Utopia Inari-yu — Local services in Takayama

I went to several sentos around Japan and I think this was my favorite! I have tattoos and had trouble finding tattoo-friendly baths but managed to find a couple in the bigger cities like Tokyo and Kyoto, but I had despaired of finding any in smaller towns like Takayama. Then I saw that the owner of Yutopia had commented on a Reddit post on this topic to say that she welcomed guests with tattoos, so I went and was not disappointed. It's smaller than some of the big city ones but really cozy and pleasant. The staff were very friendly and helpful and forgiving of my extremely limited Japanese. There are several baths of different temperatures and they did a great job warming me up on a cold and snowy winter night. There's a nice selection of flavored milks and other drinks to enjoy in the front lobby afterward as well. Takayama ended up being one of my favorite parts of my trip so if I ever go back I will definitely be...

Here, this is a japanese traditional public bath called "SENTO". Anyone can enter except the people who have tatoo on their body.

First, you take off your shoes at the entrance and put them in the shoe cupboard. You pay the entrance fee ¥420 at the reception. you can also buy some amenities such as soap and a towel, ¥150. the towel may be very thin so I recommend that you bring two towels on your own, one is to bring to the bath place with you, another one is to drying your body after having a bathroom.

you need to be stark naked before entering the bath area. You also have to wash your body before getting into the bath. If the bath doesn't have a shower, fill the basin with hot water and wash your head and body.

After taking a bath, it is common to drink a cold bottle of milk. I do recommend to try "Hida coffee milk"....

Got really good price for this onsen as I'm staying in Murasaki Guesthouse (only 200 yens for women) and I would say it's a nice little sento, staff speaks English and is really nice, it was a bit crowded i the middle of afternoon unfortunately and the baths are small. The main one was too hot for me but there is a jacuzzi with really nice temperature where you can stay longer. If you don't have a towel and soaps you can get a bathing kit...