Tattoo friendly onsen in Myoko

Hotel Alpen Blick

ホテルアルペンブリック

Since 13 December 2025 the resort has let tattooed guests into every bath, the sauna and the cold plunge, on one condition: put a tattoo seal over it. The resort says the seal does not have to cover everything, and a tattoo too big to hide is fine as long as you cover what you can. Seals are sold at the hotel front desk.

タトゥーのある部分には、専用シールをお貼りください シールですべてを覆う必要はございませんが、できる範囲でのご協力をお願いします

Best for: A tattoo too large for any seal, in a shared open-air bath of black mud water

The same rule covers the hotel and the resort’s day spa next door, word for word, and applies to day visitors and staying guests alike. The FAQ asks for a seal even on a small one-point tattoo, and asks parents to cover or peel off children’s play tattoo stickers. The open-air bath is black mud water piped from Minami-Jigokudani; the indoor bath is the same spring settled and filtered clear. In winter a wall goes up around the open-air bath against freezing, so there is no view. Standard rooms have a tub but the hotel says they are for shower use only. The notice also bars organized-crime members outright.

Alpen Blick Spa

アルペンブリックスパ 日帰り温泉

Tattooed bathers are admitted to every bath and the sauna with a tattoo seal, sold at the spa’s front desk. The resort asks you to cover as much as the seals will reach and says in its FAQ that a tattoo they cannot fully hide is no problem.

対象エリア ホテルアルペンブリック、アルペンブリックスパ 日帰り温泉共に以下のすべてのエリアで同一ルールとなります。 大浴場(内湯) 露天風呂 サウナ 水風呂・その他温浴施設

Best for: A cheap soak and a nap after skiing Ikenotaira, with a sauna and a black-mud open-air bath

Adults 800 yen, children 400. Green season (April to mid-December) 09:00–22:00, last entry 21:30, closed Tuesdays; snow season (mid-December to March) 07:00–22:30, last entry 22:00. A nap pack for 4,400 yen runs in winter. Towel set 400 yen. The open-air bath is black mud water; the indoor bath is the same spring filtered to a clear simple spring. The Tsugumi izakaya and a shop are in the building. The sauna was out for repair until 5 September 2026.

Akakura Kanko Hotel

赤倉観光ホテル

The hotel publishes no tattoo rule for its large bath, so do not count on it. What it does publish is a family bath on the same free-flowing sulfur spring, free to staying guests and booked in 50-minute slots from 06:00 to midnight, plus rooms in two wings where every room has its own free-flowing open-air onsen bath on the terrace.

Best for: Bathing in milky sulfur water on your own terrace, above the clouds on a good morning

Family bath (家族浴室): free, for 2 to 4 people, no view, two washing places, 06:00–24:00 in 50-minute slots on the hour; book by email or phone before arrival, or at the bath entrance once you are in the hotel. Room baths: every room in the Premium wing (2016) and the SPA&SUITE wing (2009) has a free-flowing open-air onsen bath on its terrace. The renovated main-building onsen rooms have a semi-open-air or indoor onsen bath that you fill yourself, which the hotel says is not free-flowing. The largest Premium room, P4, adds a 38°C standing pool on the terrace that the hotel says is not hot spring water. Day visitors cannot buy bathing alone; only lunch or spa packages include the bath.

Akakura Hotel

赤倉ホテル

No tattoo rule is published for the shared baths. The hotel has two reservable family baths, staying guests only, at 2,200 yen an hour, booked through the front desk. One is semi-open-air. Both run on 100 percent free-flowing Akakura water.

Best for: An hour alone in free-flowing Akakura water at a village hotel with its own karaoke bar

Two family baths (貸切家族風呂), staying guests only, 08:00–22:00, 2,200 yen per hour; book at the front desk (extension 9). The site states the private bath and the smaller Rakuraku-no-yu indoor bath are 100 percent free-flowing. The Ishiwari-no-yu indoor bath is closed. The Annex opens only December to March. Day bathing is 1,000 yen when the baths are not reserved or crowded.

Kofukan

妙高・山里の湯宿 香風館

Kofukan publishes no tattoo rule for its shared baths. It does rent a private bath, KAI, for 2,200 yen per 50 minutes, booked by the hour from 07:00 to 23:00, and it takes same-day requests. Day visitors can rent it too, on top of the 800-yen bathing fee.

Best for: A cheap night near Myoko-Kogen STN with an hour in a private bath

Private bath KAI: 2,200 yen for 50 minutes; staying guests book on the hour 07:00–23:00, same day accepted; lunch day-trippers 11:00–15:00. A plan with one 50-minute private bath included starts at 14,300 yen. The water is a weak alkaline simple spring from Minami-Jigokudani, free-flowing, heated in winter. The shared baths (Yamazato-no-yu, Ka-no-yu, Kaze-no-yu) each have an open-air bath. The inn says the owner has worked in hotels abroad and the okami speaks English. Some rooms have a bath and toilet (1,650 yen extra); others share.

Ryokan Okayama

旅館おかやま

No tattoo rule is published for the shared baths. The inn’s answer is Donguri-no-yu, a private bath built all of hinoki with a view of Mount Myoko, 1,100 yen for 45 minutes. It cannot be booked ahead: ask at the front desk when you check in, and at busy times your hour may be taken.

Best for: Forty-five minutes alone in a cypress tub facing Mount Myoko, in any season

Donguri-no-yu private bath: 07:00–22:00, 1,100 yen per 45 minutes (the English page still says 1,050), booked at check-in only, open all year. The inn lists it among its hot spring baths and says all its water is free-flowing Akakura spring with nothing added. The Shirakaba open-air bath alternates men and women by the hour and closes November to mid-April; the indoor hinoki bath is open 24 hours. Guest rooms have shower booths or shared facilities, not tubs. No elevator.

Eho Ryokan

エホー旅館

No tattoo rule is published. What the inn does say, on its home page and its facilities page, is that its onsen can be taken privately: there are two small indoor baths, one each for men and women, and you arrange a private turn at the front desk. No fee is published for it.

Best for: A tiny ski inn across the road from the lifts, with home cooking and a bath the desk will give you to yourself

Two indoor baths of free-flowing Akakura water, open 24 hours except cleaning. Private use is arranged at the front desk (温泉の貸切利用やタオル類のレンタルなどもこちらで承ります); the site gives no price or time slots. Five tatami rooms; toilets and washing facilities are shared. Cash only at the inn. Winter cancellations: 100 percent from 90 days before arrival. Door locks at 22:00. Heating only, no air conditioning.