Hotel Katsuragi

Hotel Katsuragi sits at the top of a slope just above Dogo Onsen Honkan, drawing on the same mild alkaline spring water that supplies the old town below. Two indoor baths, Shirasagi-no-yu and Daishi-no-yu, swap between the men's and women's sides each morning and evening. Shirasagi-no-yu (白鷺の湯, "White Heron Bath") is decorated with ukiyo-e style art and named for the local legend of an injured heron said to have discovered Dogo's spring. Daishi-no-yu (大師の湯) opens toward the Seto Inland Sea and greets bathers with a small statue of Kobo Daishi at the entrance. There's no mixed bathing and no private family bath, and the women's bath has a baby bed for parents traveling with small children. The building is older, and reviewers mention it, but the rooms and baths are kept clean and staff get consistent praise for being friendly. It's a straightforward base for walking down into Dogo's old bathing streets, a few minutes from Dogo Onsen Honkan itself.