heated and recirculated, the tubs are small and most rooms share toilets

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Ryokan históricos

Chikurinan Mizuno

竹林庵みずの

Fourteen rooms, each with its own free-flowing open-air bath facing Hatsushima, six free private baths, horses in the garden and a famous whole fried scorpionfish — at the top of a very steep road, with no lift and no large bath

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Atami Taikanso

熱海 大観荘

A 1940s steel magnate's villa named by the painter Yokoyama Taikan, with a big landscaped garden, a sea-view bathhouse and much-praised Kyoto-style kaiseki — but it's a rambling, older complex where people get lost, and only one of the three bathhouses is truly special

• Ryokan históricos
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Atami Onsen Furuya Ryokan

熱海温泉 古屋旅館

Atami's oldest inn (1806), with its own Seizaemon spring piped untreated into the shared baths and most rooms, and every meal served in your room — but it's a modern building in a crowded town centre, with little view, and a few 2024–2026 guests found it overpriced

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Ryokan históricos

Shukaen Yunohanazen

秀花園 湯の花膳

A 23-room harbour-front inn that won Japan's Ryokan Koshien in 2025, famous for in-room dinners of whole simmered kinmedai and a front-row view of Atami's fireworks — but the shared baths are recirculated, most rooms allow smoking, and it can't adjust meals for allergies

• Cocina como destino
• Cerca de Tokio

Atami Onsen Sakuraya Ryokan

熱海温泉 さくらや旅館

Un ryokan familiar de 1949 a cinco minutos de la estación de Atami donde las dos comidas se sirven en la habitación y todos los baños de las habitaciones son de agua termal pura — pero los baños compartidos son pequeños y de agua recirculada, apenas hay vista al mar y el edificio acusa los años

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Cerca de Tokio

Atami Sekitei

あたみ石亭

A village of sukiya cottages scattered through a 3,000-tsubo stone garden in the Atami hills, with onsen in every room's bath and much-praised kaiseki — but you walk outdoors over stone steps to everything, the shared baths are open-air only, and the cottages show their age

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Diseño

Shuhokaku Kogetsu

秀峰閣 湖月

A 43-room lakeside inn where every room faces Mt Fuji across Lake Kawaguchi, with kaiseki served in your room and free drinks on a foot-bath terrace — but the baths are recirculated, standard rooms have only a shower, and dinner moves to a dining hall from April 2027

Fuji-Kawaguchiko Onsen Konanso

富士河口湖温泉郷 湖南荘

A big, polished lakeside inn that still serves kaiseki dinner in your room, with Mt Fuji from the rooftop foot bath — but it stands on the town shore, so 40 of its 50 rooms face the lake rather than Fuji, and the heated spring water has little character

• Cerca de Tokio

FUFU Kawaguchiko

ふふ 河口湖

Thirty-two Mt Fuji-facing suites, each with a lava-stone open-air bath and fireplace, and two MICHELIN Keys — but the Fuji view varies by room, the in-room baths don't appear to be free-flowing, and 2025–2026 guests complain of three-hour dinners and uneven service

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Kasuitei Ooya

花水庭おおや

A century-old, family-friendly lakeside inn with generous kaiseki dinners (often served in your room) and rooftop baths over Lake Kawaguchi — but Mt Fuji is behind the building, the in-room open-air baths aren't onsen, and the building shows its age

• Cerca de Tokio

Kozantei Ubuya

湖山亭うぶや

Un gran ryokan a orillas del lago con la celebración como tema, donde todas las habitaciones miran al monte Fuji al otro lado del lago Kawaguchi — pero los baños al aire libre de las habitaciones no son onsen, la cena es ahora un bufé o shabu-shabu y el Fuji suele esconderse en verano

Rankeiso

妙湶和樂 嵐渓荘

A riverside secluded-onsen inn with a registered cultural-property wooden building, salty therapeutic water, free private baths and mountain-village kaiseki of carp and wild vegetables — but the spring is heated and recirculated, and the old wing carries sound

• Ryokan históricos
• Refugios apartados

Nasu Kogen no Yado Sansuikaku

那須高原の宿 山水閣

A 13-room early-Shōwa wooden inn in the forest by the Nasu Imperial Villa, loved for its vintage-chair lounges, wagyu soy-milk shabu-shabu and attentive staff — but every bath, including the five in-room ones, is recirculated, there's no lift and no outdoor public bath

• Ryokan históricos
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Nasu Onsen Sanraku

那須温泉 山楽

A 1923 inn whose own spring is piped 5.4 km from beside the Imperial Villa's source and never heated or recirculated, with a forest-ringed open-air bath of about 30 tatami and well-loved kaiseki — but 2026 reviews flag scalding in-room tubs, ageing fittings, empty lounge bottles and thin staffing

• Ryokan históricos
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Okamotoya Ryokan

岡本屋旅館

A 150-year-old wooden inn in Beppu's sulphur-steam hamlet of Myoban, with a free-flowing milky-blue spring, Oita kaiseki and the original jigoku-mushi pudding — but only three of its 15 rooms have their own bath, the stairs are steep, and a renovated room disappointed in 2026

• Ryokan históricos

Beppu Onsen Hotel Shiragiku

別府温泉 ホテル白菊

A big, mostly tatami-room hotel-ryokan near Beppu Station, loved for its free welcome lounge, pâtissier-made breakfast sweets and a 265-tatami free-flowing bath — but it's a 1970s tower with busy shared baths, some thin walls and a 2026 data-breach notice

• Cocina como destino

Sanso Kannawaen

山荘 神和苑

Un ryokan de 50 habitaciones en la ladera, sobre los humeantes «infiernos» de Kannawa, donde cada habitación tiene su propio baño de agua que fluye sin recircular de dos pozos privados, y el agua puede volverse azul mar — pero es un complejo grande y reconstruido, el azul no está garantizado y las cenas de 2026 son irregulares

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

KAI Beppu

界 別府

Kengo Kuma's bayfront 'onsen town under one roof': sea views from all 68 rooms and a festival in the lobby every night — but a small shared bath, shower-only standard rooms and uneven 2026 dinners

• Diseño

Tateshina Shinyu Onsen

蓼科 親湯温泉

A 1926 riverside inn steeped in Japanese literature — Dazai's honeymoon, Ozu's diaries, 30,000 books — with free private open-air baths and dinner in Taisho-style private rooms; but the shared baths are recirculated and chlorinated, and dinner divides opinion

• Ryokan históricos
• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Hamachidori no Yu Kaishu (Kyoritsu Resort)

浜千鳥の湯 海舟（共立リゾート）

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

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Kishu Shirahama Onsen Musashi

紀州・白浜温泉 むさし

A 148-room beach inn a minute from Shirarahama, loved for its open-kitchen buffet and two hot springs — book the high-floor Nagitei rooms for the sea view and rooftop bath, and expect crowds, long walks to the annex and no free toothbrush

Hidatei Hanaougi

飛騨亭 花扇

Takayama's crowd-pleaser: a wood-built, tatami-floored inn with its own silky spring piped into most rooms' open-air baths, one attendant from arrival to farewell and Hida-beef kaiseki in private dining rooms — though the water is recirculated and heated, and the cheapest rooms have no onsen at all

Honjin Hiranoya Kachoan

飛騨高山 本陣平野屋 花兆庵

El ryokan más céntrico de Takayama: 24 habitaciones y unas 70 personas de personal a un minuto del Jinya, con un tambor de bienvenida, celebraciones que no se olvidan y algunas de las mejores notas de la región — pero ningún baño de habitación es onsen, y los mejores baños compartidos están al otro lado de la calle

Honjin Hiranoya Kofukan

飛騨高山 本陣平野屋 光風館

Kachoan's larger, cheaper sister by the red Nakabashi bridge: a taiko drum to greet you, names remembered and Hida-beef kaiseki in private dining rooms — but the rooms are plain, none of the in-room baths is described as onsen, and women get no open-air bath

Hida Takayama Onsen Hoshokaku

飛騨高山温泉 宝生閣

Un ryokan de cinco plantas en lo alto de una colina sobre el casco antiguo de Takayama, querido por su servicio cálido y tradicional y sus enormes cenas de ternera de Hida — pero solo los baños de roca exteriores compartidos usan agua termal (calentada y recirculada), y los baños al aire libre de las habitaciones no son onsen

KAI Enshu

界 遠州

Hoshino Resorts' tea-themed inn on Lake Hamana: every room looks over the water, there are a dozen-plus teas to brew for free and an eel-and-fugu dinner — but the salty spring is recirculated in two small baths, and most rooms have only a shower

• Diseño

Hotel Kikusuitei

浜名湖かんざんじ温泉 ホテル鞠水亭

A plain Shōwa-era onsen inn on Lake Hamana where every room faces the water, dinner is a Yufuin-designed kaiseki with eel or abalone, and cheap weekday bookings are often upgraded — but the baths are recirculated and shared with day visitors, and the building shows its age

Iwaki Yumoto Onsen Iwaso

いわき湯本温泉 心やわらぐ宿 岩惣

A former kappō inn in Iwaki-Yumoto reborn as a bargain onsen stay: a top-floor, free-flowing sulphur bath open all night and the okami's homemade-jam breakfast — but there's no dinner, no private bath, and it's an old building with dark corridors at night

• Cerca de Tokio

Genroku Saigajuku Furutakiya

元禄彩雅宿 古滝屋

A 54-room, 330-year-old Iwaki-Yumoto inn with 100% free-flowing sulphur water, a ninth-floor open-air bath and its own nuclear-disaster museum — good-value and family-friendly, but it's a big, ageing concrete building, and 2026 reviews mention insects, a leak and crowded breakfasts

• Cerca de Tokio

Kanazawa Yuwaku Onsen Kokarian

金沢湯涌温泉 古香里庵

Four suites, each with its own onsen bath, in a quiet hot-spring village outside Kanazawa — known for its creative Hokuriku kaiseki, beef shabu-shabu breakfast, free drinks and 22:00 curry udon; the water is recirculated, the baths have little view, and there's no shared bath or lift

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Cocina como destino

Kanazawa Yuwaku Onsen Hyakurakuso

金沢湯涌温泉 百楽荘

Dos alas muy distintas en un mismo ryokan de Yuwaku: un edificio principal fotogénico con salón de juegos y un anexo lleno de suites con salón de bebidas gratis y cuatro baños privados — 14 de las 24 habitaciones tienen baño onsen propio, pero el agua es recirculada, en algunas huele a cloro y el humo llega a la segunda planta del anexo

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Diseño

Iwamuro Onsen Fujiya

岩室温泉 自家源泉の宿 富士屋

A friendly 64-room family inn with Iwamuro's only private hot-spring well, a sulphur spring that shifts from clear to green to milky, and a much-loved country breakfast — but the buildings are dated, dinner is often in a big open hall, and only three rooms have their own bath

Hoho, Iwamuro Onsen

越後平野と弥彦連山一望の宿 穂々 ―hoho―

A big, lively 50-room inn behind a bonfire-lit gate, renamed Hoho in 2023: Iwamuro's black sulphur water in two free-flowing private baths, a steam stone spa, and free beer, sake and wine with a seafood dinner — but the main baths are recirculated and the dining hall gets crowded

Tsunagi Onsen Shikitei

盛岡つなぎ温泉 四季亭

A small, warmly run sukiya-style inn outside Morioka, rated 4.6 by over 500 Japanese guests for its staff and monthly Iwate kaiseki — the free-flowing sulphur water is best in the few rooms with their own open-air bath, since the shared baths are small, recirculated and never swap

Morioka Tsunagi Onsen Aishinkan

盛岡つなぎ温泉 愛真館

Un ryokan onsen grande y animado a las afueras de Morioka donde la cerveza, el sake de Iwate y los refrescos son gratis desde el check-in, con 17 bañeras que incluyen profundos baños de jardín 'Jomon' y un bufé de Iwate — excelente relación calidad-precio, pero el edificio es antiguo, el agua recirculada y el ambiente más bullicioso que sereno

Akan Tsuruga Bessou Hinanoza

あかん鶴雅別荘 鄙の座

El ryokan insignia solo para adultos del lago Akan: 25 suites, cada una con su baño onsen al aire libre, casi todas las bebidas incluidas y kaiseki de marisco de Hokkaido en comedores privados — pero las vistas al lago varían mucho según la habitación, los baños de las habitaciones son de agua recirculada y el precio es alto

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Cocina como destino

Akan Yuku no Sato Tsuruga

あかん遊久の里 鶴雅

The Tsuruga group's big flagship on Lake Akan: Ainu art everywhere, three bath complexes with a lake-level garden bath and a rooftop tub, and a huge Hokkaido buffet — but it's a busy, tour-heavy hotel, and 2026 reviews flag worn baths, smells in cheaper rooms and an offsite car park

• Diseño

Hirugami Onsen Yurui no Yado Keizan

昼神温泉 ユルイの宿 恵山

A 47-room hillside inn in Hirugami where dinner is grilled over charcoal at your own irori hearth in a private room, with a big rock open-air bath and baby-friendly rooms — but the water is recirculated, much of the building is ageing and 2026 reviews describe uneven, trainee-heavy service

Hirugami Onsen Nitchoan Keigetsu

昼神温泉 日長庵 桂月

A 20-room inn in the 'starry village' of Achi with huge kōyamaki-wood baths of silky pH 9.7 water and the rare Murasawa beef — but the big baths are partly recirculated, 2026 guests say the outdoor tubs are gone, and the building shows its age

• Cocina como destino

Ito Onsen Yokikan

伊東温泉 陽気館

Un ryokan de 1910 en la ladera donde un diminuto funicular propio sube a 45 grados hasta un baño al aire libre de agua que fluye sin recircular sobre Itō, con las dos comidas en la habitación — pero el edificio es antiguo y lleno de escaleras, cierra todos los martes y miércoles, y la vista solo aparece al ponerse de pie

• Ryokan históricos
• Cerca de Tokio

Kamisuwa Onsen Nunohan

上諏訪温泉 ぬのはん（布半）

The century-old inn where Suwa's first drilled hot spring was struck in 1920, known for award-winning kaiseki in private garden dining rooms and summer fireworks launched right in front — but the baths are recirculated, small outdoors and have no lake view, and low-floor 'lake view' rooms see the lake through trees

• Ryokan históricos
• Cocina como destino

Kamisuwa Onsen Shinyu

上諏訪温泉 しんゆ（親湯）

A 39-room lakeside inn with its own jade-tinted spring in Art Deco tiled, tatami-floored baths, every meal in a private dining room and a free guided bus to all four Suwa Taisha shrines — but the shared baths are indoor, recirculated and chlorinated, and only eight suites have their own bath

• Diseño
• Cerca de Tokio

Suwa Bettei Suhaku

信州上諏訪温泉 諏訪別邸 朱白

Un ryokan onsen a orillas del lago con dos manantiales distintos — uno pardo rojizo y otro transparente — en baños de azotea sobre el lago Suwa, renovado en 2025 con seis habitaciones frente al lago con baño propio; los baños compartidos son de agua recirculada y el resto de habitaciones varía mucho

• Cerca de Tokio

Lake Shikotsu Tsuruga Bessou Ao no Za

しこつ湖鶴雅別荘 碧の座

Hokkaido's all-inclusive lake retreat: 25 suites of 100㎡ or more, each with an open-air onsen bath, and drinks from champagne to craft gin included — book a high floor, because the view from the cheapest rooms takes in the road

• Habitaciones con onsen privado

Zaborin

坐忘林

Cada habitación tiene su propio onsen alimentado desde el manantial — el servicio es lo que hace dudar a los huéspedes japoneses

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Refugios apartados

Yachi Onsen

谷地温泉

Un crujiente ryokan termal de Hakkōda con 400 años de historia donde un 'manantial inferior' a 38 °C brota a través del fondo de una bañera de madera — querido por el agua, las estrellas y el personal alegre, si puedes vivir con aseos compartidos, sin aire acondicionado y sin cobertura móvil

• Ryokan históricos
• Refugios apartados

Tsuta Onsen Ryokan

蔦温泉旅館

Hot water that rises through the floorboards under a 1918 wooden inn in the beech forest — superb baths, small dinners, and thin walls in the old wing

• Ryokan históricos
• Refugios apartados

Kinsuikan

錦水館

A 1902-founded, sixth-generation inn on Miyajima's seafront with a free-drinks rooftop terrace facing the great torii and much-praised oyster-and-anago dinners — but the baths are its weak spot: a heated cold spring in the shared baths, and artificial mineral water or plain hot water in the in-room and private baths

• Cocina como destino

Iwaso

みやじまの宿 岩惣

El gran ryokan clásico de Miyajima desde 1854 — la isla cuando se van las visitas de un día, villas históricas y ostras de Hiroshima, pero una fuente de radón que se calienta y un servicio que ha menguado

• Ryokan históricos

Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan

西山温泉 慶雲館

El «hotel más antiguo del mundo» según Guinness, recién renovado: agua sin calentar ni diluir que fluye sin recircular en todos los baños y grifos, baños abiertos las 24 horas y un kaiseki de montaña sin marisco — al final de una larga carretera llena de camiones

• Ryokan históricos
• Refugios apartados

Yudanaka Onsen Aburaya Tosen

湯田中温泉 あぶらや燈千

Yudanaka's modern alternative: top-floor mountain-view baths, a rooftop bar and sushi made at your private dining table — but only some rooms have been renovated, and the older ones show their age

• Cocina como destino

Yudanaka Onsen Yorozuya

湯田中温泉 よろづや

Un sencillo ryokan de hormigón en torno a una de las grandes casas de baños de Japón — el Momoyama-buro, de aire de templo y de los años cincuenta, bien cultural registrado — con buena ternera y soba, pero habitaciones cansadas y un comedor concurrido

• Ryokan históricos

TAOYA Wakura

TAOYA和倉

El antiguo Kinpaso de Wakura, de vuelta tras el terremoto de 2024 como ryokan onsen todo incluido: bebidas y pasteles gratis en un salón con vistas a la bahía y un baño 'infinito' sobre la bahía de Nanao. Pero el bufé recibe quejas constantes, y a quien llega tarde le toca cenar a las 20:00

Wakura Onsen Nihon no Yado Notoraku

和倉温泉 日本の宿 のと楽

A big bayside onsen inn that was one of the first back in quake-hit Wakura — wide sea views from tatami rooms and large salt-spring baths, but buffet dinners, some facilities still closed and service that feels more hotel than ryokan

Kinugawa Onsen Asaya Hotel

鬼怒川温泉 あさやホテル

Kinugawa's big showpiece inn, founded in 1888: a soaring lobby atrium with glass lifts and a pipe organ, a 13th-floor open-air bath and a 100-dish buffet, with an onsen tub in every room — but the spring is heated and recirculated, the buffet gets crowded, and valley-side rooms look out on derelict hotels

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Ryokan históricos

Kinugawa Onsen Sanraku

鬼怒川温泉 山楽

A polished 49-room inn where every room is 74㎡ and looks down on the Kinugawa gorge, with kaiseki served in your room or a private dining room and standout service — but the baths are shared and recirculated, every room is a smoking room, and the 1991 building shows its age

• Cerca de Tokio

Kinugawa Onsen Isshinkan

鬼怒川温泉 一心舘

A century-old, 39-room family inn with its own spring, a nine-tub 'kurhaus' bath, a warm-spring swimming pool and dinners served in private rooms — the building is tired, the water runs lukewarm, and some river-view rooms look out at an abandoned hotel

• Cerca de Tokio

Kinugawa Onsen Hana no Yado Matsuya

鬼怒川温泉 花の宿 松や

A 1950s riverside inn with river views from almost every room, a rock open-air bath right above the Kinugawa gorge and its own path down to the riverbank — good-value kaiseki, but an ageing building, musty smells and patchy cleaning

• Cerca de Tokio

Kinugawa Onsen Hotel Manyotei

鬼怒川温泉 ホテル万葉亭

A budget, near-all-inclusive onsen hotel on the Kinugawa gorge — free afternoon beer and oden, a crab-and-hotpot half-buffet with drinks, and a free private bath — but the building is old, the spring is diluted and recirculated, and 2026 guests report lukewarm baths, mould and thin buffets

• Habitaciones con onsen privado
• Cerca de Tokio

Yumura Onsen Asanoya

湯村温泉 朝野家

A big, old-school Yumura inn loved for handmade monthly kaiseki in private dining rooms, Tajima beef and Hamasaka crab, and 98°C spring water that runs even from the washbasin taps. The catch: the large baths are only partly free-flowing, chlorinated and two floors underground, and the building shows its age

• Cocina como destino

Yumura Onsen Tomiya

湯村温泉 とみや

A seafood wholesaler's inn on the hill above Yumura, with its own free-flowing hot-spring source, a woodland open-air bath and fish-heavy dinners few people finish, at modest prices. The catch: a tired Shōwa-era building with smells, insects and almost no extras

• Cocina como destino

Kaike Onsen Kikunoya

皆生温泉 皆生菊乃家

A friendly 31-room beachfront inn with free-flowing salt-spring baths, nodoguro and live-tank seafood, and the president's own folk-song concerts in the lobby — but the shared baths are small and the building shows its age

Kaike Hakusen (formerly Yukibou Hakusen)

皆生白扇（旧：湯喜望 白扇）

A tatami-floored seafront inn on the Sea of Japan where every room except the singles faces the water and 16 have their own open-air bath — but those room baths are heated tap water, not onsen, and reviews since the 2024 change of owner are more mixed

Awara Onsen Grandia Housen

あわら温泉 グランディア芳泉

A big, polished 111-room onsen ryokan famous for its live-cooking dinner buffet and all-inclusive lounge, with a quieter kaiseki annex — but every bath, including the in-room tubs, is heated, recirculated and chlorinated

• Cocina como destino

Awara Onsen Mimatsu

あわら温泉 美松

A 69-room Awara inn with free drinks from afternoon to 22:00 and 36 rooms with their own onsen tub, which hosted the Ryūō shogi title match two years running — but the water is heated and recirculated, only one of the two big baths has an outdoor tub, and school groups and banquets share the building

• Habitaciones con onsen privado