Mori, on the high ground above the town with the valley in front Ryokan ★★★☆☆

Sasara

紗々羅

Does Sasara allow tattoos? In a private bath

Private bath only

One of the two private baths here is hollowed out of a tree root the inn dates to seven hundred years, filled with Gero water and open to the night sky.

Sasara’s bath page repeats one line under each shared bath: guests with tattoos are firmly refused. It says nothing about the two reservable open-air baths or the rooms with tubs of their own, and the inn states that every bath it has, rooms included, runs on source water available around the clock.

Show this at the front desk

※刺青の入っている方のご利用は固くお断りしております。ご了承下さい。

The operator’s own wording, to show at the desk if you need to.

Where it is

Nagoya STN Hida, JR’s limited express on the Takayama line 1 h 50 Takayama STN Hotel location
Gero STN
Nagoya is the door, 1 h 40 from Tokyo and 50 minutes from Osaka on the Shinkansen. The Hida limited express runs up the Hida river valley to Gero in 1 h 50 and on to Takayama, where the Nohi Bus for Hirayu and the other Okuhida villages leaves from beside the station.. Sasara · map data © OpenStreetMap contributors · open in Google Maps

JR Takayama-Hokuriku Area Tourist Pass Five days for 19,800 yen on JR trains between Nagoya, Gero, Takayama and Toyama, with six reserved seats, which covers the Hida from Nagoya to Gero both ways. Worth it if Takayama, Shirakawa-go or Kanazawa is on the same trip. Sold on Klook.

What happens when you arrive

Skip the shared baths and reserve the private one the way this page describes. Once the door is closed, the bath is yours.

How we know

Confirmed from official site (repeated under each shared bath on sasara.co.jp/hot-spa.html). The line does not appear under the reservable baths.

Read on: sasara.co.jp/hot-spa.html

Best for: A private open-air bath carved out of a 700-year-old tree root

Two reservable open-air baths: a rock bath with a shower, and the Nekko bath hollowed out of the root of a tree the inn puts at 700 years old. The top-floor shared baths have a cypress open-air tub over the town, open 24 hours apart from cleaning. Rooms with their own open-air bath take meals in the room.

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