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Ikaho: 5 onsen inns under ¥40,000 for two, with both meals
Approximate, at the rate on 2026-10-02. You pay in yen.
- If you can’t decide, Maruhonkan — cheap Ikaho onsen, right on the stone steps
- For free private baths, Okabe; for meals in your room, Chigira Jinsentei
- Pinon is the Western-style option; Kishigon is the big ryokan
The five
| Best for | Where to book | Score | Weeknight (per person) | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eight rooms facing the stone steps, with meals in your room — if you can’t decide | Maruhonkan Check price |
84/100 | ¥12,000 | ¥14,000–17,000 |
| A four-room inn built around food, with two free private baths | Akari no Yado Okabe Check price |
74/100 | ¥18,000 | ¥23,000 |
| A 20-room Western-style inn with a French-style kaiseki dinner | Matsumotoro Yofu Ryokan Pinon Check price |
72/100 | ¥15,000–28,000 | ¥21,000–28,000 |
| Seventy rooms by the stone steps, all baths on Kogane no Yu | Kishigon Ryokan Check price |
66/100 | ¥15,000–39,000 | ¥28,000–51,000 |
| A minute from the steps, with meals in your room or a private room | Chigira Jinsentei Check price |
65/100 | ¥18,000–20,000 | ¥23,000–32,000 |
Prices are the cheapest per person found on Rakuten Travel for Wednesdays and Saturdays between 2026-11-14 – 2027-01-06, for 2 adults in one room (checked 2026-11-05). They move daily — the link shows live prices.
The booking links go to Agoda, which shows today’s price and lets you pay in your own currency. Its price can differ from the Rakuten Travel figures above.
Eight rooms facing the stone steps, with meals in your room
Reviews: Rakuten Travel 4.67/5 (480)
- Rakuten scores: bath 4.74, service 4.79, location 4.72
- A few staff speak a little English (Rakuten listing)
- Last check-in 17:00 (Rakuten listing)
Why it made the five
- Eight rooms, with the stone steps right outside.
- Natural hot spring, the brown cloudy water Ikaho is known for, running undiluted.
- Meals in your room or a banquet room.
Getting there: Bus from JR Shibukawa station to Ikaho Onsen, then five minutes on foot. About 20 minutes from Shibukawa-Ikaho IC by car.
Language and payment: A few staff speak a little English (Rakuten). Credit cards are not accepted. Tattoo rules are not published, so ask when you book.
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Right for: Two people who want to walk the steps and care about the water and the food.
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Not for: Rooms have no bath or toilet of their own, and there is no lift. Not for anyone expecting hotel comforts.
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Worth knowing: Shared toilets. The bath is on the first floor, rooms on the third or fourth, and there is no lift. No credit cards.
Score breakdown — 84/100
| Criterion | Stars | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | ★★★☆☆ | Room, bath and dinner average 4.65 on Rakuten Travel |
| Value for money | ★★★★★ | ¥12,000 per person on a weeknight (Rakuten, dinner and breakfast) — 66% of the median of everything we compared |
| Easy to stay | ★★★★★ | Meals in your room or a banquet room, the stone steps outside, five minutes on foot from the bus stop, and free parking for up to five cars a few minutes away. |
| Trust | ★★★★☆ | 4.67 across 480 reviews (Rakuten Travel 480) |
| Only here | ★★★★☆ | Eight rooms facing the stone steps, with Ikaho’s brown cloudy water. |
A four-room inn built around food, with two free private baths
Reviews: Rakuten Travel 4.69/5 (188) · Agoda 7.5/10 (9) · 197 in total
- Rakuten scores room, bath and dinner 4.65 each
- Breakfast scores 4.71
- An irori hearth inside (Rakuten listing)
Why it made the five
- Only four rooms.
- Two private baths, free of charge.
- Meals at the hearth or in the dining room.
Getting there: About 50 minutes by Joetsu Shinkansen from Tokyo to Takasaki, about 20 by JR Joetsu line to Shibukawa, then about 30 by bus.
Language and payment: English and tattoo rules are not published, so ask when you book. Major cards are accepted.
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Right for: Adults after a quiet stay and a private bath at no extra cost.
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Not for: No preschool children, and four rooms are hard to get.
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Worth knowing: Preschool children cannot be booked. With four rooms, book early.
Score breakdown — 74/100
| Criterion | Stars | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | ★★★★☆ | Room, bath and dinner average 4.65 on Rakuten Travel |
| Value for money | ★★★☆☆ | ¥18,000 per person on a weeknight (Rakuten, dinner and breakfast) — 100% of the median of everything we compared |
| Easy to stay | ★★★★☆ | Two free private baths, a no-smoking building and five free parking spaces. |
| Trust | ★★★★☆ | 4.69 across 188 reviews (Rakuten Travel 188) |
| Only here | ★★★★★ | A four-room inn built around its food, with two private baths at no charge. |
A 20-room Western-style inn with a French-style kaiseki dinner
Reviews: Rakuten Travel 4.54/5 (1,700) · Agoda 8.4/10 (20) · 1,720 in total
- Facilities include those of the main building (Rakuten listing)
- Rakuten dinner score 4.64
- No smoking indoors (Rakuten listing)
Why it made the five
- Twenty-room Western-style inn.
- French-style kaiseki, each course served freshly made.
- Two minutes on foot from the main Hotel Matsumotoro.
Getting there: About 20 minutes by bus from JR Shibukawa station, getting off at Miharashi-shita. About 10 km from Shibukawa-Ikaho IC.
Language and payment: English and tattoo rules are not published, so ask when you book. Major cards are accepted.
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Right for: Anyone who prefers a Western-style stay. The inn also welcomes women travelling alone.
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Not for: You get off at Miharashi-shita, and it does not feel like a traditional ryokan.
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Worth knowing: Call if you will arrive after 18:00. After 20:00, dinner may not be possible.
Score breakdown — 72/100
| Criterion | Stars | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | ★★★☆☆ | Room, bath and dinner average 4.51 on Rakuten Travel |
| Value for money | ★★★★☆ | ¥15,000–28,000 per person on a weeknight (Rakuten, dinner and breakfast) — 88% of the median of everything we compared |
| Easy to stay | ★★★★★ | A family bath, a welcome drink, late check-out available, and 30 free parking spaces. |
| Trust | ★★★☆☆ | 4.54 across 1,700 reviews (Rakuten Travel 1,700) |
| Only here | ★★★★☆ | A Western-style inn in Ikaho with a French-style kaiseki dinner served one course at a time. |
Seventy rooms by the stone steps, all baths on Kogane no Yu
Reviews: Rakuten Travel 4.44/5 (1,730) · Agoda 8.7/10 (727) · 2,457 in total
- 1,730 Rakuten reviews averaging 4.44
- Dinner starts at 18:00 or 18:30 (Rakuten listing)
- Bathing tax is cash only (Rakuten listing)
Why it made the five
- Seventy rooms, next to the stone steps.
- Open-air, communal and private baths all use Kogane no Yu.
- Creative kaiseki with local produce.
Getting there: About 30 minutes by bus or 15 by taxi from JR Shibukawa station. About 20 minutes from Shibukawa-Ikaho IC by car.
Language and payment: A few staff speak a little English (Rakuten). Major cards are accepted, but bathing tax is cash only. Tattoo rules are not published, so ask when you book.
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Right for: Two people who want a big ryokan and several baths to try.
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Not for: Its room, bath and dinner average of 4.44 is the lowest of the five, and Saturdays go over ¥40,000.
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Worth knowing: Use the inn’s own car park. The road to the inn is narrow, steep and winding.
Score breakdown — 66/100
| Criterion | Stars | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | ★★☆☆☆ | Room, bath and dinner average 4.44 on Rakuten Travel |
| Value for money | ★★★★☆ | ¥15,000–39,000 per person on a weeknight (Rakuten, dinner and breakfast) — 84% of the median of everything we compared |
| Easy to stay | ★★★★★ | A shuttle from the inn’s own car park, next to the stone steps, 150 free parking spaces, a welcome drink and green tea, and a mist sauna. |
| Trust | ★★★☆☆ | 4.44 across 1,730 reviews (Rakuten Travel 1,730) |
| Only here | ★★★☆☆ | Open-air, communal and private baths all on Kogane no Yu, next to the stone steps. |
A minute from the steps, with meals in your room or a private room
Reviews: Rakuten Travel 4.58/5 (622) · Agoda 8.8/10 (94) · 716 in total
- Rakuten bath score 4.70
- 34 rooms with communal, open-air and family baths (Rakuten listing)
- 100 free parking spaces, no booking (Rakuten listing)
Why it made the five
- One minute on foot from the stone steps.
- Kogane no Yu running undiluted.
- Both meals in your room or a private room.
Getting there: One minute on foot from the stone steps. About 25 minutes from Shibukawa-Ikaho IC by car, or about two hours by express bus from Shinjuku station’s New South Exit.
Language and payment: A few staff speak a little English (Rakuten). Major cards are accepted. Tattoo rules are not published, so ask when you book.
- Right for: Two people who want to eat in private, and anyone coming by express bus.
- Not for: One of the dearer of the five, and only weekdays stay under ¥40,000.
Score breakdown — 65/100
| Criterion | Stars | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | ★★★☆☆ | Room, bath and dinner average 4.61 on Rakuten Travel |
| Value for money | ★★★☆☆ | ¥18,000–20,000 per person on a weeknight (Rakuten, dinner and breakfast) — 100% of the median of everything we compared |
| Easy to stay | ★★★★★ | Both meals in your room or a private room, one minute on foot from the stone steps, and an express bus from Shinjuku in about two hours. |
| Trust | ★★★☆☆ | 4.58 across 622 reviews (Rakuten Travel 622) |
| Only here | ★★★★☆ | Undiluted Kogane no Yu with both meals in your room or a private room, by the stone steps. |
Know before you book
- From JR Shibukawa station, the bus to Ikaho Onsen takes about 25 to 30 minutes. Express buses from Shinjuku take about two hours.
- By shinkansen from Tokyo, change at Takasaki for the Joetsu line to Shibukawa, then take the bus.
- The stone steps are the centre of town. Three of these five inns are on or next to them.
- Roads around the steps are narrow and steep, and some inns ask you to use a separate car park and take their shuttle.
- Bathing tax of ¥150 per adult is extra, and some inns also collect ¥50 for the Kogane no Yu spring fund.
- The rates here are the cheapest weekday ones. Only one of these five stayed under ¥40,000 for two on a Saturday.
How we chose: theme, conditions, scoring
How we chose
- Candidates: every property in Ikaho listed on Rakuten Travel — 48
- Passed the review filter (counts and averages on Rakuten Travel, the one site that lists every property in the area): 30
- Met every condition below: 20
- Kept: five, each the best at something different
Where the facts come from
- Facts: Rakuten Travel property information (in some articles, each hotel’s own site too)
- Prices: Rakuten Travel live availability, Wednesdays and Saturdays over eight weeks
- Reviews: the count and average on Rakuten Travel, as given in each hotel’s Trust row. Agoda’s reviews are shown under each hotel name for reference only and do not count towards the score
Conditions (all of them, not most of them)
- A Rakuten Travel plan with dinner and breakfast where two people in one room come to ¥40,000 or less, tax included but bathing tax extra — the cheapest weekday rate in our search as of November 2026. Saturdays and holidays cost more
- A hot spring on site, communal or private
- A floor of 30 or more reviews averaging 4.2 on Rakuten Travel
- No inn scoring below 4.0 on Rakuten Travel for room, bath or dinner
Scoring
Five criteria, one to five stars each, weighted to one hundred points. Every star says where the number came from.
- Quality25 pts
- The average of the room, bath and dinner scores on Rakuten Travel.
- Value for money35 pts
- The cheapest two-meal plan per person against the median of the inns we compared.
- Easy to stay10 pts
- Meals in a room or private space, a pick-up, the walk to the sights, and baths you can have to yourselves.
- Trust25 pts
- The review count and average on Rakuten Travel.
- Only here5 pts
- What this inn has that the others do not, at this price.
What we dropped
| Property | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Yokotekan | Runner-up (61/100) | It scored 61: at 106% of the median it is the dearest of the eight, and its 4.45 room, bath and dinner average holds it back. No Saturday rooms came up either. |
| Ishizaka Ryokan | Runner-up (61/100) | It scored 61: the price is right, but its room, bath and dinner average of 4.29 is the lowest of the eight. |
| Ichikawa Bekkan Seikanso | Runner-up (58/100) | It scored 58: its room, bath and dinner average of 4.47 and 4.48 review score put it behind the five, at the median price. |
| Kounkan | Outside the theme | 4.83 across 336 reviews, but well over ¥40,000 for two with both meals. |
| Hotel Kogure | Outside the theme | 4.74 across 2,056 reviews, but even its cheapest weekday two-meal rate is over ¥40,000 for two. |
| Hana Hotel & Spa Ikaho Inter | Below the floor | 4.32 across 2,219 reviews, but a dinner score of 3.90 falls under our 4.0 floor. |
| Ikaho Akenoya | Outside the theme | 4.69 across 132 reviews, but no two-meal rate came up in our search, so we could not confirm the budget. |
Questions visitors ask
Which one would you book?
Maruhonkan: it has the top score of the five at 84, the stone steps right outside, and a bath score of 4.74, and it is the cheapest of the five at ¥23,100 for two on a weekday. The catch is shared toilets and no lift. If you want more comfort, Akari no Yado Okabe scored 74.
Which inns are on the stone steps?
Maruhonkan faces them, Kishigon Ryokan is next to them, and Chigira Jinsentei is a minute on foot. For Pinon and Okabe, the listings give no walking time to the steps.
Can I get a private bath without paying extra?
Yes. Akari no Yado Okabe has two, both free. Chigira Jinsentei, Pinon and Kishigon also have private or family baths, but ask about any charge when you book.
Which serve meals in the room?
Maruhonkan serves meals in your room or a banquet room, and Chigira Jinsentei in your room or a private room. Which one you get may depend on the plan, so check when you book.
Can I stay under ¥40,000 on a Saturday?
Of the five, only Maruhonkan did in our search, at ¥14,000–17,000 per person. Okabe was ¥23,000 per person, Pinon ¥21,000–28,000, Chigira Jinsentei ¥23,000–32,000 and Kishigon ¥28,000–51,000.
I have a tattoo. Which of these work?
None of the five publishes a rule, so ask first. A private bath is the practical answer, and Akari no Yado Okabe has two.
Changes
- 2026-11-05 First published. Scored from 48 candidates.