Onogawa Onsen Suzu-no-yado Tofuya Ryokan

Tofuya is built for barrier-free bathing: gentle slopes and handrails lead from the changing rooms into the water, and in the private bath a gentle, slide-like slope runs from the changing-room sofa into the tub. The men's bath has an outdoor rock bath plus a separate, cooler soaking pool, and a free mist sauna that cools down in that same spring water instead of a cold plunge. The women's bath pairs a deep, stepped outdoor pool with its own cooler corner. Reserve ahead and there are two more saunas built for two: a proper Finnish-style room with self-poured loyly and a cold tub refreshed for every booking, and a gentler full-body steam room, both open to mixed company since they're private. The water itself is soft, clear and gentle on the skin, a blend of a hot spring and a cooler one, and it's part of why Onogawa Onsen has long been called a beauty-skin spring. Tofuya is a family ryokan built around three generations bathing and staying together comfortably, and dinner runs to Yonezawa beef.