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 bersejarah

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

• Kamar dengan onsen pribadi

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

• Kamar dengan onsen pribadi
• Berfokus pada desain

Kozantei Ubuya

湖山亭うぶや

Ryokan tepi danau besar bertema perayaan tempat setiap kamar menghadap Gunung Fuji di seberang Danau Kawaguchi — tetapi pemandian terbuka di kamar bukan onsen, makan malam kini berupa prasmanan atau shabu-shabu, dan Fuji sering bersembunyi di musim panas

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

• Mudah dari Tokyo

TAOYA Wakura

TAOYA和倉

Bekas Kinpaso di Wakura, kembali setelah gempa 2024 sebagai penginapan onsen all-inclusive: minuman dan kue gratis di lounge berpemandangan teluk serta pemandian 'infinity' di Teluk Nanao. Namun prasmanannya terus dikeluhkan, dan tamu yang datang terlambat digeser ke makan malam pukul 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

• Kamar dengan onsen pribadi
• Berfokus pada desain

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

• Kamar dengan onsen pribadi
• Kuliner sebagai tujuan

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

• Tempat menyepi

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

• Kamar dengan onsen pribadi
• Mudah dari Tokyo

Hida Takayama Onsen Hoshokaku

飛騨高山温泉 宝生閣

Penginapan lima lantai di puncak bukit di atas kota tua Takayama, disukai karena pelayanan hangat bergaya klasik dan makan malam sapi Hida yang melimpah — tetapi hanya pemandian batu terbuka bersama yang memakai air onsen (dipanaskan, disirkulasi ulang), dan pemandian terbuka di kamar bukan onsen

Jozankei Yuraku Soan

定山渓 ゆらく草庵

Ryokan baru dengan 102 kamar yang dibangun seperti pondok upacara teh, tatami dari pintu masuk hingga lift, bak onsen dari kayu hiba di setiap kamar, dan empat pemandian pribadi gratis — tetapi ukurannya besar, ramai dengan rombongan tur, dan ulasan 2026 mengeluhkan makan malam yang lambat dan staf yang kurang

• Kamar dengan onsen pribadi
• Berfokus pada desain

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

• Kamar dengan onsen pribadi
• Ryokan bersejarah

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

• Kamar dengan onsen pribadi

Sanso Kannawaen

山荘 神和苑

Ryokan lereng bukit dengan 50 kamar di atas 'neraka' Kannawa yang beruap, tempat setiap kamar memiliki pemandian air mengalir langsung dari dua sumur pribadi, dan airnya bisa berubah biru laut — tetapi ini kompleks besar yang dibangun ulang, warna biru tidak dijamin, dan makan malam 2026 tidak konsisten

• Kamar dengan onsen pribadi

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 bersejarah
• Kamar dengan onsen pribadi

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 bersejarah

Gora Kansuiro

強羅環翠楼

Vila era Taishō milik keluarga Mitsubishi tempat Kaisar Shōwa pernah menginap, dengan dua mata air pribadi, taman seluas 5.000 tsubo, dan sembilan dari 14 kamar memiliki pemandian air onsen sendiri — tetapi bangunannya memang tua, dan kamar-kamar yang lebih murah memperlihatkannya

• Kamar dengan onsen pribadi
• Ryokan bersejarah

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 bersejarah
• Berfokus pada desain

Kozantei Ubuya

湖山亭うぶや

Ryokan tepi danau besar bertema perayaan tempat setiap kamar menghadap Gunung Fuji di seberang Danau Kawaguchi — tetapi pemandian terbuka di kamar bukan onsen, makan malam kini berupa prasmanan atau shabu-shabu, dan Fuji sering bersembunyi di musim panas

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

• Kamar dengan onsen pribadi
• Ryokan bersejarah

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 bersejarah

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 bersejarah

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

• Tempat menyepi

Magoroku Onsen Rokuan

孫六温泉 六庵

Tempat persembunyian swalayan lama di Nyūtō, lahir kembali pada 2025 sebagai penginapan enam kamar dengan sauna tong, pemandian campuran berjubah, dan kaiseki di meja konter — indah, terpencil, dan mahal, dengan ulasan awal yang masih beragam

• Tempat menyepi

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

• Kamar dengan onsen pribadi
• Ryokan bersejarah

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

• Berfokus pada desain
• Mudah dari Tokyo

Atami Onsen Sakuraya Ryokan

熱海温泉 さくらや旅館

Ryokan keluarga sejak 1949, lima menit dari Stasiun Atami, tempat kedua kali makan diantar ke kamar dan setiap pemandian kamar berisi air onsen murni — tetapi pemandian bersama kecil dan disirkulasi ulang, nyaris tanpa pemandangan laut, dan bangunannya mulai menua

• Kamar dengan onsen pribadi
• Mudah dari Tokyo

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

• Kamar dengan onsen pribadi
• Berfokus pada desain

Lamp no Yado Aoni Onsen

ランプの宿 青荷温泉

Tempat peristirahatan onsen sejak 1929 yang diterangi sekitar 160 lampu minyak, tanpa lampu listrik, TV, atau sinyal ponsel, dengan empat pemandian kayu hiba dan batu beraliran langsung serta hidangan Tsugaru yang dijelaskan dalam dialek setempat — detoks digital sejati, jika Anda bisa menerima kegelapan, dinding tipis, dan air yang tidak terlalu panas

• Tempat menyepi

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

• Berfokus pada desain
• Mudah dari Tokyo

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 bersejarah

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