Tattoo friendly onsen in Awara

Ooedo Onsen Monogatari Awara

大江戸温泉物語 あわら

Cover it and you can bathe. The hotel’s own bath page bars tattooed guests from the large baths unless the tattoo is completely hidden under the hotel’s designated seals, which are sold, not given. The group FAQ sets the limit at two seals of 10 by 14 centimeters, 220 yen each at the front desk, and bans fake stickers and body paint too. The same rule is printed on the day-use page, so it binds visitors who are not staying.

※入れ墨・タトゥーのある方は大浴場をご利用いただけません。ただし、当館指定のカバーシール（有料）を貼って、入れ墨、タトゥーが完全に覆える場合に限り、大浴場をご利用いただけます

Best for: A small tattoo, a family budget and a buffet dinner with the bath included

Not strong spring water: the hotel labels its source as a cold mineral spring that qualifies as onsen by its metasilicic acid content but carries no therapeutic spring name, and says the baths are diluted, heated and recirculated. Large baths 15:00 to 24:00 and 05:00 to 10:00; sauna 15:00 to 24:00 and 07:00 to 10:00. Two garden open-air baths, a rock one and a slatted-deck one. Day visitors 07:00 to 10:00 and 15:00 to 24:00, last entry 22:00, adults 900 yen on weekdays, 1,300 at weekends and 1,500 on peak dates. No private bath is advertised. Some annex rooms on Booking.com have their own indoor bath; the hotel does not say those tubs carry spring water.

Ooedo Onsen Monogatari Premium Seiunkaku

大江戸温泉物語 Premium 青雲閣

The large baths take a covered tattoo and nothing else. The property’s bath page and its day-use page both carry the group sentence: no bathing with a tattoo unless the hotel’s paid seals cover it completely. Two 10-by-14-centimeter seals at 220 yen each is the group’s stated maximum, so anything larger will be turned away at the curtain.

※入れ墨・タトゥーのある方は大浴場をご利用いただけません。ただし、当館指定のカバーシール（有料）を貼って、入れ墨、タトゥーが完全に覆える場合に限り、大浴場をご利用いただけます

Best for: Families who want a covered-tattoo soak and a tatami bath hall with a sleeping tub

Formerly a Yukai Resort house, now in the Ooedo group’s Premium line after the two brands merged. Sodium chloride spring, diluted, heated and recirculated. The bath halls are floored in tatami and include a sleeping tub and an ultrasonic tub; the garden open-air baths are Suzuran no Yu for women and Shobu no Yu for men, with a rest area off the men’s side. Large baths 15:00 to 24:00 and 02:00 to 10:00, sauna (men only) 15:00 to 24:00 and 07:00 to 10:00. Booking.com sells a Superior Twin with a private open-air bath, but the hotel’s own pages were not found to say whether that tub is spring water.

Rakuten STAY Awara Onsen

Rakuten STAY あわら温泉

There is no shared bath to argue about. The operator says every one of the 23 rooms has a bath fed from its own well, so the tattoo question never comes up. Check-in is by smart lock with a code sent in advance, which means no front desk either.

Best for: Anyone who wants a real Awara spring in the room and no staff encounter at all

Four room types, 23 rooms. The operator describes the room tubs as own-source spring water, bathing 15:00 until check-out at 10:00, and some rooms add a private sauna and a cold plunge on the terrace. Dinner is served in the room from a choice of three plans (crab hotpot, tomato sukiyaki, teppanyaki). Some rooms take dogs, and Booking.com lists pet and no-pet versions of the same room type. The room kit includes a shaved-ice machine.

Awara Onsen Tsuruya

越前あわら温泉 つるや

Book the private bath. Tsuru no Su is a spring-fed family bath that takes a group of up to six for 45 minutes at a time, reserved by phone, and nobody else comes in. Four rooms also have their own open-air or semi-open-air tub. The inn publishes no tattoo rule for its large baths, which is not the same as permission.

Best for: A couple who want water straight from the source without sharing it

The inn says all of its baths run on its own spring at 100 percent flow-through with no recirculation, the source at 80°C and the tubs held at 42 to 42.5°C. Tsuru no Su: 45 minutes, 15:00 to 23:00 and 07:00 to 09:00, 2,200 yen per group (1,100 yen for guests who booked on the inn’s own site), up to six people, reserve by phone. Rooms with their own bath: Taikan and Kangetsu (open-air), Soukaku and Jukaku (semi-open-air), one of each. Booking.com sold only a standard Japanese-style room on the date checked, so the private bath is the route for most guests. Large baths Fuku no Yu and Ashi no Yu swap at midnight; there is a free spring footbath and egg-boiling basin in the garden.

Haiya

あわら温泉 伝統旅館のぬくもり 灰屋

Reserve the private bath, which comes with its own sauna. Haiya rents it first come, first served for an hour at a time, so the whole room is yours. The Shofuan garden annex rooms add a flowing-spring tub in the room. The inn publishes no tattoo rule for the shared baths.

Best for: Sauna people who want to do the whole round, hot room, tub and air, in private

Private bath with sauna and open-air tub: 15:00 to 22:30 (last), 5,000 yen for 60 minutes, reservation required. The shared baths have a separate loyly sauna for 30 on a men’s and women’s rota (men 15:00 to 19:00, women 20:00 to 24:00, none next morning), plus a cold plunge and outdoor chairs. Own spring on the grounds. Shofuan is the garden annex dating to the inn’s founding in 1884; the special room Kyokusui was renovated in March 2025 with a flowing-spring semi-open-air bath. Specifying a room costs 13,200 yen per person. Free pick-up from Awara-Onsen Station 14:00 to 18:00 on request.

Awara Onsen Matsuya Sensen

あわら温泉 まつや千千

Take a room with its own tub. Thirteen of the 118 rooms, including the Tokiwasure Riza floor, have a private open-air bath on the spring, so you bathe when you like without meeting anyone. The inn warns that it may have to move a booking to a room without the bath when it is full, so confirm the room type before you arrive. Nothing is published about tattoos in the shared baths.

Best for: A tattooed couple who want a big-inn dinner and a spring tub on the balcony

118 rooms: 98 Japanese-style, 13 with open-air bath, 7 Western. The special room with open-air bath has 15 tatami, a twin bedroom and its own bath and toilet. The room page carries this caveat: ※予約状況によっては、露天風呂なしのお部屋に変更をお願いする場合がございます。 The shared open-air bath, Sen no Koboreyu, is billed by the inn as one of the largest spring open-air baths in Hokuriku. Booking.com sells a Japanese-Style Superior Room with Open-Air Bath.

Mimatsu

北陸福井あわら温泉 美松

Book an open-air-bath room and the question disappears. Mimatsu puts a tub on its own spring in every room of the Biyuu annex and on the fourth and fifth floors, open from check-in to check-out. The inn says nothing about tattoos in its domed large bath.

Best for: Choosing your own tub: cypress, stone, rock or Shigaraki ceramic, room by room

Rooms with an open-air bath: the eight-suite Biyuu annex on the first floor (each tub a different material, with a shower room off it), plus 14 rooms on the fourth floor (Yuyu) and 14 on the fifth (Haruharu). The inn says it will try to match a requested tub type at booking. The large bath, Taiyoden, is a dome with a waterfall and an outdoor view bath, and takes day visitors; its hours change on 1 October 2026, so check the page. Agoda sells a Guest Room with Open-Air Onsen Bath.

Grandia Housen

あわら温泉 グランディア芳泉

Stay in a room with its own open-air bath. The Kotobukitei villa is sixteen suites, all with a spring-fed open-air tub, and the Yutorogitei wing adds more rooms with one. The inn owns three sources. It publishes no tattoo rule for the shared baths, so the in-room tub is the answer.

Best for: A garden suite with the tub a step off the tatami

Kotobukitei: Garden Suites on the first floor (three with two tatami rooms, three with tatami plus twin beds), Comfort Suites on the second floor (nine), and a Royal Suite with a garden open-air bath. The inn’s history page also lists open-air-bath rooms added in the Kiseiden and Koseiden buildings, and a private open-air bath called Suisen, which is not advertised on the current bath pages, so do not count on it. Shared baths Tsuki no Yu and Hoshi no Yu were renovated in 2017. Not on Booking.com.

Awara Onsen Grand Hotel

あわら温泉グランドホテル

Reserve Yumemakura, the private bath, for 50 minutes at the desk on the day or by phone ahead. It is built with grab rails and a raised stool for guests who need care when bathing, and the hotel recommends it for families and couples. Rooms with their own open-air tub are also sold. No tattoo rule is published for the seven shared baths.

Best for: Families with small children, or anyone who needs a hand rail getting into the water

Yumemakura: 15:00 to 22:00, 2,500 yen for 50 minutes, book at the front desk on the day or by phone. Hand rail into the tub; some raised stools at the washing place. Chloride spring. The seven shared baths (Asakuramon, Shikibu no Yu, Ryusen-an open-air and others) run mostly 15:00 to 10:00. Guests may also bathe free at the sister inns Yuraku and Gurabatei by asking at the front desk. The site moved from awaragrandhotel.jp to awaraonsengrandhotel.jp.

Yuraku

あわらの隠れ宿 ゆ楽

There are two ways to bathe alone here. The paid private bath takes 50-minute bookings from staying guests, and the Kurokabe wing has rooms with their own open-air tub. Know that the inn’s FAQ says the private bath is not natural hot spring water, so for the Awara spring itself you need the room bath. No tattoo rule is published.

Note: The paid private bath is ordinary heated water, not hot spring water; the inn’s FAQ says so. For the Awara spring on your own, book a Kurokabe room with an open-air tub.

Best for: A cheaper private soak on a budget stay, if spring water is not the point

Private bath 1,500 yen for 50 minutes, overnight guests only; the FAQ states 貸切風呂は天然温泉ではありませんので、どうぞご了承ください。 The shared baths Konin no Yu, Hanako no Yu and Taro no Yu are a weak alkaline simple spring, heated and recirculated, 15:00 to 24:00 and 01:00 to 10:00 with a swap. The rooms page says room types cannot be chosen, so ask for the open-air-bath room directly. Day bathing 15:00 to 22:00 for 800 yen, private bath excluded. Sister inn of Awara Onsen Grand Hotel and Gurabatei.