Kusatsu Onsen Iijimakan

The onsen water is especially good. This traditional Japanese guest house has fairly good quality for the price, and the location is good too, only 3-5 minutes from Spring plaza.

It’s traditional Japanese style, and meals can be served in your room for breakfast or dinner. It’s not expensive and worth trying.

The best part for me was being able to enjoy the Wata no Yu bath. The hot spring water is very hot, but there’s a water supply you can use to cool it down. The baths are open 24 hours a day, which suited me as a hot spring lover, and I was very satisfied with my one-night stay without meals. Yubatake is only a two-minute walk away, so we had dinner and ate and drank around that area. The inn staff were also available 24 hours a day. I’ll definitely stay here again ☺️

I paid 6,880 yen per night for two nights without meals. I’d read about this hot spring inn online and had wanted to try it for a while, so I booked at the last minute. There were quite a few rooms open, but you can’t choose your room. Payment, including the bathing tax, was due at check-in and PayPay was accepted. The check-in was simple, though they did fill in the guest register. They kindly walked me to my room, which was a relief since receptionists at cheap inns in hot spring resorts can often be unfriendly. The room had a TV, self-service futon, kotatsu table, fan, heated kettle, refrigerator, tea set, and WiFi. The futon was clean, not sticky or yellowed. The room refrigerator was powerful on its highest setting, enough to freeze the takeout I couldn’t finish, which was a bit of a pain. There was also a remote for dimming the lights. There were no tissues, toothbrush, yukata, or hair dryer. No microwave was available in the common area, so food had to be heated at the front desk. If the hot water ran out, I had to call for more, and though the baths are open 24 hours, they close for cleaning from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Baths can be reserved for an hour when they aren’t in use. The location and hot water made the price feel worthwhile, though it seemed a little pricey compared with other famous inns in the same hot spring area. At this price, it would’ve been nice if the kettle could reboil water. They also had card and board games available to rent.