Awanoyu

Did a day-trip for the hot springs. If you also want to just do a day-trip, then you need to rent a car or have a very generous friend. The shuttle bus only comes twice, and at very inconvenient times for the hot spring opening hours. I tried that experiment so that you don't have to. The springs themselves are lovely. They very clearly contain sulfur, which made me realize how odd it is that I don't smell any at the hot springs where I live (also volcanic). The milky-white 湯の華 is beautiful. My goodness is it hard to day-trip here, though. My personal suggestion is to stay a night here and then hit up the nearby slopes. That's the best use of time this deep in the mountains.

Very beautiful Onsen Ryokan at Japanese Alps. Absolutely the highlight of our trip! I was staying there with my mom for one night 8-9.4.2025. The service was sublime! The room we were in was beautiful and spacious. As for the Onsen itself, the water felt really good and sulphuric, you could smell it the moment you stepped out of the buss. Water was beautiful blue color and felt really nice on skin. Kaiseki dinner course was huge and we couldn't even finish it all. Breakfast was also delicious and we were offered rice porridge heated with local hot spring water. The only downside we can think of is that the hotel may be a little bit older but that was also exactly what we were looking for. A more traditional Ryokan experience. We can heartily recommend Awanoyu for others and my mom even said she almost started crying from happiness there. Thank you for everything Awanoyu and greetings from Finland!

Located on the mountain a little bit faraway from a village. Awanoyu is one of the ultimate classic of authentic Japanese onsen. It is approximately four hours drive from Tokyo. Coming to this place in winter is very rewarding experience. For me, I chose February since I will drive to Nozawa ski resort after staying here so I have a chance to dip myself in to Awanoyu’s outdoor onsen in one of the coldest month of the year. The hotel is a classic 4 floors structure, from B1 to 3rd floor which is the guest room floor. The checkin counter and lobbby locates on 2nd floor, while the restaurant is at 1st and onsen is at basement 1. There are few staffs here but they are really passionate about what they are doing. The service mind is of course Japanese standard. The room I stayed is 24 sq m which is fairly big. The amenities are of 5 stars hotel. The food….OMG, both dinner and breakfast which are both inclusive to the room rate are out of this world. One of the highlights is definitely an onsen. The onsen house here is very traditional, built from actual wood and all the procedure is bringing you back to the past century. The indoor one is separated by gender where you need to enter via men and women changing room. The outdoor, is a mixed gender public bath. For me, the good thing is this place is very local, not touristy at all. So if you want an authentic onsen, then this is the one.

Very good onsen experience in Awanoyu, worth value. It’s a hotel with quite a history but it is so well maintained with attention to details (what I love the best). Second, the outdoor onsen is absolutely stunning surrounded by the snow land. The breakfast and dinner were provide with abundance of quality food, it’s very much appreciated that they add local ingredients and house-made into the Kaiseki set. We felt sorry we couldn’t finish. We especially thank Hiroyuki San and Akane San for their kind and professional service. Lastly, the location was very exclusive inside the mountain, so taking the public bus frm Shinshima st. is highly recommended. The mt. road is narrow, and plus if left side driving is unusual to you, it might be a challenge to access this hotel.

We rented a car for a trip to the onsen. Those were really comfortable and traditional. If you want an escape from daily stress and calm your soul, thats the right place to go.

It takes some work to get to this mountain ryokan, but the effort is rewarded with an authentic experience including fabulous milky-water spring-fed baths. We were in a spacious 6th floor two-room suite with a generous entry area (#301). It was very well-maintained, clean and comfortable. We were surprised to find a large tv in the sitting room. The traditional Japanese style bedding was easy to sleep on. The provided yukatas and wraps that went over them for warmth were also quite stylish. They are worn throughout the property—no need for street clothes once you check in. Dinner and breakfast served in a private dining room by the kindest staff. Meals were good and made us happy enough (don’t expect Michelin star sort of dining though). The real star is the baths. Fantastic and among the best we’ve experienced having visited about a dozen over the years. They are so authentic and lacking in any pretension but aesthetically wonderful. Inside the men have a very hot bath and a warm bath. There is also a small male warm outdoor bath attached to the interior ones. Then there is the mixed sex large outside bath with temperatures that vary depending upon where you sit. Through a clever way to enter the milky water, both sexes can be discreet by being submerged in the opaque water before the other sex can see you—so don’t worry about being naked with the opposite sex. Overall I would highly recommend a night here for a relaxing and romantic getaway (note: we also saw plenty of families with older teen children and some groups of friends). Just brace yourself for the drive up because it is an adventure :)

We went there during winter snowfall, the scene was beautiful. If you’ve never driven on snow before, please be careful. Room: 3/5, group of 4, tatami was okay as were young and okay with sleeping on the floor, but maybe for some elders it might be uncomfortable Onsen: 1/5, I love onsen as it helps with relaxing muscles and enhance body metabolism due to the elements and heat, but for this onsen, especially on the outdoor one, it has not hot at all. There’s a slightly hot one indoor but very small, it only fits 4 people. Food + service: 2/5, food was okay but the portion is not enough for a grown man. This onsen hotel is not foreigners friendly as the staff does not speak English and does not present/explain what the food was which we had no clue what we were eating. Overall I would not visit again. If you’re only coming for a day trip and want to ONLY enjoy onsen but nothing else, I still wouldn’t pick this hotel.

Lovely experience and onsen. I went with family and it was our first time visiting an onsen, and the employees were extremely accommodating to us. The scenery around the hotel is mountainous and peaceful. It was a little fancy for our tastes, especially the multi-course dinner that we weren't used to, but the onsen bath was an amazing experience. The outside onsen water was about body temperature, and the inside tubs were warmer. I went in the onsen a few times, at night and during the day, and both times it was beautiful and relaxing to observe the landscape while soaking in the milky water. |There was a great ambiance in the hotel, it was very soothing and the futons were comfortable. The breakfast was delicious and they had self-serve coffee after breakfast. We stayed two nights which felt like a little much, and I think one night would have been better.