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Yugawara Onsen ryokan with a private bath: 5 picked from 66
Approximate, at the rate on 2026-10-02. You pay in yen.
- Yugawara onsen ryokan with a private bath: five inns from 6 to 20 rooms
- Itoya: free private baths, registered cultural property. Shiroyama: two minutes from the station
- Fuga is adults only; Choubo Sanso serves French dinner on a hill
The five
| Best for | Where to book | Score | Weeknight (per person) | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A registered cultural property with free private baths — if you can’t decide | Yugawara Onsen Itoya Check price |
87/100 | ¥26,000 | ¥29,000–36,000 |
| Own hot spring in the town centre, with a top-floor foot bath | Yugawara Onsen Gensen Uenoya Check price |
77/100 | — | ¥23,000–36,000 |
| Hilltop villa near the station, French dinner and night view | Yugawara Onsen Hotel Chobo Sanso Check price |
76/100 | ¥13,000–15,000 | ¥16,000–19,000 |
| Adults-only small inn with a garden-view teppan dining room | Yugawara Fuga Check price |
72/100 | ¥17,000–22,000 | ¥24,000–40,000 |
| Two minutes’ walk from Yugawara station, with a family bath | Forest Resort Yugawara Onsen Hotel Shiroyama Check price |
66/100 | ¥21,000–23,000 | ¥26,000–33,000 |
Prices are the cheapest per person found on Rakuten Travel for Wednesdays and Saturdays between 2026-10-31 – 2026-12-23, for 2 adults in one room (checked 2026-10-24). 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.
A registered cultural property with free private baths
Reviews: Rakuten Travel 4.82/5 (614) · Agoda 9.4/10 (15) · 629 in total
- A 13-room inn associated with the novelist Shimazaki Toson
- Manyo Park entrance two minutes away, the town art museum five
Why it made the five
- Gate pillars, stone walls and part of the main building are registered cultural properties.
- Free private open-air and semi-open-air baths, no booking needed.
- Meals in a private room or the dining room; service rated 4.82, dinner 4.79.
- 4.82 across 614 reviews — the highest average of the seven that qualified.
Getting there: About 13 minutes by bus from Yugawara station (JR Tokaido line), on the bus towards Onsenba and Oku-Yugawara, to the Koen-iriguchi stop. About 25 minutes by car from Ishibashi IC on the Odawara-Atsugi road.
Language and payment: English support and tattoo rules are not published, so ask when you book. Rakuten lists Visa, Mastercard and JCB, but bills of ¥10,000 or less paid at the inn must be settled in cash. The private baths are free and used by your own party alone. Free Wi-Fi throughout.
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Right for: Staying in a historic building and walking the onsen town from the door.
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Not for: Arriving late — last check-in is 18:00 and the doors close at 22:00.
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Worth knowing: Last check-in is 18:00, and the inn is locked at 22:00 for security. Dinner starts at 18:00 or 18:30. Bills of ¥10,000 or less paid at the inn are cash only.
Score breakdown — 87/100
| Criterion | Stars | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | ★★★★☆ | Room, bath and dinner average 4.75 on Rakuten Travel |
| Value for money | ★★★☆☆ | ¥26,000 per person on a weeknight (Rakuten, dinner and breakfast) — 108% of the median of everything we compared |
| Easy to stay | ★★★★★ | Meals away from other guests; free private open-air and semi-open-air baths, no booking needed; gate pillars, stone walls and part of the main building are registered cultural properties; two minutes to the Manyo Park entrance and five to the art museum; breakfast and dinner in a private room or the dining room; free Wi-Fi; service rated 4.82, bath 4.73, dinner 4.79. |
| Trust | ★★★★★ | 4.82 across 614 reviews (Rakuten Travel 614) |
| Only here | ★★★★★ | An inn associated with the novelist Shimazaki Toson, with gate pillars, stone walls and part of the main building registered as cultural properties — and its 4.82 average is the highest of the seven that qualified. |
Own hot spring in the town centre, with a top-floor foot bath
Reviews: Rakuten Travel 4.62/5 (412) · Agoda 9.9/10 (3) · 415 in total
- A 16-room inn in the middle of the onsen town
- The listing says Tokugawa Mitsukuni, lord of Mito, once stopped at the spring
- The private baths are named after the Fujiki and Chitose rivers
Why it made the five
- Its own source-fed hot spring, flowing straight into the baths; bath rated 4.68.
- Two free private open-air baths — booked at the front desk on arrival when busy.
- A footbath of hinoki cypress on the top floor.
- Right by the Onsenba-chuo bus stop; meals in your room or the dining room.
Getting there: By bus from stand 2 at Yugawara station (JR Tokaido line) to Onsenba-chuo; the inn is right by the stop. About 60 minutes by car from Atsugi IC via the Odawara-Atsugi road and Route 135.
Language and payment: English support and tattoo rules are not published, so ask when you book. Rakuten says cards are not accepted, so bring cash. The private open-air baths are free and used by your own party alone.
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Right for: Arriving by bus in the middle of the onsen town, for source-fed water and free private baths.
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Not for: Paying by card, or struggling with stairs.
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Worth knowing: No credit cards. There are many stairs — tell the inn ahead if anyone in your party is elderly or unsteady on their feet. Last check-in is 19:00; phone if you will arrive after 18:00. Check-out is 10:00.
Score breakdown — 77/100
| Criterion | Stars | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | ★★★☆☆ | Room, bath and dinner average 4.58 on Rakuten Travel |
| Value for money | ★★★☆☆ | No weeknight room was free in our search window (Rakuten, dinner and breakfast) — 96% of the median of everything we compared |
| Easy to stay | ★★★★★ | Meals in your room (breakfast and dinner in your room or the dining room); meals away from other guests; right by the Onsenba-chuo bus stop; its own source-fed hot spring, flowing straight through; two free private open-air baths, booked at the front desk on arrival when busy; a footbath built entirely of hinoki cypress on the top floor; bath rated 4.68. |
| Trust | ★★★★☆ | 4.62 across 412 reviews (Rakuten Travel 412) |
| Only here | ★★★★☆ | A source-fed inn said to have been visited by Tokugawa Mitsukuni, with two free private open-air baths and a hinoki-cypress footbath on the top floor. |
Hilltop villa near the station, French dinner and night view
Yugawara Onsen Hotel Chobo Sanso
Reviews: Rakuten Travel 4.49/5 (408) · Agoda 8.6/10 (31) · 439 in total
- A six-room Western-style house on the hill above town
- Last check-in 23:00, so you can come straight from work
Why it made the five
- From about ¥13,000 per person with two meals — the cheapest of the five, weekday or Saturday.
- Two private hot-spring baths; six rooms, all non-smoking.
- French dinner with a night view, rated 4.72.
- Dinner if you check in by 20:45; last check-in 23:00.
Getting there: About five minutes by car or 20 on foot from Yugawara station (JR Tokaido line); usually the minimum taxi fare. The inn drives you into Yugawara town the morning after your stay, but does not collect you on arrival.
Language and payment: English support and tattoo rules are not published, so ask when you book. Rakuten says cards are not accepted, so bring cash. The two private baths are used by your own party alone.
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Right for: Leaving after work and still getting dinner and a soak.
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Not for: Wanting a classic ryokan with a Japanese dinner, or paying by card.
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Worth knowing: No credit cards. There is no lift, so expect stairs. Check-out is 10:00.
Score breakdown — 76/100
| Criterion | Stars | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | ★★☆☆☆ | Room, bath and dinner average 4.48 on Rakuten Travel |
| Value for money | ★★★★★ | ¥13,000–15,000 per person on a weeknight (Rakuten, dinner and breakfast) — 55% of the median of everything we compared |
| Easy to stay | ★★★★★ | A drop-off into Yugawara town the morning after your stay, but no pick-up (Rakuten’s listing); five minutes by car or 20 on foot from Yugawara station; two private hot-spring baths; French dinner with a night view — served if you check in by 20:45; last check-in 23:00; six rooms, all non-smoking; dinner rated 4.72. |
| Trust | ★★★☆☆ | 4.49 across 408 reviews (Rakuten Travel 408) |
| Only here | ★★★★☆ | A Western-style house on a hill close to the station, serving French dinner with a night view — and with dinner included you can still arrive as late as 20:45. |
Adults-only small inn with a garden-view teppan dining room
Reviews: Rakuten Travel 4.35/5 (788) · Agoda 8.6/10 (84) · 872 in total
- Television left out of every room on purpose
- Dinner at a teppan grill
Why it made the five
- Adults only (junior-high age and over); 20 rooms, none with a television.
- A teppan dining room looking onto the garden.
- A private open-air bath, booked ahead for a fee, 45 minutes per party.
- Free pick-up from Yugawara station by reservation; several staff understand a little English.
Getting there: Free pick-up from Yugawara station (JR Tokaido line) by reservation, about ten minutes by car. By bus, eight minutes to the Risokyo stop and five minutes on foot. About 50 minutes by car from Atsugi IC on the Tomei Expressway.
Language and payment: Per Rakuten, several staff understand a little English — with Hotel Shiroyama, the only English note among the five. Rakuten lists Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express, Diners Club, Discover, Rakuten and several Japanese cards. The private open-air bath is used by your own party alone; tattoo rules for the communal bath are not published, so ask when you book.
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Right for: Two of you wanting a quiet stay with no children about.
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Not for: Travelling with children of primary-school age or younger, or wanting a free private bath.
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Worth knowing: No children of primary-school age or younger. Getting around the building needs stairs, and there are no wheelchairs to borrow or wheelchair-accessible toilets. If you will be late, phone — three hours past your stated time with no word counts as a cancellation.
Score breakdown — 72/100
| Criterion | Stars | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | ★★☆☆☆ | Room, bath and dinner average 4.39 on Rakuten Travel |
| Value for money | ★★★★★ | ¥17,000–22,000 per person on a weeknight (Rakuten, dinner and breakfast) — 70% of the median of everything we compared |
| Easy to stay | ★★★★★ | Free pick-up from Yugawara station by reservation (Rakuten’s access notes); adults only (junior-high age and over); 20 rooms, with a teppan dining room looking onto the garden; private open-air bath booked ahead, 45 minutes per party, for a fee; several staff understand a little English; no television in any room, by design; last check-in 22:00. |
| Trust | ★★☆☆☆ | 4.35 across 788 reviews (Rakuten Travel 788) |
| Only here | ★★★★☆ | A 20-room inn only for guests of junior-high age and over, which leaves televisions out of the rooms to keep the stay quiet. |
Two minutes’ walk from Yugawara station, with a family bath
Forest Resort Yugawara Onsen Hotel Shiroyama
Reviews: Rakuten Travel 4.31/5 (841) · Agoda 8.2/10 (32) · 873 in total
- The only one of the eight inns we compared that is a short walk from the train
- Sixteen rooms, with a radon bath
Why it made the five
- Two minutes on foot from Yugawara station.
- Natural hot spring and a radon bath, with a family bath; bath rated 4.50.
- Dinner in your room or a banquet room.
- Several staff understand a little English; Wi-Fi throughout.
Getting there: Two minutes on foot from Yugawara station (JR Tokaido line), heading towards the sea.
Language and payment: Per Rakuten, several staff understand a little English. Rakuten lists Visa, Mastercard, JCB, American Express, Diners Club and several Japanese cards. Tattoo rules are not published, so ask before using the communal baths; the family bath is used by your own party alone. Wheelchairs can be borrowed and there is a wheelchair-accessible toilet.
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Right for: Coming by train and walking straight from the station to the bath.
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Not for: Wanting the feel of the valley onsen town — this is down by the station.
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Worth knowing: Phone if you will arrive after 17:00 — if you pass your stated time and cannot be reached, the booking may be cancelled. Last check-in is 19:00, check-out 10:00.
Score breakdown — 66/100
| Criterion | Stars | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Quality | ★★☆☆☆ | Room, bath and dinner average 4.45 on Rakuten Travel |
| Value for money | ★★★★☆ | ¥21,000–23,000 per person on a weeknight (Rakuten, dinner and breakfast) — 88% of the median of everything we compared |
| Easy to stay | ★★★★★ | Dinner in your room or a banquet room; meals away from other guests; two minutes on foot from Yugawara station, towards the sea; a family bath among its bath types; natural hot spring and a radon bath; several staff understand a little English; Wi-Fi throughout; bath rated 4.50. |
| Trust | ★★☆☆☆ | 4.31 across 841 reviews (Rakuten Travel 841) |
| Only here | ★★☆☆☆ | The only inn here that is two minutes’ walk from Yugawara station. |
Know before you book
- Yugawara station is on the JR Tokaido line, one stop before Atami. Tokaido line trains run straight through from Tokyo; from the Shinkansen, change at Odawara or Atami.
- The station sits down near the sea, and the onsen town proper lies up the valley inland. Buses from the station climb to Onsenba and on to Oku-Yugawara at the top — about 13 minutes to the Koen-iriguchi stop, about 20 to the Oku-Yugawara terminus. Of the five, only Hotel Shiroyama is a short walk from the station.
- Manyo Park, along the river in the middle of the onsen town, is the walk most visitors take. One of these inns is two minutes from its entrance.
- A private bath — called kashikiri or a family bath — is one your own party uses alone. It is the easy way to try onsen bathing if you would rather not share a communal nude bath with strangers. At Itoya and Uenoya they are free; at Yugawara Fuga you book one ahead and pay.
- Ryokan dinners are served at set times, and several of these inns close check-in early — Itoya at 18:00, Uenoya and Hotel Shiroyama at 19:00. Hotel Chobo Sanso, at 23:00, is the one for a late train.
- Prices here are per person with dinner and breakfast, for two sharing. Most of these inns charge a ¥150 bathing tax per adult on top, and several also list a ¥300 accommodation tax per person per night from April 2026. Two of the eight inns we compared had no weeknight rooms free in our search, so book early.
How we chose: theme, conditions, scoring
How we chose
- Candidates: every property in Yugawara Onsen listed on Rakuten Travel — 66
- Passed the review filter (counts and averages on Rakuten Travel, the one site that lists every property in the area): 42
- Met every condition below: 7
- 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)
- In Rakuten Travel’s Yugawara and Manazuru district of Kanagawa, with a hot spring
- At least 50 reviews on Rakuten Travel, averaging 4.0 or better
- The cheapest rate falls between ¥10,000 and ¥40,000 per person per night
- A bath you need not share: an open-air bath in the room, or a private or family bath you can use with your own party
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 scores Rakuten Travel publishes for the room, the bath and the food.
- Value for money20 pts
- The cheapest rate with dinner and breakfast against the median of the inns we compared.
- Easy to stay30 pts
- A pick-up from the station or minutes on foot, private baths, where meals are served, and check-in and check-out times.
- Trust20 pts
- Review counts and averages published by Rakuten Travel.
- Only here5 pts
- What this inn has that the other seven do not.
What we dropped
| Property | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Hanachoen | Runner-up (63/100) | 63/100, three points behind Hotel Shiroyama. With no weeknight room free in our search it got three stars for value to Shiroyama’s four, and its 4.26 across 142 reviews — the fewest of the eight — earned two stars for trust. |
| Yugawara Onsen Manyo no Sato Hakuunso | Runner-up (59/100) | 59/100. At about ¥31,000–53,000 per person on a weeknight — 128% of the median, the highest weeknight rate of the eight — it got two stars for value, and 4.23 across 427 reviews earned two for trust. |
| Yugawara Onsen Kamata | Runner-up (59/100) | 59/100. Its 4.09 average across 336 reviews is the lowest of the eight, worth one star for trust, and of the room, bath and dinner scores Rakuten publishes only dinner, at 4.40 — two stars for quality. |
| Fujiya Ryokan Yugawara | Outside the theme | 4.81 across 248 reviews, but its listing shows only a large communal bath — no private, family or in-room open-air bath — so it did not meet our bath condition. |
| Yugawara Onsen Kaiseki Ryoan Ashikari | Outside the theme | 4.79 across 633 reviews, but its cheapest rate is over our ¥40,000 ceiling. |
| Oku-Yugawara Yui | Outside the theme | A perfect 5.0 across 75 reviews, but its cheapest rate is far over our ¥40,000 ceiling. |
| Yugawara Onsen Gensen-yado Yukkuri | Outside the theme | 4.72 across 727 reviews and its own untouched spring, but its cheapest rate is under our ¥10,000 floor, and its listing does not show a private bath. |
Questions visitors ask
Which one would you book?
Yugawara Onsen Itoya, the top score of the five at 87/100. Its 4.82 across 614 reviews is the highest average of the inns that qualified, its private baths are free with no booking, and parts of the building are registered cultural properties. Weeknights run about ¥26,000 per person with two meals; Saturdays about ¥29,000–36,000. Uenoya, in the middle of the onsen town on its own spring, comes second at 77.
Which is the cheapest?
Hotel Chobo Sanso — about ¥13,000–15,000 per person with two meals on a weeknight and ¥16,000–19,000 on a Saturday, the lowest of the five on both. Yugawara Fuga comes next on a weeknight, from about ¥17,000. Uenoya had no weeknight room free in our search window; on a Saturday it ran about ¥23,000–36,000. Itoya, at about ¥26,000 on a weeknight, is the dearest of the five.
How do I get there from Tokyo?
Yugawara station is on the JR Tokaido line, one stop before Atami, and trains run straight through from Tokyo; from the Shinkansen, change at Odawara or Atami. Hotel Shiroyama is two minutes’ walk from the station. Yugawara Fuga collects you by reservation, and Chobo Sanso is a short taxi ride. For Itoya and Uenoya, take the bus up the valley towards Onsenba and get off at Koen-iriguchi or Onsenba-chuo.
I don’t want to bathe with strangers. Will that work at all five?
Yes — that was a condition. Itoya’s private open-air and semi-open-air baths are free and need no booking; Uenoya’s two private open-air baths are free, booked at the front desk on busy days. Chobo Sanso has two private baths, Yugawara Fuga a private open-air bath you book ahead and pay for, and Hotel Shiroyama a family bath. None of the five publishes a tattoo policy for its shared baths, so ask when you book if you want to use those too.
What should I know about arrival times and paying?
Arrive earlier than you would at a city hotel. Itoya’s last check-in is 18:00 and it locks its doors at 22:00; Uenoya’s and Hotel Shiroyama’s last check-in is 19:00, and both want a call if you are running late. Yugawara Fuga takes you until 22:00, and Chobo Sanso until 23:00, with dinner if you are in by 20:45. Uenoya and Chobo Sanso do not take cards, and Itoya wants cash for small bills, so carry yen.
When were these prices checked?
We searched Rakuten Travel availability for Wednesdays and Saturdays between 31 October and 23 December 2026, taking the cheapest plan with dinner and breakfast for two adults and showing it per person (checked 24 October 2026). Bathing and accommodation taxes are paid separately. Prices move daily — the link on each inn shows today’s.
Changes
- 2026-10-29 First published. Scored from 66 candidates.