ART Hotel Narita

ART Hotel Narita has its own hot-spring source, drawn from 1,000 meters underground, an unusual amenity for a hotel in the Narita airport area. The water at the bath, called Biyu (美湯), runs a warm amber gold and has a light salty edge that lingers on the skin, meant to work out the stiffness of a long flight. There's an open-air rotenburo, a rock bath and a reclining bath, plus a sauna; the women's side adds a mist sauna and an herb bath. The hotel itself feels older than its renovated rooms suggest: the lobby still has a working fountain and the garden wing keeps an old push-button elevator; the effect is retro rather than polished. With four restaurants and a free shuttle to Narita Airport, it works better as a stopover before or after a flight than as a destination in itself.