Jinzu Gorges Kasuga Onsen Tominowa

Tominowa is a hot-spring hotel on the Jinzu river gorge in Toyama. Its two baths, Shizuka and Haruka, swap between the men's and women's sides each day. Each has a large indoor bath with a bubbling jet bath, plus an outdoor area with small tub-shaped pools, and on one side the outdoor bath has a hot rock bath and five milder tubs. There's also a sauna and a cold bath. The spring water is salty, more so outdoors than in the indoor bath, and it's the kind that's gentle on the skin and keeps you warm long after you get out. In winter the outdoor baths double as a snow-viewing soak, and on clear days the Tateyama mountains show from the guest rooms. Tominowa sits on the riverbank in the Kasuga hot-spring area, about half an hour's drive from Toyama station and away from the busier parts of the city. Reviewers describe it as calm and roomy, and say it works well for families with young kids. Day-use bathing is open to non-guests, paid in cash.