The BEST Onsen Hotel in Kyoto – Onyado Nono

An onsen hotel is an amazing opportunity to relax and enjoy one of Japan’s ancient traditions with modern amenities. The Onyado Nono absolutely blew me away with the service, the food, and the onsen itself. It’s a must-stay for me if visiting Kyoto!

A Japanese hot spring and the traditional inn or bathing facilities built around it. Defined legally by the Hot Springs Act as “water, vapor, or gas gushing from underground at a temperature of at least 25°C (77°F) or containing specific mineral content.” Water is geothermally heated, not artificially.

The water typically contains sulfur, iron, or sodium. These have been noted to have healing and therapeutic properties. Bathing does require strict etiquette, such as cleaning your skin before entering the bath and being nude in sex-separated areas.

People with tattoos are usually not allowed to bathe. This ties into Japan’s history with the Yakuza (gangs). This is slowly starting to shift.

You will need to remove your shoes. There are free lockers with keys where you can place your shoes to keep them safe. You do not wear shoes in the hotel! Socks are ok, but no slippers. Any roller bags must have their wheels cleaned on the designated mat. If you think about how many cultures don’t wear shoes in the house, it’s the same idea!

You’ll check in at their front desk on a kiosk, so make sure to have your reservation number ready! The machine will prompt you to enter all the information for each guest staying and will print room cards for each adult. An employee will give you information on the hotel and how breakfast works if you’ve added it to your stay (you absolutely should!!).

We stayed in a non-smoking family room as we were a group of four.

The toilet is Japanese style with a bidet and a small sink on top. It’s in a separate room from the shower and tub, which is great if you have multiple people sharing a room. I didn’t personally test out the bidet functions (I’ve tried them before and they still freak me out), but everything else worked flawlessly.

This area is an entire shower and bathing room. There’s a small, deep tub if you’d like to take a bath. Next to it is a showerhead and a stool. Sitting to shower is not uncommon in Japan. The floor is made of plastic with a drain (the square on the floor). Shampoo, conditioner, and body wash are also provided. Everyone’s hair is different, but as someone with naturally blonde, fine, wavy hair, these worked well for me.

As I showered down in the onsen three out of my four nights here, I only tested out the shower once, but the pressure was remarkable!

The beds are lower to the ground, but still on frames. Thin, but not uncomfortable, the mattress supported me pretty well, and the blankets were nice and warm. My only critique might be the pillows, as I found them too hard. There are also outlets next to each bed.

Unfortunately, if you have tattoos, you can’t use the baths. They have a very strict no tattoos policy. More places are starting to allow tattoos, but it’s a slow process. If you’re tattoo-free, then you can go in.

There are robes in your room you can wear to the onsen (also to breakfast and around the hotel). Bring your towel and basket (provided in your room), and I’d also recommend bringing a new, clean pair of underwear.

The baths are separated by sex. So no worries there! Upon entering the onsen, you’ll want to find an open locker to place your belongings, undress, put up your hair (they have complimentary hair ties if you don’t have one), and put the key on your wrist or ankle. You can wear a bathing suit (absolutely no clothes, must be a swimsuit). However, 99% of people are nude, and it’s more noticeable if you’re not. People are focused on themselves, and we don’t stare at strangers in this environment.

Prior to bathing, you must shower. Showers are available in the room with the baths, and you mostly just want to soap and rinse to remove excess oil and other dirt from your skin so it doesn’t get into the water. Onsen bathing is about relaxation and soaking in minerals, rather than “getting clean”.

Every bath has different minerals that support relaxation, healing, and rejuvenation. There are five baths in total: three inside, one outside (completely enclosed), and a meditation bath on an upper floor, accessible from the outside bath. Inside, there are also two small individual tubs, two hot benches, and a nanosteam sauna.

I spent a few minutes in each one, but make sure to monitor yourself. Most of these are around 40 °C (104 °F), and you don’t want to have any problems. After the baths, I spent less than 10 minutes in the sauna, which heats up quickly and makes you sweat a lot. Watch your breathing and make sure to take easy, deep breaths. Don’t spend more than 30 minutes in there (if you’re even capable) to avoid excessive dehydration. Honestly, I think the longest I survived in the sauna was max 10 or 15 minutes.

After bathing, you’ll want to shower in the same area. Shampoo, conditioner, body and face wash are all provided if you don’t want to bring your own. It’s the same as the ones in the rooms. Dry off, get dressed, have some water, and go sit in the relaxation area to finish cooling down. After the sauna, my face was bright red, almost as if I had been sunburned. So don’t be alarmed if that happens to you!

The baths do close between 10 am and 3 pm each day for cleaning.

This is the most magical hotel breakfast I’ve ever experienced in my life. You need to scan the QR code on the brochure you were given at check-in before going down. There might be a wait, and you’ll have to join the queue. If there’s no queue, you can just head down and walk in.

Hand a room key to the attendant by the door, who will confirm the number of people, and you’ll be placed at a table. You’re given a small sign for your tabletop that you keep up while you’re eating and flip over when you’re done. This is so they know to clean and turn over your table.

This buffet has it all: pickles, tempura, natto, salad, eggs, potatoes, gyudon, rice, fruit, sashimi, cooked fish, soup, and a few Western options. Then there are drinks including coffee, tea, matcha lattes, and Yakult. After all of that, there’s still dessert! Yes. Dessert with breakfast. Think macaroons, warabamochi, steamed cakes, sakura rice cakes, matcha pudding, etc. There’s zero shortage of calories, and it’s lovely.

If you’re an early bather, they offer a Nissin prebiotic drink between 5 am and 10 am. However, if you’re more of a later-in-the-day type, there’s ice cream between 3 pm and 1 am. You can also simply grab these from the resting area near the onsen entrance.

Looking for a comforting late-night snack?? Shoyu-based ramen is served in the restaurant from 9 pm to 11 pm each night! All bowls are the same, but you can add a few select toppings from a self-serve bar. The noodles were chewy, and it was a very simple, comforting meal after a trip to the onsen.

My bowl pictured is without any extras!

In the main lobby, there’s a hot drink machine that makes coffee, hot chocolate, and matcha lattes! There are to-go cups with lids if you’d like to take one into the city or back up to your room. I had the matcha twice. It’s a bit on the sweet side, but not bad for a machine.

Behind the relaxation room and to the left of the onsen entrance are the laundry rooms. There are two washing rooms, separated into general and women-only (probably to protect us from panty thieves). The women’s room uses the same code as the baths. The washing machines are free 30-minute cycles and automatically dispense detergent, which is super nice!

The dryer costs ¥100 per 20 minutes. I dried my clothes for an hour, and everything came out great! The machines can be locked if you’re worried your clothes might be taken before you can pick them up. Signs say you can get keys from the front desk.

Behind the laundry rooms are vending machines if you don’t want to walk across the street to the Mini Stop or are still in your onsen robe post-bathing. There is also a free microwave in the same area if you need to heat something up.

There are multiple massage chairs lining the wall towards the baths. Typically, there was always someone in each one, so if you want to try it out and it’s open, jump on it! I finally got my chance on the morning we were checking out. It’s a 15-minute session and quite relaxing!

Similar to checking in, you’ll go to the kiosk where you’ll select check out. Put in your first room key, and it will ask if everyone is out of the room. If they are, you can continue. If not, you’ll need to pause. It will ask if you have any more room keys to return. If so, put them in. Once it gets them all back, you’re done! It’s a super simple process.

This is one of the nicest hotels I’ve ever stayed at. The service was phenomenal, everything was clean, the breakfast was peak, the onsen was so relaxing, and I really can’t recommend it enough. Staying here is definitely a treat, as it’s far from a hostel or even a normal Japanese hotel, but it’s also not ultra-luxury.

Two nights, I believe, would be the minimum to really make the most of and enjoy everything this place has to offer. I stayed four, but did split the cost with my sister and her family.

For the record, you’re not banned from staying at the hotel if you have tattoos. You just can’t use the baths. Of course, that kind of defeats the purpose of staying here in the first place. It is, however, something I just wanted to note.