Yutagawa Onsen Tamaya

Tamaya is a small annex ryokan of Kuhee Ryokan in Yutagawa Onsen, a hot-spring town in Tsuruoka. It has three free private baths and no shared bathhouse of its own. There's no reservation system: you check whether a bath is free, flip the sign on the door to occupied, and lock it from inside. Two of the baths are cypress tubs on the ground floor; the third, upstairs, looks out toward Mount Chokai (鳥海山) on a clear day. There's also a free footbath by the parking lot. The mood matches a small inn that isn't trying to be more than it is: calm and easy to relax into.