Ryokan and hot-spring hotels inside Tokyo, from HOSHINOYA Tokyo's own hot spring to family inns in Yanaka and Asakusa: what each bath really is, its hours, the tattoo rule, and what to expect from futons, yukata and meals.
Tokyo isn't a hot-spring town the way Hakone is, but you can still sleep on tatami and soak in a spring before bed. A few hotels have their own hot spring, a few bring spring water in from Hakone, and the city's small family ryokan (traditional inns) offer futons, shared baths and a quieter, older Tokyo. They suit couples and travellers who want one or two memorable nights. They don't suit anyone who needs a big room, an en-suite bathroom on a budget, or a late night out on the doorstep. For the areas themselves, start with where to stay in Tokyo; for day-use baths and etiquette, see onsen and sento in Tokyo.
Ask what the bath actually is before you book. It might be a natural spring, water brought in from Hakone, or ordinary hot water, and each of the nine below says which, with its hours and the tattoo rule in the hotel's own words. They run from a luxury tower ryokan to a ¥16,280-a-night family inn; where no price is given, check your dates on the hotel's own site.
Ryokan are small and fill early around New Year, the cherry blossom (late March and early April) and Golden Week (late April to early May), when prices also rise. Book those dates months ahead; Sawanoya, for example, opens bookings eight months out.
Hotels with a real hot spring. Only a handful of places in central Tokyo sit on their own spring or truck one in. These four are the ones I'd book for the bath itself.
HOSHINOYA Tokyo is the splurge, and the closest thing to a countryside luxury ryokan in the middle of the city: a "tower ryokan" in Otemachi, 10 minutes' walk from Tokyo Station's Marunouchi North Exit, where each floor is its own little inn of six rooms around an ochanoma lounge, joined by tatami corridors. Its bath is a natural hot spring, Otemachi Onsen, drawn from 1,500 metres down: a salty spring, from what was once sea, with a cavernous indoor bath that opens onto an open-air bath on the top floor. It suits a special occasion and a Tokyo Station base. The catch is the price, and that the onsen page publishes no hours or tattoo rule, so ask when you book.
10 minutes on foot (850 m) from the Marunouchi North Exit of Tokyo Station. Rooms take one to three guests.
Onsen Ryokan Yuen Shinjuku is the value pick for a hot-spring night in the city. Its open-air bath on the 18th floor looks out over Shinjuku, filled with alkaline spring water trucked in from Lake Ashi in Hakone (the indoor bath is ordinary water, the hotel notes). It's open to guests only, from 3pm to 12:30am and again from 6am to 10am, with ice pops after the evening soak and a yukata in every room. It's 7 minutes from Shinjuku-gyoemmae Station, on the quieter side of Shinjuku near Shinjuku Gyoen garden.
The trade-off: it's a 193-room hotel with Western beds rather than futons, and the cheapest rooms are 12 to 15 square metres with a shower booth only. Breakfast is ¥4,000 extra, there are steps at every room door, and the hotel doesn't publish a tattoo rule for the bath. Ask for an upper floor, or book a Premium Double (33 square metres) for space.
7 minutes on foot from exit 3 of Shinjuku-gyoemmae Station (Marunouchi line) and 8 from exit C7 of Shinjuku-sanchome. The hotel says it isn't barrier-free: there are steps at room entrances.
Yuen Bettei Daita is the same company's quieter ryokan in residential Setagaya, 1 minute from Setagaya-Daita Station and an 8-minute walk from Shimokitazawa. It also uses Hakone water from Lake Ashi, in an indoor bath overlooking a courtyard and a half-outdoor cypress bath, with a mist sauna on the women's side and a dry sauna on the men's. It suits a slower, village-feel stay a few minutes by train from Shibuya and Shinjuku.
Two things to know. The rooms with their own outdoor bath use ordinary hot water, not spring water. And on tattoos, the onsen page says to cover them with stickers sold at the front desk (swimsuits and rash guards aren't allowed), while its English Q&A still says no, so confirm before you book. There's a ¥150 bath tax per guest, and the building isn't barrier-free.
1 minute on foot from Setagaya-Daita Station and 8 minutes from Shimokitazawa. Shibuya is 3 minutes away on the Keio line, Shinjuku 7 on the Odakyu line.
Onyado Nono Asakusa is the Dormy Inn chain's Japanese-style hotel, 4 minutes from the Tsukuba Express station in Asakusa. Its basement bath, Ryoun no Yu, is its own natural spring: kuroyu, Tokyo's dark "black water", in the indoor bath, plus two half-open-air pot baths outside. It's open from 3pm to 10am, and the chain's free late-night noodles (yonaki soba) are served from 9:30pm to 11pm. Every room has tatami floors with a bed and a soft Japanese futon on top, which suits anyone who wants the look without sleeping on the floor.
On tattoos, the hotel's bath page turns bathers away unless the tattoo fits under its cover stickers (8 by 10 cm); the chain's FAQ adds that it hands out two at most, while stocks last. There's no full open-air bath, only the pot baths.
About 4 minutes on foot from Asakusa Station on the Tsukuba Express.
Family-run ryokan. These are small, personal inns with tatami rooms and futons. Their baths are ordinary hot water, but they're the closest you'll get to an old-style ryokan stay in the city.
Ryokan Asakusa Shigetsu is my pick for location: off Nakamise, about 5 minutes on foot from Senso-ji, with a Japanese cypress (hinoki) bath on the 6th floor that looks out on Tokyo Skytree and the temple's five-storey pagoda. Its Japanese rooms sleep on futons (Airweave mattress pads throughout), and there are Western singles and a Japanese-Western room with beds. Note the dates: the inn is fully closed from the afternoon of 12 January to 5 February 2027 while the bath is renovated, and the bath stays shut until 12 February.
Off Nakamise, about 5 minutes on foot from Senso-ji and the Kaminarimon gate. Smoking is banned throughout, balconies and e-cigarettes included.
Ryokan Sawanoya in Yanaka has been run by the Sawa family since 1949, and it's a warm, old-fashioned budget inn: all 12 rooms are tatami, it calls itself LGBTQ-friendly and Muslim-friendly on its own site, and it publishes fixed prices. Two people pay ¥16,280 in a 6-tatami room, or ¥17,930 with a private bath and toilet, and breakfast (onigiri and miso soup, or toast and eggs) is ¥880. Instead of a hot spring it has two Japanese baths, one of hinoki cypress and one of ceramic, plus free coffee and tea and a coin laundry. It's 7 minutes from Nezu Station.
The trade-off: ten of the twelve rooms share the baths and toilets, check-in closes at 11pm, and checkout is by 10am. Book a room with bath early if that matters.
7 minutes on foot from exit 1 (Nezu Crossing) of Nezu Station on the Chiyoda line. Only two of its 12 rooms have their own bath and toilet, so book those early.
Andon Ryokan opened in June 2003 as what it calls Tokyo's first designer ryokan, 5 minutes from Minowa Station on the Hibiya line in the old shitamachi north of Asakusa. Its architecture won an Architectural Institute of Japan award, the halls are full of antiques, and its private jacuzzi, "Kissho-zukushi", is tiled in Arita porcelain hand-painted by Mee Ishii, inspired by the sento of the owner's childhood. Breakfast is a homemade Japanese set, with a vegan version.
The catch: the jacuzzi isn't a hot spring, and the washrooms and shower rooms are shared, one set per floor, so check the room listing if you want your own. It suits solo travellers and couples who like design and a neighbourhood feel more than space.
5 minutes on foot from Minowa Station on the Hibiya line, with Asakusa within walking distance.
The Edo Sakura is a machiya-style (townhouse) ryokan that opened in June 2013, about 5 minutes from Iriya Station and 10 from JR Uguisudani, a short ride from Ueno. It has Japanese rooms where you can lay out your own futon, and Western rooms too. The private bath costs ¥500 for 40 minutes, booked at the front desk between 3pm and 11pm, and breakfast comes in Japanese, Western, vegan and gluten-free versions, which is rare.
The trade-off is the area, a quiet residential corner away from the sights, and the bath is ordinary water rather than a spring. It's a good fit for families, with family rooms and a children's breakfast menu.
4 to 5 minutes on foot from Iriya Station (exit 4, Hibiya line) and 10 minutes from the South Exit of JR Uguisudani. No parking.
Shoes and tatami. At a ryokan you take your shoes off at the entrance or the room door and walk on tatami (rice-straw mats) in socks or slippers.
Futons. Bedding is often a futon laid on the floor, either ready when you arrive or laid out in the evening; at The Edo Sakura you can lay your own. Newer places such as Onyado Nono put a bed on the tatami instead, and Yuen Shinjuku has Western beds.
Yukata. A cotton robe is usually in the room, to wear around the inn and to the bath (Yuen Shinjuku, Sawanoya and Shigetsu all list one). Wrap the left side over the right.
Meals. City ryokan rarely include dinner. Sawanoya serves a ¥880 breakfast, Andon a homemade breakfast plan, Yuen Shinjuku a ¥4,000 breakfast, and The Edo Sakura four kinds of breakfast. For a multi-course kaiseki dinner in your room, look to a countryside ryokan.
The rules are the same as at any onsen or sento: wash and rinse at the taps before getting in, keep your small towel out of the water, no swimsuits, and keep phones out of the bath (Dormy Inn's own rules say so). Our onsen and sento guide has the full etiquette.
Tattoos, in each hotel's own words:
A countryside onsen. Only HOSHINOYA and Onyado Nono have their own spring among these; the Yuen pair bring theirs from Hakone. For mountain open-air baths and in-room hot springs, take our Hakone day trip and stay a night.
Space and privacy on a budget. At the family inns most rooms share baths and toilets, and rooms are small.
Late nights. Sawanoya's check-in ends at 11pm, and the family inns are in quiet, early-to-bed neighbourhoods.
A grand old ryokan. Two famous names are out: Sukeroku no Yado Sadachiyo in Asakusa is listed on Google as permanently closed, and Homeikan in Hongo, whose main building is a registered cultural property, closed its main building and Daimachi annex for renovation at the end of April 2026, for some time (its Morikawa annex stays open).
Fixed prices on this page (Sawanoya's rates, the Yuen breakfast and bath tax, The Edo Sakura's private bath) come from each hotel's own site on 4 November 2026; everything else changes daily, so check your dates on the hotel's own site. Tokyo's accommodation tax and how it changes on 1 April 2027 are on our where to stay in Tokyo page.
For day-use baths without staying the night, see onsen and sento in Tokyo; to plan the days around your ryokan, start with things to do in Tokyo. Then lay it out day by day with Tourli, the app that turns travel guides into actionable itineraries.
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