T: +81 558 22 1361; www.seiryuso.co.jp

One of Japan’s best traditional ryokan inns. Across a raked and sculpted garden is an onsen – a hot-spring bathhouse. There are many rituals such as shoes are compulsorarily removed on arrival. You are given a robe and taken to the bathhouse to marinate in a large wooden tub until you are allowed out for dinner, which is served at the low table in your pavilion. Later, you can take a moonlight steambath in the sheltered open-air thermal pools outside in the garden.