Noji Onsen Hotel — Local services in Honshu

Very nice waters here. Beautiful milky water with a pleasant odour. The facility is clearly quite old, but not in a bad way, it's got a lot of character to show for.

The place can be a bit of a stretch to get to, so a car is possibly the best option. The road that leads here is very enjoyable in good weather, and provides beautiful observation points.

As for the onsen, admission is only ¥800 and allows you to use all the baths. There are several bathing facilities separated from one another, and are on a rotating schedule between men and women. If you have the time, you could visit all of them.

The bath I used so far, has no showers, so it's a good idea to be reasonably clean before you go here. The norm seems to be to just splash yourself with some bath water...

The hotel provides free shuttle from Fukushima sta and that helps a lot for foreign tourists. Location is up in the mountain, and that is desirable to get some snow and outdoor onsen. Main reasons to choose the hotel: sulphuric hot spring, cypress bath, and quaint off the beaten path place. Because the market is mainly domestic, meals are kaiseki for both breakfast and dinner, which for me would be much better if it's buffet of japanese and western items. Before arrival, have communicated in advance with the hotel in regards to transportation etc etc, and the staff had been very kind and responsive. Hope Noji Onsen will get more foreign tourists...

Old world hot spring with a nice mix of inside and outside hot springs that change every 3 hours, including a fixed mens and ladies bath. The outdoor springs can be uncomfortably cold, with wind-chill, if it's snowing and windy. Constant opening and closing of the outer door also cools the interior shower area. Rooms are large with Japanese reed mats and the staff will set futons a while you enjoy dinner. Meals are delicious with a variety of local, seasonal dishes with minimal sweetness. Both breakfast and dinner a very filling. The hotel bus takes an hour to reach the hotel from the...