Kobushi no Yu Atsuma

The baths were the main draw for locals, and it felt like the accommodation and restaurant came along with that. This is more like a neighborhood sento or onsen than the kind of ryokan some foreign visitors might expect. We came knowing that, and were happy to use Google Search and Google Translate, along with a little Japanese, to learn the bathing rules, understand the food, and communicate. If you’re interested in local culture and willing to make that effort, this place is a good fit. We found it very clean and had an authentic Japanese experience. The rooms don’t have showers or baths, just a private toilet. Guests use the public bathhouse. Yukata, shower caps, toothbrushes, and other items were provided in our room. You leave your shoes in lockers by the entrance and keep the key. They even wipe the suitcase wheels before you go in. The heated floors made it comfortable to walk around barefoot, and the beds were comfortable too. The women’s bath had plenty of shower stalls, two indoor baths, an outdoor bath, a sauna, and a cold plunge pool. We visited in winter and loved watching the snow from the outdoor bath. Just be sure to shower and scrub thoroughly before getting into the bath, tie up your hair, rinse the shower area afterward, and dry off with the small towel before heading back to the changing room. It’s a shared space, so leave it as you found it. Looking up the rules or using Google Translate for questions can help avoid misunderstandings. We ate at the restaurant and enjoyed the food. It was delicious and reasonably priced. Our room faced the hillside, and it was peaceful and cozy with no traffic noise. We didn’t have noisy neighbors, though the rooms aren’t soundproof, so other guests could be a source of noise, as in any hotel. Atsuma is about a 30-40 minute drive from Chitose airport. It’s a little out of the way, but quiet and local. We’d absolutely stay again. About the other review: the guest’s complaint about raw eggs at breakfast seemed unfair to us. Raw eggs are part of a Japanese breakfast, and this is a local place rather than a Western-style hotel. The reviewer may have had a different experience with noise, but blaming the hotel for not meeting Western expectations, or for serving a local breakfast, misses the kind of place this is.

I went for a charity dinner, so I didn’t stay at the hotel or get to try the onsen. Friends who used it told me it was pretty cool. They dye the onsen water every week, and when I was there it was bright green. The hotel has a nice little room you can rent for different kinds of events, plus a fairly decent-sized kitchen available at affordable rates. There’s also a restaurant on site, which is handy if you don’t want to head out. Getting there was a bit tricky. The turnoff is hard to spot even though there’s a sign.

I only went for the onsen, and really enjoyed it. The baths were all spacious and comfortable, with an outdoor pool, a bubble bath, a cold pool, a radon pool, and a sauna.

The outdoor pool was a nice touch, alongside two indoor pools. One of the indoor ones has strong bubbles, and the other has jets that massage your back. A very cool onsen.