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Kusatsu Onsen: 5 ryokan you can walk to the Yubatake from
Approximate, at the rate on 2026-10-02. You pay in yen.
- Five Kusatsu Onsen ryokan within walking distance of the Yubatake
- Nakamuraya has only private baths; Masunariya has one private bath per room
- Naraya has an English website; Ichii bars tattoos from its baths
The five
| Best for | Where to book | Score | Weeknight (per person) | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best water: a spring rising inside the building — if you can’t decide | Kusatsukan Check price |
87/100 | — | ¥24,000 |
| Best for bathing privately, five different ways | Nakamuraya Ryokan Check price |
82/100 | — | — |
| Best for a room overlooking the sluice | Hotel Ichii Check price |
77/100 | ¥21,000–62,000 | ¥67,000–68,000 |
| Best for the oldest spring, and the clearest answers | Naraya Check price |
75/100 | ¥41,000–49,000 | ¥86,000 |
| Best for never waiting for a bath | Masunariya Ryokan Check price |
73/100 | ¥27,000–29,000 | ¥29,000–30,000 |
Prices are the cheapest per person found on Rakuten Travel for Wednesdays and Saturdays between 2026-11-07 – 2026-12-30, for 2 adults in one room (checked 2026-10-31). 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.
Best water: a spring rising inside the building
Reviews: Rakuten Travel 4.79/5 (874) · Google Maps 4.60/5 (190) · Tripadvisor 4.40/5 (17) · 1,081 in total
- Rated 4.79, with especially high marks for service and dinner
- Close enough to walk over for the night-time lights or the steam at dawn
Why it made the five
- Behind the Shirahata bath house at the Yubatake — the sluice is to your left as you step out
- Two sources, its own Wakano-yu and Shirahata, both free-flowing by gravity, available 24 hours
- Nine rooms; dinner in the ground-floor dining room, rated 4.88
- Netsu-no-yu, where the yumomi show takes place, is beside the Yubatake
Getting there: Behind the Shirahata bath house at the Yubatake; the sluice is immediately to the left of the entrance.
Language and payment: A small inn, so expect limited English. There are no private baths here — bathing is communal, Japanese-style: wash first, then soak.
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Right for: You care about the water itself, and you want to be at the Yubatake in a minute.
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Not for: There is no open-air bath and no private bath — the communal bath is all there is.
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Worth knowing: Nine rooms, so availability is thin. Parking for nine cars. We could not confirm any pick-up service.
Score breakdown — 87/100
| Criterion | Stars | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | ★★★★☆ | Room, bath and food average 4.75 on Rakuten Travel |
| Value for money | ★★★☆☆ | Around the median of everything we compared |
| Easy to stay | ★★★★★ | Beside the Yubatake, two free-flowing sources available 24 hours |
| Trust | ★★★★★ | 4.75 across 1,081 reviews on three sites |
| Only here | ★★★★★ | Facing the Yubatake, and with a spring of its own rising inside the building |
Best for bathing privately, five different ways
Reviews: Rakuten Travel 4.77/5 (586) · Jalan 4.40/5 (483) · Google Maps 4.50/5 (278) · Tripadvisor 4.30/5 (22) · 1,369 in total
- No communal bath at all
- Baths of cypress, Shigaraki pottery and stone
Why it made the five
- Thirty seconds to the Yubatake, two minutes from the bus terminal
- Five private tatami-floored baths on the Yubatake source, usable 24 hours and as often as you like
- Dinner of river fish and kamameshi rice cooked over a charcoal hearth
- Ten rooms; a resident cat
Getting there: Two minutes on foot from Kusatsu Onsen bus terminal; thirty seconds to the Yubatake.
Language and payment: The simplest inn here for anyone who would rather not use a communal bath — every bath is taken privately, so neither tattoos nor modesty is an issue. Expect limited English.
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Right for: You want the hot spring without the shared changing room, right by the Yubatake.
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Not for: Only ten rooms, and the room score of 4.49 is modest.
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Worth knowing: No car park of its own — use the Yubatake visitor car park beside the bus terminal. The rooms have no air conditioning.
Score breakdown — 82/100
| Criterion | Stars | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | ★★★★☆ | Room, bath and food average 4.70 on Rakuten Travel |
| Value for money | ★★★★☆ | 80% of the median of everything we compared |
| Easy to stay | ★★★★★ | Private dining, thirty seconds from the Yubatake, two minutes from the bus, five private baths round the clock |
| Trust | ★★★☆☆ | 4.58 across 1,369 reviews on four sites |
| Only here | ★★★★☆ | Five tatami-floored private baths on the Yubatake source, all of which you can try in a single stay |
Best for a room overlooking the sluice
Reviews: Rakuten Travel 4.64/5 (3,272) · Jalan 4.70/5 (4,418) · Ikyu 4.60/5 (418) · Google Maps 4.20/5 (2,192) · Tripadvisor 3.90/5 (354) · Booking.com 4.49/5 (642) · Agoda 8.9/10 (1,532) · 12,828 in total
- Shirahata water in the indoor bath is milky; Bandaiko outside is sharply acidic
- More than 3,000 Rakuten reviews, averaging in the mid-4s
- Main-building rooms look out over the steam and the night-time lighting
Why it made the five
- Directly in front of the Yubatake, with 23 rooms in the main building overlooking it
- Indoor bath on the Shirahata source, open-air bath on the Bandaiko source, both 100% free-flowing
- Dinner as a buffet or a kaiseki
- Pick-up from the bus terminal if you call on arrival
Getting there: About five minutes on foot from Kusatsu Onsen bus terminal; a car will collect you if you call when you arrive.
Language and payment: Rakuten lists a few staff with some English. Note clearly: the hotel states that guests with tattoos may not use the communal or open-air baths.
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Right for: You want to look at the Yubatake from your room and compare two springs.
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Not for: Reception is in the main building and the baths are in the annexe — three to four minutes of indoor walking.
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Worth knowing: Only the 23 main-building rooms see the Yubatake, and standard rates do not let you specify a view. Guests with tattoos cannot use the baths. Parking is ¥500 a night.
Score breakdown — 77/100
| Criterion | Stars | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | ★★★☆☆ | Room, bath and food average 4.61 on Rakuten Travel |
| Value for money | ★★★★☆ | 86% of the median of everything we compared |
| Easy to stay | ★★★★★ | Pick-up from the bus terminal, in front of the Yubatake, two free-flowing springs, some English |
| Trust | ★★★☆☆ | 4.54 across 11,296 reviews on six sites |
| Only here | ★★★★☆ | Rooms looking down on the Yubatake, and the Shirahata and Bandaiko springs to compare |
Best for the oldest spring, and the clearest answers
Reviews: Rakuten Travel 4.67/5 (927) · Jalan 4.80/5 (1,687) · Ikyu 4.62/5 (185) · Google Maps 4.30/5 (812) · Tripadvisor 4.10/5 (209) · Agoda 9.2/10 (270) · 4,090 in total
- The Shirahata source is said to be the oldest in Kusatsu
- By legend it was found by Minamoto no Yoritomo
Why it made the five
- A minute from the Yubatake, five from the bus terminal
- The Shirahata source, free-flowing 24 hours, neither diluted nor reheated
- Three private open-air baths, chargeable, 45 minutes each, booked at check-in
- An English version of the official website; tattoos allowed in the private baths
- Check-in 15:00, checkout 11:00
Getting there: Five minutes on foot from Kusatsu Onsen bus terminal; telephone on arrival and they will collect you, generally between 08:30 and 18:00.
Language and payment: The clearest of the five: the website runs in English, Rakuten lists a few staff with some English, and the inn states plainly that tattooed guests may not use the communal bath but may use the private open-air baths.
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Right for: You want the best of both the water and the location, with the practical questions answered in advance.
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Not for: The most expensive here, starting around ¥100,000 for two.
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Worth knowing: A wooden building with a lot of stairs. The private baths are not reserved in advance — you sign up at check-in.
Score breakdown — 75/100
| Criterion | Stars | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | ★★★★☆ | Room, bath and food average 4.74 on Rakuten Travel |
| Value for money | ★☆☆☆☆ | 169% of the median of everything we compared |
| Easy to stay | ★★★★★ | Checkout 11:00, pick-up from the bus terminal, private dining, a minute from the Yubatake, three private open-air baths, English website |
| Trust | ★★★★☆ | 4.62 across 3,820 reviews on five sites |
| Only here | ★★★★★ | Kusatsu’s oldest spring, Shirahata, undiluted, at an old inn a minute from the sluice |
Best for never waiting for a bath
Reviews: Rakuten Travel 4.68/5 (294)
- A small three-storey wooden inn down a lane
- Rated 4.68, with bath and service both in the 4.7s
Why it made the five
- A minute on foot from the Yubatake
- Six private baths for six rooms — four on the Yubatake source, two on Shirahata
- A communal bath on the Shirahata source as well
- Dinner served in a private room; pressed-flower artwork throughout the building
Getting there: A minute on foot from the Yubatake.
Language and payment: Rakuten lists a few staff with some English. Curfew is 23:00. With a private bath for every room, communal bathing is optional here.
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Right for: You want private baths available whenever you feel like one, a minute from the sluice.
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Not for: The dinner score of 4.49 is the most modest of the five.
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Worth knowing: Curfew 23:00. We could not confirm any pick-up service.
Score breakdown — 73/100
| Criterion | Stars | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | ★★★☆☆ | Room, bath and food average 4.62 on Rakuten Travel |
| Value for money | ★★☆☆☆ | 114% of the median of everything we compared |
| Easy to stay | ★★★★★ | Private dining, a minute from the Yubatake, six private baths for six rooms, some English |
| Trust | ★★★★☆ | 4.68 across 294 Rakuten reviews |
| Only here | ★★★★☆ | One private bath per room, drawing both the Yubatake and the Shirahata springs |
Know before you book
- The restaurants and shops ring the Yubatake, and Netsu-no-yu, where the yumomi show is performed, stands beside it.
- Walk down Nishinokawara-dori and you reach Nishinokawara Park and its enormous open-air bath, within walking distance of the sluice.
- Each inn draws a different spring — Yubatake, Shirahata, Bandaiko or Nishinokawara — and the colour and the feel of the water change with it.
- The way into town is Kusatsu Onsen bus terminal. Some inns will come and collect you if you telephone on arrival.
- In winter there is snow and ice, buses run late, and you should leave slack around your check-in time.
- Some inns bar tattoos from the communal bath but allow them in a private one. If it matters to you, confirm before you book.
How we chose: theme, conditions, scoring
How we chose
- Candidates: every property in Kusatsu Onsen listed on Rakuten Travel — 159
- Passed the review filter (counts and averages on Rakuten Travel, the one site that lists every property in the area): 72
- Met every condition below: 42
- 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: counts and averages from Rakuten Travel, Jalan, Ikyu, Google Maps, Tripadvisor and Booking.com, added up 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)
- Within ten minutes’ walk of the Yubatake, as stated by the inn or its booking page
- The communal or private bath is free-flowing spring water, as stated by the inn or Rakuten Travel
- A rate for two including dinner and breakfast is bookable on Rakuten Travel
- Reviews hold up: at least 30 reviews averaging 4.2 or better on Rakuten Travel, the one site that lists every property in the area. Shortlisted inns were then checked against Jalan, Ikyu, Google Maps, TripAdvisor and Booking.com as well — the Trust row for each place shows the breakdown.
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 food scores guests leave on Rakuten Travel. 4.80 and above is five stars, 4.65 four, 4.50 three.
- Value for money20 pts
- The price against the median of everything we compared. 80% or less is five stars, 95% four, 110% three, 130% two.
- Easy to stay30 pts
- Starts at one star. A point each for checkout at 11am or later, a pick-up from the bus terminal, private baths, a private dining room, and anything else that makes this particular trip easier.
- Trust20 pts
- Review counts and averages added up across booking sites, weighted by how many reviews each site has. 4.75 and 100+ reviews is five stars, 4.60 and 50+ four, 4.40 and 30+ three.
- Only here5 pts
- What you can only get here. Our judgement, with the reason stated.
What we dropped
| Property | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Boun, Kusatsu Onsen | Runner-up (73/100) | The score is high enough, but its character overlaps with the five |
| Hotel Sakurai, Kusatsu Onsen | Runner-up (73/100) | The score is high enough, but its character overlaps with the five |
| Osakaya Ryokan, Kusatsu Onsen | Runner-up (72/100) | 72 points, below the lowest of the five (73) |
| Kusatsu Onsen Yubatake Sensui | Outside the theme | A minute from the Yubatake with a private open-air bath in every room and rated 4.67, but it is a room-only inn and serves no dinner. |
| Gokurakukan | Outside the theme | Rated 4.95 across 132 reviews, with its own spring and the Nishinokawara source in private baths, but we could find no rate including dinner — it serves a morning set only. |
| Yumotokan | Needs checking | In front of the Yubatake with free-flowing Yubatake water and a free private bath, rated 4.63. No dinner-inclusive room came up on a single date in our search window. |
| Gunryukan | Runner-up | A minute from the Yubatake on the Shirahata source, five rooms, rated 4.57. On the same spring we preferred Naraya, which has more reviews and a higher average. |
Questions visitors ask
I have tattoos. Where can I bathe?
Kusatsu is unusually clear about this. Naraya states that tattooed guests may not use the communal bath but may use its private open-air baths. Hotel Ichii states that they may not use its communal or open-air baths at all. Nakamuraya has no communal bath — all five of its baths are private — and Masunariya has a private bath for every room. Those two are the straightforward choices.
What is the Yubatake, and what is the yumomi show?
The Yubatake is the wooden sluice in the centre of town where spring water at well over 50°C is run through channels to cool in the air before it reaches the baths. Yumomi is the old way of cooling it indoors, by stirring with long wooden boards and singing to keep time; it is performed at Netsu-no-yu, beside the sluice.
The springs are different at each inn. Does it matter?
It changes the colour and the feel. Shirahata is the oldest and milky; Bandaiko is strongly acidic and sharper on the skin; the Yubatake source is what the sluice carries. Hotel Ichii lets you compare Shirahata and Bandaiko in one stay, Masunariya the Yubatake and Shirahata, and Kusatsukan its own Wakano-yu alongside Shirahata.
How do I get to Kusatsu, and will they meet me?
Everything arrives at Kusatsu Onsen bus terminal. Naraya and Hotel Ichii will collect you if you telephone on arrival — Naraya generally between 08:30 and 18:00. Nakamuraya is two minutes’ walk from the terminal, so you will not need a car at all.
Is winter a problem?
It snows and the roads ice up, and buses run late as a result. Leave slack around your check-in time, and remember that several of these inns serve dinner at a fixed sitting.
When were these prices checked?
Prices come from Rakuten Travel availability searched over an eight-week window of Wednesdays and Saturdays, taking the cheapest room with dinner and breakfast. They move daily — the link on each inn shows what it costs today.
Changes
- 2026-10-31 First published. Scored from 159 candidates.