Around White World Oze Iwakura × Accommodation With Relaxing Welcome LoungeHot springHighly rated for dining at Hotel·Ryokan

If you love Onsen, this place is truly heaven—there are 18 private baths. This was my third stay, and I still haven’t managed to try them all. The detached cottage “Aoi” has its own open-air bath, which is absolutely wonderful. I always end up completely satisfied just using the bath in the Room. The spring quality is a simple Onsen (slightly alkaline, hypotonic, high-temperature) with a pH of 8.3. It feels gentle on the skin and is easy to enjoy in a different way from more distinctive springs like sulfur Onsen. It’s comfortable for longer soaks, and being able to enjoy it many times during your stay is part of the appeal. Many of the open-air baths have a rustic, DIY-like feel. Numerous private baths are scattered across the vast grounds, and I can only imagine how much work it must be to maintain and manage so many. Because this Accommodation is surrounded by nature, things like insects and fallen leaves are somewhat unavoidable. In July there were quite a few insects, and when I visited last September I also had trouble with biting gnats. Even so, this Accommodation has more than enough charm to make up for it. The source spring has an abundant flow rate, and the source temperature is very high at 76.1°C. To bring it down to a comfortable temperature, adding water may sometimes be necessary. As an Onsen lover, I’d ideally like to enjoy pure free-flowing water without dilution—but with such a high-temperature source spring, I understand that temperature control can be challenging. Many of the staff are from overseas, but everyone speaks Japanese well and I’ve never felt inconvenienced. They are always polite and attentive. And despite being such a secluded hot-spring retreat, it’s great that the meals are genuinely delicious as well. This time we ordered sukiyaki as an extra dish; it was excellent and very satisfying. In winter this area apparently gets extremely heavy snowfall. Next time I’d love to visit in winter and enjoy an outdoor bath while admiring snowy scenery.

The Onsen temperature and water quality were excellent, and we were very satisfied. There were many types of shampoo available, so we could try different ones—an amazing idea and a first-time experience for us! However, it was disappointing that only one towel was provided and reusing it was expected (additional towels cost extra). We’d like there to be no limit for overnight guests. The guest Room is old, but it’s a satisfying size. As for the air conditioning, there was no heating/cooling switch in each Room—only fan strength adjustment. After the Onsen it felt hot, so we opened the windows fully to cool down with outside air. The meals were delicious and the portions were just right—we finished everything (both of us are women in our 50s). Rice doesn’t come unless you ask for it, but there weren’t many staff members so it was hard to find the right timing. Amenities are available at the front desk, so you take what you need; I think that’s good because it avoids waste. There are yukata and samue as loungewear; we chose samue and that was the right choice. We usually bring our own loungewear when traveling, so we appreciated having less luggage. Overall, it was excellent! Also, we were happy with the welcome drink service (alcohol)—whisky or wine is fine—but we’d appreciate it even more if beer were available.