Takaragawa Onsen Ousenkaku

Takaragawa Onsen was a magical experience. The entire process and experience was seamless, comfortable, considered and enjoyable. The bus shuttle services had plenty of options, were prompt, polite and efficient. It was me and my friend's first time staying at a Ryokan Onsen, and the culture and experience was explained to us well. The stay was peaceful and relaxing at all times. The food was exceptional, filling and delicious. The Rotenburo was an experience we will never forget (as Australians who had never seen snow). I felt amazing after our stay, it has been the highlight of my 3 weeks of travel through Seoul and Japan so far. Thank you to the staff at Takaragawa Onsen.

Such a gorgeous place! This onsen is in the middle of mountains (the courtesy transfer is very helpful) multiple natural hot spring pools built over a river, beautifully. We had one of the corner rooms in the old building which is very charming and traditional, down to the multiple rice paper sliding doors and has a toilet as well. It really is gorgeous, hanging over the river and also this side of the building has their fantastic kaiseki dinner in a beautiful traditional dining room with private booths. The dinner was also exceptional, multiple seasonal courses including sashimi, cherry blossom cheese, wagyu beef in udon soup and pickles. (This is just some of the list though.) The tatami mateases were very comfortable and the duvet warm. While it is an old building and did feel vintage, everything was clean and well maintained - in our room and area for sure. The indoor public bath was lovely but the real star of the show is the outdoor bathing: you can enjoy the rock pools at night too, until 12:00. Really enjoyed the provided cotton yukatas too, it’s great trying traditional outfits on.

We had a fantastic stay here. We chose a more budget friendly room in the "annex" section which had a shared bathroom. We were expecting a pretty small room, but actually our room was really spacious with an amazing view of the river and the hot springs! Guests are given these cloth outfits to wear while soaking in the hot springs - men have this wraparound skirt and women have this potato sack type dress. But actually it is pretty comfortable and dries quickly, so it was easy enough to wear at the hot springs. There are three spacious co-ed pools, and the pools never felt crowded, even during the peak time in the afternoon. When we went in the evening right after dinner we had an entire pool to ourselves for quite a while! The meals are a fantastic experience in their own right, with many traditional Japanese dishes and small hotpots or griddles to cook certain foods yourself at each meal. I recommend bringing some extra snacks for between meals. For lunch they offer a really yummy $10 bento box. The rooms are traditional style with tatami mats, sliding doors and futons, but they are really spacious and comfortable. They also provide you with traditional yukatas to wear while you are at the resort, which added to the cultural experience. The pools themselves have different temperatures, and the temps greatly depend on which part of the pool you are in. So there is something for everyone, whether you like it hot or lukewarm. We also enjoyed a short hike (maybe 1-1.5 hours round trip) behind the hotel. The trail starts from a back door in the annex of the hotel, and goes up a hill to a lookout point with pretty views. The trail isn't very well maintained and it's hard to trail find at points, but the main tip is when you get to the old abandoned hot springs building, follow the trail behind the building (not over the sketchy looking bridge thing).

so amazing! osens was great! safe was amazing! definitely recommend to get a more traditional japan hotel! Erica was so helpful with so many thing’s appreciate her so much as well as rest of the staff. definitely take shuttle bus it will save you $$. food was great! definitely recommend. they give you a beautiful kimono like rob that everyone wears around the hotel. so amazing

First off, the outdoor hot spring pools were absolutely stunning, and it was a bonus that I could sit in the outdoor pool with my husband because they are mixed gender. As well, tattoos are permitted. we were also able to use the different temperature pools, depending on our mood. The Kaiseki dinner meals were varied and delicious with interesting new options daily for us to try. It was an incredible Japanese culinary experience. The staff was extremely friendly and helpful whenever we had questions.