The Best Japanese Ryokan with Private Onsen Open-Air Baths
Last Updated on March 27, 2025 by Kay
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As a Japan resident of over fifteen years, I’m quite picky when it comes to the kind of ryokan I like to stay at and one luxury I adore is having a private onsen in my room, especially open-air baths.
Whether you’re visiting Japan or living here, I highly recommend staying at least once at a ryokan with a private onsen. These are great for families, guests with tattoos, and couples who would like to bathe together.
In this article, I’ll share my top picks for the best ryokan in Japan with private onsen. These onsen are either in the room or you can rent them by the hour. Rooms with onsen in them tend to be significantly more expensive than rooms without, which is why I’ve also included a section with rentals.
Note that all recommendations in this article are actual traditional ryokan with real onsen baths. There are lots of ryokan-like hotels and some ryokan that have private baths that don’t use onsen water. This article has none of those, so you’re guaranteed to have an authentic experience.
If you’ve never been to a ryokan before, read my tips about everything you need to know about staying at one.
For those with kids, you might be interested in my article about family-friendly ryokan in Japan.
The Best Ryokan in Japan with Private Onsen in the Room
Ubuya (Fuji Kawaguchiko, Yamanashi)
This is an unbelievably beautiful modern ryokan where you can see Lake Kawaguchiko and Mount Fuji straight from the private onsen in your room!
I stayed here with my family and was so impressed with the service, the room’s appearance, the food, and of course, the onsen. I mean, look at this view!
This ryokan is, understandably, extremely popular so if you want to stay here, you need to book it well in advance.
Hamanoyu (Izu Peninsula, Shizuoka)
Located a few hours outside of Tokyo, this is somewhere I stayed for my babymoon in Japan. It was very expensive but absolutely worth it.
The room we stayed in had both a Japanese-style room with tatami as well as a room with a bed overlooking the ocean.
I really appreciated being able to choose where I wanted to sleep (since I was pregnant, I chose the bed). There was also a hammock on the balcony!
The food is some of the best my Japanese husband has ever had in his life and years later he still remembers how good it was. (Since I was pregnant, I was quite picky about what I ate so they made a special menu for me.)
The private onsen in the room overlooks the ocean and is absolutely spectacular.
If you want to know in more detail about what our stay was like, read this article.
Sora no Ue (Izu Peninsula, Shizuoka)
This is the first ryokan we visited with our daughter. It had a private onsen overlooking the city, which was very beautiful.
The ryokan is quite small so I think it’s more suited for families rather than young couples.
You can read about my experience staying here in this article.
Ryokufukaku (Kinosaki Onsen, Hyogo)
Kinosaki Onsen is a lovely onsen town a few hours from Kyoto and Osaka. They also have several tattoo-friendly onsen!
I’ve written about my visit to Kinosaki Onsen with my family in this article.
We stayed at Ryokufukaku, which had a lovely private onsen on the balcony, as well as a private sauna!
Apart from the onsen, the food at Ryokufukaku was spectacular, especially in winter because they serve several dishes for dinner featuring Kinosaki Onsen’s local crab. It was so good, I would stay here again just to eat that meal one more time!
Ginsuiso Choraku (Arima Onsen, Hyogo)
Arima Onsen is another famous onsen town that’s very close to Kobe and a short distance from Osaka and Kyoto.
It’s my favorite place to visit when I want to relax with my family and we always stay at Ginsuiso Choraku. I love the view of the mountains from the room, the service, the public onsen, and the food.
After you go to the public onsen, you’ll be served a cool drink and a small Japanese dessert, which I like. (One annoying thing about the public onsen, though, is that one area with only open-air onsen doesn’t have any place to shower using soap and shampoo.
This ryokan has a private onsen that you can rent for a small fee, but they also have a huge room you can stay in with a beautiful private onsen featuring Arima Onsen’s famous ginsui (silver) onsen water as well as a steam bath.
Sanso Kazenomori (Minoh, Osaka)
This is an unbelievably stylish modern ryokan located in the mountains of Osaka in a town called Minoh.
They have a few rooms with private onsen baths attached to them. I recommend booking the Twin Room with Private External Bathroom to have an open-air bath that overlooks the city. It’s incredibly romantic!
Guests staying in rooms with a private bath also get to check out one hour later than other guests.
If you can’t get a room with a private bath, they do offer private rental onsen for 3300 an hour.
I love Minoh a lot and since I’m a former resident, I’ve written an entire article about exploring this gem in Kansai, so make sure to give it a read if you want a local’s insight.
Ryokan Tokinoniwa (Kusatsu, Gunma)
Located in Kusatsu, one of Japan’s most famous onsen towns, Tokinoniwa not only offers mountain views and open-air baths in your room, but it also boasts 23 different onsen baths that you can use!
I absolutely loved my stay here and would recommend it to anyone, especially couples.