Yudanaka Onsen Seifuso

The water is clear and colorless, with a light, crisp feel on the skin, drawn from springs shared across Yudanaka. It runs quite hot, so most people ease in rather than soak for long. There are three baths: an open-air tub set with natural stone from the Shiga Kogen plateau, an indoor bath built in a retro early-Showa style, and a private hinoki (桧) cypress tub, cut from timber over four hundred years old, that guests can lock and use for free, no booking needed. In some seasons the indoor bath has apples floating in it, a nod to the orchards around Yamanouchi. Seifuso is an old, plain wooden ryokan a couple of minutes on foot from Yudanaka Station, family-run and unfussy. Rooms are tatami with fresh flowers in the alcove, and dinner is built around Shinshu beef (信州牛) and mountain vegetables.