Overview
Step into the history of Bessho Onsen at Nakamatsuya Ryokan, a traditional inn with roots stretching back around 300 years. Tatami covers the rooms, corridors, lobby, and even the elevator, allowing you to remove your shoes at the entrance and move through the building barefoot.
Bessho Onsen has welcomed bathers for around 1,400 years and is regarded as the oldest hot spring area in Nagano. Nakamatsuya places you close to the town’s temples, public baths, stone lanes, and small local shops, while its upper floors open towards the Shioda Plain, Kitamuki Kannon, and the mountains around Ueda.
With only 23 rooms, you can enjoy the personal atmosphere of a long-established ryokan. Spend your time exploring the temple town, tasting seasonal Shinshu cuisine, or soaking in the seventh-floor baths as the view changes from daylight to evening lights.
Accommodation
Choose from traditional Japanese rooms with futon bedding, Japanese rooms with twin beds, and Japanese-Western suites with private free-flowing hot spring baths. All rooms are non-smoking and include free Wi-Fi.
The standard Japanese rooms offer ten tatami mats, with selected categories adding a two-tatami enclosed veranda beside the windows. Higher-floor rooms provide views across Bessho Onsen and the Shioda Plain, while corner rooms look towards Kitamuki Kannon and the lights of the town after dark.
A larger 14-tatami room adds a 4.5-tatami enclosed veranda, giving you more space when travelling with family or friends. Some lower-priced Japanese rooms do not offer a scenic outlook, so you should choose a view category when the landscape is important to your stay.
Standard room bathrooms use regular tap water rather than natural spring water. Each room also includes a Washlet toilet, yukata, bath towels, face towels, toiletries, and tea-making items.
For private hot spring bathing, choose one of the Japanese Bed Rooms on the fifth or sixth floor. The 12-tatami rooms include twin beds and views across Bessho Onsen, while the 16-tatami rooms add more floor space, semi-double twin beds, and views towards Kitamuki Kannon. Each has an indoor bath supplied with free-flowing natural spring water and a handrail beside the tub.
The Kominka-Style Suites, Yamaboushi-an and Fukujusou, combine a ten-tatami Japanese room with an eight-tatami Western bedroom containing two semi-double beds. Traditional beams and wooden details give the suites the character of an old Japanese home. Each suite includes a private cypress bath supplied with free-flowing Bessho Onsen water.
Dining
Dinner brings together seasonal produce from Nagano in a colourful Japanese kaiseki course. The menu changes throughout the year and may include fresh highland vegetables, mushrooms, wild mountain plants, Shinshu salmon, river fish, and Shinshu wagyu.
Each dish arrives at the temperature that best suits it, allowing you to enjoy grilled, chilled, simmered, and steamed courses at their freshest. The standard dinner includes ten courses, while premium plans add selected ingredients such as A5-grade Shinshu black wagyu.
During autumn, matsutake mushrooms become one of the main highlights. Seasonal plans may include grilled matsutake, steamed matsutake in an earthenware pot, matsutake rice, and other dishes that bring out the mushroom’s aroma and firm texture.
Rice comes from a contracted farm in the Yaehara area of Tomi. The Koshihikari is grown with reduced pesticide use and dried naturally on traditional racks after harvesting, helping develop its sweetness and texture.
Breakfast follows a Japanese style with vegetables, rice, soup, grilled dishes, and small regional specialities. Dinner and breakfast are normally served in semi-private seating at Hanano, giving you more separation than a large open dining hall. Private rooms may also be arranged for families and groups.
Shinshu sake and other regional drinks are available to accompany dinner.
Onsen and Wellness
Nakamatsuya uses 100% natural water from Bessho Onsen. The spring is classified as a weakly alkaline simple sulfur spring with a pH between 8 and 9. Its soft texture has given it a long-standing reputation as a skin-beautifying bath.
The seventh-floor bathing areas include indoor pools and several open-air baths. From the top floor, you can look across the Shioda Plain towards Mount Asama and the surrounding mountains during the day. After sunset, the view changes to the lights of Ueda and the stars above the valley.
The two bathing areas switch between men and women once each evening, allowing you to experience both designs. You can use the shared baths from 15:00 until 10:00 the following morning, apart from the changeover between 19:30 and 20:00.
Handrails are fitted beside the indoor and open-air baths. Reaching the seventh-floor bathing area requires climbing five or six steps, with a handrail available.
Two reservable family baths give you a more private place to enjoy the spring water. Each session lasts 45 minutes and can be arranged after check-in. The private baths are available from 15:00 until midnight, although you need to use a steep staircase to reach them.
Selected rooms also include private indoor baths supplied with free-flowing Bessho Onsen water, allowing you to soak whenever you choose.
After bathing, visit the seventh-floor rest area for mineral water, green tea, oolong tea, or roasted-rice tea. Hot and cold drinks are available.
Guests with Tattoos
You cannot use the shared seventh-floor indoor baths, open-air baths, or other communal bathing facilities if you have tattoos.
With tattoos, use one of the two reservable private family baths or choose a room with its own free-flowing hot spring bath. The private room-bath categories include the 12- and 16-tatami Japanese Bed Rooms and the Kominka-Style Suites.
Facilities
Tatami flooring extends through the lobby, corridors, accommodation floors, and elevator. The lounge includes tables made from traditional hibachi once used inside the rooms, along with signed artwork connected with the ryokan’s history.
Beside the lounge, a small library provides picture books and books for younger readers, which you can take back to your room. The souvenir corner sells products from Ueda, original Bessho Onsen items, sweets, and local gifts.
Snack Mirai provides karaoke, alcoholic drinks, and soft drinks for group evenings. The seventh floor includes vending machines and an after-bath drinks area. Free Wi-Fi is available throughout the building.
An elevator connects the main floors, although steps remain on the route to the shared baths and a steep staircase leads to the private family baths. A smoking room is available on the second floor, with another designated smoking space outside.
Complimentary parking is available for up to 30 vehicles.
Activities
Walk around three minutes through the stone-lined streets to Kitamuki Kannon. Unlike most Japanese temples, the main hall faces north towards Zenkoji in Nagano, and local tradition connects visits to both temples.
Continue to Anrakuji Temple to see Japan’s only surviving wooden octagonal three-storey pagoda. The pagoda is designated a National Treasure and stands among tall trees on the hillside above Bessho Onsen.
Jorakuji Temple is also within walking distance and is known for its stone pagoda and connection with Kitamuki Kannon. Bessho Shrine provides another peaceful stop during a walk through the town.
You can experience more of the local bathing culture at the public bathhouses of Ishiyu, Daishiyu, and Oyu. Each has its own history and atmosphere, making an onsen-town walk an enjoyable addition to the baths inside Nakamatsuya.
For a longer outing, travel into central Ueda to explore Ueda Castle Ruins Park and sites connected with the Sanada clan. Seasonal fruit farms, countryside scenery, and the temples of the Shioda Plain also give you more ways to experience the region.
Additional Features
Check-in begins at 15:00, and check-out is by 10:00. The property is around a seven- to eight-minute walk from Bessho Onsen Station.
Pickup from Bessho Onsen Station is available on your arrival day. After check-out, a complimentary ride back to the station is also available.
All 23 rooms are non-smoking, while smoking is limited to the designated indoor and outdoor spaces. Free Wi-Fi and complimentary parking are included.
Most areas can be reached by wheelchair, but assistance may be required at the entrance, public baths, and toilets. The private family baths can only be reached by stairs.
