巛-sen-湯河原 stands on a green hillside in Yugawara’s Miyakami area, close to the forests, waterfalls, and historic streets of this long-established hot spring town. The name 巛 carries the meaning of flowing water, reflecting a stay shaped by natural onsen water, seasonal food, and the idea of moving at your own pace.
The property reimagines parts of an older ryokan founded in 1885. Five buildings rise across the sloping grounds, preserving elements from the Meiji and Showa periods while adding natural stone, glass, textiles, and specially designed Japanese furniture. The layout feels like a small hillside village, with stairs and passages leading between your room, the restaurant, the sauna, and the lounge.
Your stay follows a private all-inclusive style. After arriving, you can enjoy a welcome drink, settle into your room with an aperitif box and drinks from the refrigerator, soak in your own source-fed bath, dine on creative Japanese cuisine, and reserve time in a private sauna. Every room has its own hot spring bath, so you never need to follow public bathing hours.
Accommodation
You can choose from five room concepts, each with a different position, view, and bath design. Rather than sleeping on futons, you rest on Simmons beds in rooms that combine Japanese character with simple furniture and carefully planned lighting.
The Nakaniwa rooms occupy what was once a detached section of the older inn. These rooms measure approximately 26 to 43 square metres and look towards an established courtyard garden. Your private hot spring bath sits beside the garden, allowing you to open the window and feel the outside air while you soak. Original pillars, shoji screens, and mature trees preserve a strong connection with the building’s past.
The Nagame rooms measure approximately 30 to 46 square metres and sit on the upper floors. Each room has an outdoor terrace with an oval hot spring bath. From the water, you look towards the forest and open sky, making this one of the strongest choices when the view matters most to you.
The Takadai rooms stand at the highest point of the grounds and measure approximately 35 to 39 square metres. Their semi-open-air baths use an original tub designed for 巛-sen-湯河原. Rooms on the upper level look across the wooded surroundings, while lower-level rooms focus more on the privacy of the interior and bath.
The Tasogare rooms sit on the western side and measure approximately 24 to 34 square metres. Large glass panels separate the bedroom from the bathing area, allowing light to move through the room and creating an open feeling around the tub. Some rooms look towards the landscape, while others focus on the warm colours and softer atmosphere associated with evening.
The south-facing Komorebi rooms measure approximately 27 to 36 square metres. Their baths reuse deep tubs created during the Showa period, giving you a closer connection with the older building. These tubs are more compact than those in the other room categories and are designed for one person sitting in deeper water rather than stretching out fully.
Your room includes a television with access to compatible streaming services through your own account, a humidifying air purifier, refrigerator, electric kettle, safe, hairdryer, wine glasses, bottle opener, and a coffee set with beans, grinder, server, and cups. Roomwear, towels, toothbrushes, skincare products, shampoo, conditioner, and body soap are also provided.
Dining
Dinner takes place at Restaurant Repast, where the menu explores the history of Japanese food through original seasonal dishes. The kitchen combines older ingredients and cooking ideas with present-day techniques, using produce from Kanagawa and the surrounding region whenever suitable.
Your evening meal changes throughout the year. A representative spring menu has included seasonal vegetable gratin, spring cabbage capellini, wakame soup, seasonal sashimi, a medicinal-style clam hot pot, beef stew, Shonan rice, soup, and dessert. The balance of seafood, vegetables, meat, broths, and rice gives each course its own character without making the meal feel too heavy.
You can select alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks from the restaurant’s drink area during dinner. The relaxed format lets you choose a drink to match each dish without interrupting the flow of the meal.
Breakfast continues the focus on Japanese food and regional cooking. You may begin the morning with freshly cooked rice, seasonal dried fish, kenchin vegetable soup, rice accompaniments, salad, and fruit. A later brunch arrangement is also available when you prefer a slower morning.
Shortly after check-in, a chef-prepared aperitif box is placed in your room. You can enjoy it with drinks from the refrigerator while settling in, bathing, or looking across the garden or forest before dinner.
Onsen and Wellness
Every room has a private open-air or semi-open-air bath supplied from the property’s own source, which rises from approximately 250 metres underground. The natural water flows into the room baths without a circulation system, allowing you to enjoy the onsen whenever you choose.
The spring is mildly alkaline, hypotonic, and naturally hot. Yugawara’s water has long carried the nickname “the bath for wounds,” and the listed bathing qualities include support for fatigue, sensitivity to cold, muscle stiffness, joint discomfort, lower back pain, neuralgia, poor circulation, and stress-related symptoms.
Your bathing experience changes with the room you select. You may soak beside a courtyard garden, outside on an elevated terrace, in a semi-open bath near the treetops, behind wide glass panels, or inside a restored Showa-period tub. Opening the window brings in forest air while maintaining the privacy of your room.
There is no shared public bath. The private room baths form the main onsen experience, giving you control over the timing, temperature, and length of each soak.
You can also reserve a private sauna session after checking in. The EAST and WEST sauna spaces take inspiration from morning and evening light. Each includes a hinoki-scented löyly sauna, cold-water baths, a shower, and reclining chairs. Towels and bathing products are prepared in the sauna area, and you may bring swimwear when you prefer to wear it.
After your sauna, you can cool down in the Mist Lounge. The lounge remains accessible throughout your stay and provides beer, hot drinks, soft drinks, ice cream, snacks, and selected light food.
Guests with Tattoos
Every room has its own completely private hot spring bath, so you can use the onsen if you have tattoos. There is no shared public bathing area at 巛-sen-湯河原. Your reserved sauna session is also private.
Facilities
巛-sen-湯河原 includes Restaurant Repast, private in-room hot spring baths, private sauna spaces, the Mist Lounge, a lobby for welcome drinks and check-in, luggage storage, an ice machine, and parking in several areas near the property. Drinks are available in your room, at dinner, and in the lounge, so there are no vending machines.
The property stands on a steep hillside and has no elevator. Stairs are required when moving around the grounds, regardless of the room category you select. Some rooms sit close to the main areas, while others stand higher on the slope and require a longer climb. This layout may not suit you when stairs are difficult.
Smoking is not permitted, and there is no designated smoking space on the grounds. The narrow roads and slopes around the property also require extra care when you arrive by car.
Activities
You can create a complete day without leaving the property. Begin with hand-ground coffee in your room, soak in the onsen, enjoy a slow breakfast, spend time in the Mist Lounge, and reserve a private sauna session before dinner. Your room’s garden, terrace, or forest view also gives you an inviting place to read or enjoy the drinks provided during your stay.
For a walk through Yugawara, Manyo Park is around six minutes away on foot. Its forest paths and flowing water create an easy outing close to the ryokan. The streets around Yumoto-dori introduce you to an older part of the hot spring town, where traditional inns recall the writers and artists who once travelled here.
Fudo Falls is approximately 15 minutes away on foot, while Gojō Shrine can be reached on a longer walk. The shrine grounds contain a large camphor tree believed to be around 850 years old.
During the plum blossom season, you can visit Yugawara Plum Grove, where thousands of trees colour the hillside. The coast and Yugawara Seaside Park give you another change of scenery when you want to move from mountain air to views of Sagami Bay.
Additional Features
Check-in begins at 2:30 p.m., and check-out is by 10:30 a.m. You can leave your luggage before your room is ready or store it after departure while spending more time in Yugawara.
From Yugawara Station, take a local bus from stop number two towards Fudo Falls or Oku-Yugawara. From Kōen Iriguchi bus stop, the ryokan is approximately five minutes away on foot. You can also take a taxi from the station.
巛-sen-湯河原 suits you when private bathing is a priority. With a source-fed bath in every room, seasonal Japanese dining, an aperitif served after arrival, drinks throughout your stay, private sauna time, and easy access to the forests of Yugawara, you can set aside outside schedules and follow a slower rhythm from check-in until departure.
