Hotel Matsukaneya Anex

Matsukaneya Anex has two baths built for different moods. The regular indoor bath is bright, clean and spacious, if a little shallow, and this is where shampoo and body soap are provided. A short walk away is the hotel's better-known bath, a semi-open-air tub fed straight from a strongly acidic sulfur spring and kept running day and night. The water is pale and cloudy with a sulfur smell that a few guests say clings to the skin for days afterward. Reviewers describe a lobby warmed by a fireplace and furnished with old, polished hardwood, more homey than formal, and staff who go out of their way to help, arranging day-use visits and special meal requests over the phone. Dinner is typically a seasonal kaiseki meal, with a soft-boiled onsen egg served alongside breakfast.