Yunoya Ryokan

The hotel feels very dated. The entrance is quite dark and looks closed, though it’s actually open. Sometimes there’s nobody at reception. There’s also a sulfur onsen open to the public.

The sulfur onsen is interesting and a nice way to warm up after being out in the cold, as long as you can overlook the dated design and construction.

The place looks like a ruin from outside, but if you work up the nerve to go in through the entrance on the building’s left, you may find the day-use hot springs sign by the automatic door says they’re closed. If the lights are on, peek inside anyway. The switch is on the panel to the left of the automatic door. Go in, ring the bell to the right of reception, and ask whether the day-use baths are open. It takes a bit of courage, but the sulfur spring is top-class.

The indoor bath is bigger than I expected, with rich, cloudy emerald-green sulfur water. The sulfur smell wasn’t too strong. It was lukewarm, but that meant I could stay in for ages, and they kindly let me use the hot private bath too. There’s no open-air bath. I went to Oku-Nikko on a weekday around 11 in mid-March, hoping to bathe, but most inns seemed closed to day visitors, perhaps because it was winter. I called this place before heading home, and a nice-sounding woman answered apologetically. The faucets weren’t working and the large public bath was lukewarm, but they said I could still come if I wanted, and it was no problem for me. At first I couldn’t find the entrance because the automatic doors wouldn’t open by themselves, lol. After a bit of trial and error I got inside, and the woman I’d spoken with was very polite and helpful. It’s a hidden gem for day-trip bathing in Oku-Nikko. The building is generally in disrepair and must be hard to maintain, but I plan to return and hope they keep it up. One thing to fix: I saw several people slip on the stairs down to the rotenburo because the fake grass tiles were shifting. I wonder if the steps would be safer without them.