Azare

Koyokan Bettei Azalee is a small ryokan in Takedao onsen, in the hills above the Muko river gorge outside Takarazuka. Each of its twelve rooms is its own cottage with a private, semi-open-air hot-spring bath, and one room type sets its tub in Shigaraki ware. The shared bathhouse is split into two bathing areas, each with an indoor bath and a rotenburo looking out over the trees, and there is also a foot bath in the grounds. The water is gentle and leaves the skin feeling smooth. Meals come from Saryo Shin, a Kyoto kaiseki kitchen, with sukiyaki, shabu-shabu and a winter wild boar hot pot alongside the seasonal set menus.