onsen hotel OMOTO
Does onsen hotel OMOTO allow tattoos? In a private bath
From its hilltop in Asama Onsen, OMOTO faces the Northern Alps from baths on the seventh and eighth floors, and keeps one fully enclosed cypress bath for private use at ¥2,200 for 45 minutes.
OMOTO publishes no tattoo rule. It has a fully enclosed private cypress bath, ¥2,200 for 45 minutes, booked by time slot at check-in, and it takes advance bookings from guests who cannot use the large baths. One top-floor corner room has its own open-air bath with free-flowing spring water.
The bath
The water is a mildly alkaline simple spring, clear, with a source temperature of 48.2 degrees C. The hotel lists it for neuralgia, muscle and joint pain, poor circulation and fatigue.
The private bath is a fully enclosed room with a cypress tub, meant for couples and families with small children. It costs ¥2,200 for 45 minutes and is booked by time slot when you arrive. Guests who cannot use the large baths can reserve it before the stay. The hotel's 12.5-mat room with an open-air bath, a corner room on the top floor, has a tub fed free-flowing from the source and shares its floor with the view bath.
The two large baths are on the seventh and eighth floors and look across Matsumoto to the Northern Alps. They swap between men and women between 9:30 and 10 p.m. and are open from 3 p.m. to 9:30 the next morning. The eighth-floor bath is floored in Oya stone and has the open-air bath, a rock tub paved with flat teppeiseki stone. The seventh floor leads out to a rooftop Finnish sauna with a window on the mountains, a cold plunge and a deck; the eighth has an indoor sauna with its cold plunge outside.
The hotel
OMOTO stands on high ground with rooms facing either the Northern Alps and the city or the hills behind Asama. Rooms include 12.5-mat Japanese rooms, Japanese-Western rooms with low Simmons beds, compact Western doubles and twins, an annex of 10-mat rooms and large rooms of 21 and 26 mats for groups. The ground-floor lounge seats about 50 and serves breakfast from 7 to 9:30 a.m., and the casual restaurant HAKKO is reached from the third floor. The hotel closes on some days each month and posts them on its site.
Good to know
- Reserve the private bath ahead if you cannot use the large baths; otherwise slots are given out at check-in.
- A free bus runs to Matsumoto Station at 8:30 and 9:30 a.m.; tell the front desk. There is no pickup on the way in.
- Sauna wear rents for ¥500 at the front desk, and the rooftop sauna is for staying guests only.
- No day-use bathing. The hotel points day visitors to Biwa-no-yu, a 1-minute walk away.
Getting there
From Shinjuku take the JR Chuo Line limited express Azusa to Matsumoto, about 2 hours 30 to 40 minutes. The hotel recommends the city bus from stand 23, straight ahead out of the station's Oshiro (castle) exit; it names no stop and gives no walking time. A taxi from the station takes 15 to 20 minutes and costs about ¥2,000 to ¥2,500 by the hotel's estimate. Going back, a free hotel bus leaves for the station at 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. From Nagoya the limited express Shinano reaches Matsumoto in about 2 hours.
Matsumoto STN · JR Chuo Line (Azusa limited express)
Not walkable.
Asama line bus from stand 23 at the station's Oshiro exit plaza, or a taxi of 15 to 20 minutes (about ¥2,000 to ¥2,500); free hotel bus to the station at 8:30 and 9:30 a.m.
Where it is
Asama Onsen bus stop
- Azusa limited express 2 hr 35 min
- Alpico bus 25 min
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- JR East Pass from ¥35,000 · 5 or 10 consecutive days Covers the Azusa, JR’s limited express from Shinjuku to Matsumoto, with a reserved seat.
- Miso factory tour and lunch in Matsumoto A guided half day at Ishii Miso, a miso maker more than 150 years old, with lunch.
- 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, or reserve a private bath at the front desk when you check in.
How we know
Bath layout confirmed, tattoo policy not published Checked on the official site (: the hot spring page gives the private bath's price, minutes and booking, and the rooms page describes the room with an open-air bath)
Best for: a private cypress bath you can reserve ahead if the large baths are not an option
The private bath is a fully enclosed room with a cypress tub, ¥2,200 including tax for 45 minutes, sold by time slot on arrival that day. The hotel says guests who cannot bathe in the large baths may book it in advance. The 12.5-mat Japanese room with an open-air bath is a corner room on the top floor, on the same floor as the view bath, and its tub runs free-flowing from the source. The large baths are open 3 p.m. to 9:30 a.m. and swap between men and women from 9:30 to 10 p.m. No day-use bathing or day-use sauna. Guests with a medical reason may wear a bathing cover garment in the baths.
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