Sunhills Mikawawan
サンヒルズ三河湾
Does Sunhills Mikawawan allow tattoos? In a private bath
Sunhills Mikawawan is a 21-room hotel on the Miya Onsen hillside with three suites that have a hot spring bath of their own: one in cypress, one a Shigaraki pot, one a modern round tub at the window.
The hotel publishes no tattoo rule for its large bath. Three of its 21 rooms are suites with a view bath of hot spring water inside the room, and those are the rooms a tattooed guest should book. Guests in the other rooms have the large bath only.
The bath
Three suites have what the hotel calls a view hot spring bath. Guests in them can bathe in the spring at any hour of the stay, with the town and the bay in the window. The tubs differ. The Modern Suite Hinoki has a cypress tub in a Japanese-Western room the hotel suggests for three generations traveling together. The Modern Suite Shigaraki has a pot tub of Shigaraki pottery. The Mikawa Bay View Suite has a tub the hotel calls stylish and says its women guests rate highly. A photo on the rooms page shows a round white tub with two molded seats under a steel spout, set against a stone-clad wall and a wide pane of glass.
The water is Miya Onsen's Bihakusen. The hotel tells the story that the priest Gyoki found the spring in the Nara period, some 1,200 years ago.
The large bath has an open-air tub beside it that looks over the ridgelines, the streets of Gamagori and Takeshima island in the bay. It is open from 3:30 p.m. to midnight and from 6 to 9:30 a.m. Day visitors may bathe from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for ¥700, children ¥400, with a welcome drink in the lobby; a towel rents for ¥170 and a bath towel for ¥220.
The hotel
The hotel has 21 rooms and describes itself as small on purpose, a place for a quiet stay and the view from the window. Besides the three suites there are deluxe rooms and Japanese rooms of ten and eight mats, some with twin beds. It is a member hotel of a resort club network. Laguna Ten Bosch is 5 minutes by car and Takeshima 10. The hotel says it is the closest one to the giant statue of Kobo Daishi that can be seen from the Shinkansen. Wi-Fi is free throughout, and the 37-space car park is free.
Good to know
- Only three rooms have the private spring bath: the two Modern Suites and the Mikawa Bay View Suite.
- Day bathing is ¥700, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with a welcome drink.
- Shuttle from Mikawa-Miya Station at 3, 4 and 5 p.m.; back to the station at 8:50 and 10 a.m.
- The bus stop is a steep 10-minute walk away, and a taxi from the station is about ¥1,000.
Getting there
From Nagoya, take the JR Tokaido Line to Mikawa-Miya, the station after Gamagori. The hotel's shuttle leaves the station at 3, 4 and 5 p.m. every day and returns at 8:50 and 10 a.m. A taxi from Mikawa-Miya takes about 7 minutes and costs about ¥1,000. Buses from Mikawa-Miya and Gamagori stations stop at Miya Onsen-mae, from where it is a 10-minute walk up a steep slope. By car the hotel counts about an hour from Nagoya by the Otowa-Gamagori interchange.
Mikawa-Miya STN · JR Tokaido Line
Not walkable from the station; 10 minutes uphill from the Miya Onsen-mae bus stop.
Hotel shuttle at 3, 4 and 5 p.m.; taxi about 7 minutes, about ¥1,000.
Where it is
Hotel shuttle stop
- JR Tokaido line 50 min
- hotel's shuttle about 1 km
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- JR Mt. Fuji-Shizuoka Area Tourist Pass Mini ¥6,500 · 3 consecutive days Worth it only if Shizuoka or Mount Fuji is on the same trip.
- Japan Rail Pass from ¥53,000 · 7, 14 or 21 days For a trip that takes in several regions by Shinkansen and JR lines.
What happens when you arrive
Use the bath in your room.
How we know
Bath layout confirmed, tattoo policy not published Checked on the official site (rooms and hot spring pages):
Best for: a small, quiet hotel where one of three suites gives you a spring-fed tub over Gamagori and the bay
The three suites are the Mikawa Bay View Modern Suite Hinoki (a cypress tub), the Modern Suite Shigaraki (a Shigaraki pottery pot tub) and the Mikawa Bay View Suite. The hotel says the ten-mat, eight-mat and twin Japanese rooms use the large bath only. Large bath hours are 3:30 p.m. to midnight and 6 to 9:30 a.m. Day visitors are admitted 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for 700 yen, bath tax included, with irregular closing days.
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