Kawabe Onsen Kisaku-no-yu

A small day-use bathhouse in its own building, a minute's walk across the car park from the eight-room inn Oyado Kisaku (お宿喜作), which it shares a source with. The indoor bath is compact and lined with Kishu cedar (kishu-sugi, 紀州杉), with wide windows onto the hills; outside, the open-air bath is built from river stones out of the Hidaka river running past. The water is a sodium bicarbonate spring, clear and noticeably slippery, the sort locals compare to lotion and that leaves skin smooth afterwards. There is a family bath you can reserve by the session as well.