Oyado Kiyomizuya

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

Kiyomizuya (it's read 'kiyomizuya', not 'shimizuya') began as a kappo restaurant and has been cooking for more than half a century, by its own account; today it's a quiet inn of around 30 rooms on the edge of Noboribetsu Onsen, with no day bathers and no buffet. Most recent evidence comes from booking-site reviews rather than blogs: it rates 4.35 across 579 reviews on Rakuten Travel (dinner 4.64, breakfast 4.57) and 4.4 across 76 on Jalan (dinner 4.7, service 4.6). The draw is the food and the way it's served — every plan puts dinner and breakfast in your room, the signature 'couple's set' gives two people 13 courses with three that differ so you can share, and a 2023 blogger called the dashi good enough to be a stock specialist's, singling out the dobin-mushi broth and the rice cooked with the meal. The baths are small but the water is 100% free-flowing, milky-white Noboribetsu sulphur spring, and 2026 reviewers keep saying they had them nearly to themselves. Drinks are cheap for an onsen inn (draft beer ¥660 in August 2026), and repeat guests mention being remembered. The catch is the building. 2025–2026 reviews describe peeling wallpaper and black mould (October 2026), dirty window frames, insects getting in, a fan instead of air conditioning in some rooms and weak heating in winter, cramped and hot changing rooms, and pipes hidden under the cloudy water to bump into. A May 2026 group found the meals dismal, and a September 2026 guest dining in a side room could hear staff arguing in the serving pantry. Expect about ¥38,000–66,000 for two with two meals.