What to pack for a ryokan stay in Japan (and what the inn already gives you)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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