Minshuku Chikatsuyu

A family-run minshuku (民宿) at Chikatsuyu, two minutes' walk from the Chikatsuyu-oji (近露王子) shrine site on the Nakahechi (中辺路) pilgrim route, with the Hikigawa running past the front. The bath sits in its own building next to the inn: Hisui-no-yu (ひすいの湯), a gender-separated main bath with the river out the window, fed from the owners' own spring. The water is a sodium bicarbonate-chloride spring that comes up cool and gets warmed for the bath, and it feels smooth and slippery on the skin. The owners reckon theirs is the only minshuku in Nakahechi with a source of its own. Meals are home cooking built on local ingredients, and they will put together a packed lunch if you are walking on in the morning.