Awanoyu

Double meals (dinner and breakfast) at Awanoyu 05.01.2024 06.01.2024

45. Awanoyu, Nagano ★★★ I stayed overnight. The place is just extremely cool. The area around it is nice too, you can even run into wild monkeys. The food is good as well. If you book a room for two for one person, you can ask for a double kaiseki and they will honestly give it to you. About the baths: 1. In the initial area, the men's side, there are two indoor baths. One has clear water and a temperature below average, the other is a hot milky bath. There is also a small outdoor third milky bath outside, with water temperature below average. 2. The main feature of the ryokan is, of course, the large mixed outdoor bath. It is even mentioned in the Matsumoto Museum. The water is a dense milky color, there is a smell, and the temperature in the mixed bath is easygoing. You can literally stay there for hours, moving around the bath and under the water streams. In the dark, it is just insanely nice to lie in the big bath alone, with snow all around and stars in the black sky, it feels like some kind of fantasy. Since you hang out in the bath for hours, the changing crowd can actually add variety. At one point in the evening, an old lady kicked out an old man and 5 or 6 young Japanese women, and directed their movements around the bath. They give women clothing there. As for men, because of the density of the water color, nothing is visible, and the entrance and exit are also relatively discreet. An absolutely great place. The bath is just incredible. 05.01.2024 06.01.2024