Cave Onsen in Japan — Hotel Urashima Review

Last Updated on July 30, 2024 by Kay

Have you ever wanted to stay at a hotel that’s built into a cave and has onsen inside of caves? Then Hotel Urashima might be what you’re looking for.

Hotel Urashima is located in Katsuura in Wakayama Prefecture. It’s about 30 minutes by bus from Nachi Falls and 20 minutes by car, so it’s a great place to stay if you’re planning on visiting Kumano Kodo.

Parking is a little far from the hotel and you have to take a hotel bus to get there. Midway through the ride, you can choose to take a cute boat to the hotel if you like but we decided to just continue riding the bus.

The hotel itself is dated and probably hasn’t been renovated in many, many years but my family and I still enjoyed our stay there, and I would gladly go there again.

In this article, I’ll share my experience staying at Hotel Urashima and its cave onsen.

If you’re interested in hearing about my trip to Kumano Kodo and the surrounding area, read this article.

Staying at Hotel Urashima

We stayed in the Nisshokan building where all the rooms are Japanese-style with tatami and overlook the ocean. The windows in our room were a little dirty but I imagine it would be hard to clean them considering the hotel is on a cliff.

All three of us, including my daughter (age four) were given yukata and once we were changed, we decided to explore the hotel.

The hotel is massive with four buildings and the longest indoor escalators in the country! There are lots of little shops as well as an arcade in the hotel, and even a LAWSON so there is plenty to keep you occupied during your stay. There’s also an area outside where you can go fishing and a shrine but we didn’t have time to check it out. Maybe during our next stay!

Of course, we had to try out the cave onsen. There are two in two different buildings and both are built into caves that overlook the ocean.

One onsen is larger, more impressive, and busier (Boukidou) than the other (Genbudou) but if you’re lucky, you might be able to enjoy both of them with no one else there like we did! Unfortunately, you’re not supposed to take photos in onsen so I can’t share what it looked like. You can only take my word that you’ll be glad you visited if you go!

My daughter had a great time in the onsen and thankfully she wasn’t scared by the fact they were in caves. Unlike the cave onsen in Kinosaki Onsen, the water wasn’t too hot so my daughter could enjoy it.

I’ve written an article all about visiting onsen with kids so make sure to read it before you go so you know what to expect!

When we visited the onsen in the morning, some leaves had blown into the bath overlooking the ocean, so that’s something to keep in mind.

There are other onsen baths at Urashima Hotel but none were as impressive as the cave baths.

Food at Hotel Urashima

Apart from its cave onsen, Urashima Hotel is known for its seafood, specifically the maguro sashimi at its buffet dinner. This maguro was absolutely delicious, especially since it’s straight from Kushimoto where lots of tuna is caught so it is very fresh.

There was plenty for smaller kids to eat as well, such as fried chicken, fries, vegetables, rice, noodles, and pasta. I enjoyed the steak and it was nice to order drinks, too.

The dining hall also overlooks the Pacific Ocean, which was beautiful to look at when we had dinner and breakfast. Make sure to go early so you can get seats next to the window!

Overall Impressions of Hotel Urashima

We stayed here before our trip to Kumano Kodo but I would recommend either staying here for one or two nights when you finish the hike (or visit to the falls and nearby shrine and temple) because it’s nice to relax in the onsen after a day of sightseeing.

One annoying thing was that many of the onsen are located near the Honkan (Main Building) so it’s a bit of a walk from where we stayed in the Nisshokan building. But the smaller cave onsen was in the Nisshokan so that made it okay. If I stayed again (which is likely), I would try the Main Building or Nisshokan Building.

One building, Sanjokan, has a private onsen bath in one of the rooms, so that’s somewhere to consider staying if you have tattoos. (If you have tattoos that you cannot cover with bandages, you may not use the public baths.)

Overall, we enjoyed our stay at Hotel Urashima and it was really fun for our daughter. If you have kids, I highly recommend staying here. And even if you don’t, it’s a great location with lots of things to keep you entertained. It’s excellent for the price as well, especially when considering that breakfast and dinner are included.

Hotel Urashima Booking

If you’re interested in staying at this unique hotel, you can book it here.