Hotel Alum

Petit Hotel Alum is a small, family-run hotel at the foot of Mt. Norikura, in the middle of Norikura Kogen (乗鞍高原). It has a single private open-air bath, fed by its own Suzuran Onsen (すずらん温泉) spring, that each room books in half-hour turns rather than sharing one big tub. In winter you can soak there while it snows outside. The hotel began as a small coffee shop in the woods; the private bath was added in 2003, and that's when it became today's Petit Hotel Alum. The family who runs it still cooks with local ingredients and keeps the place feeling more like staying with relatives than checking into a hotel. The attached cafe is open to day visitors too, not just overnight guests.