Shuzenji Onsen Katsuragawa

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

Katsuragawa opened in October 2020 as the first inn in Kyoritsu Resort's budget 'Yumeguri no Yado' line, in an older building that guests say has been thoroughly renovated inside. It has 116 rooms, most of them 10- or 14-tatami Japanese rooms with low twin beds, and the whole house is shoes-off: you leave your shoes at the entrance and walk the tatami corridors barefoot or in socks. The draw is the seven private baths — rock, hinoki, a red ceramic pot, an octagonal tub and more — free and with no booking: if the light is on, you walk in and lock the door for about 30 minutes. There are also two top-floor shared baths with rock or hinoki outdoor tubs. Dinner and breakfast are buffets with a live kitchen, and the extras are free: welcome drinks, ice lollies, soft drinks with meals, colourful yukata and Kyoritsu's late-night soy-sauce ramen. Most recent evidence comes from booking-site reviews: Japanese guests rate it 4.34 across 1,980 reviews on one major site (baths 4.46, service 4.43, dinner 4.19) and 4.3 across 195 on another. Guests in 2026 praised the private baths, the fried horse mackerel at breakfast, friendly staff and things for children to do. The complaints: the spring water is diluted, heated and recirculated, and some smell the chlorine; private baths had waits on busy nights; dinner sittings are set times; and some 2026 guests found food cold or ordinary, single rooms musty and in-room fans noisy. Recent guests paid about ¥15,000–24,000 per person with two meals.