Tattoo friendly onsen in Otaru

Otaru Retreat Kuramure by Onko Chishin

小樽リトリート 蔵群

Nothing about tattoos is published anywhere on this operator’s site. It does not need to be: all nineteen rooms have a spring bath kept at temperature around the clock, most of them semi-open-air, and the shared bathing is a single completely private rental with its own open-air tub, löyly sauna and cold bath. The one thing the FAQ does say about bathing is that the spring is for staying guests only, so nobody else will be in the building.

Best for: Nineteen rooms of different design, each with its own spring bath, in a building shaped after Otaru’s warehouses

Rebranded in 2026 under Onko Chishin; the architecture is Nakayama Makoto’s, and the 2026 rework added new sofas, desks and headboards per room. Six room types: semi-open-air suite, four-bed suite, junior suite, Japanese-Western suite, semi-open-air maisonette and onsen maisonette. Spring is a sodium and calcium chloride water. The rented bath is about 11.4 m² of open-air tub looking at the hills, with a löyly-capable sauna, cold bath and outdoor cooling space, at 11,000 yen for 90 minutes per room; there is also a fermented sawdust enzyme bath produced with Otaka Koso. Minibar drinks in the room are included. Infants sharing a bed are not accepted in several room types.

Otaru Kourakuen

おたる 宏楽園

The FAQ answers the question directly and refuses: guests with tattoos are asked to stay out of the large baths and the open-air baths, and the inn adds that this applies whether the tattoo is fashion or religious. Twenty-eight of its thirty-four rooms have an open-air bath of their own, usable from check-in to checkout, and that is the way to stay here. The rented bath, Kokage no Ideyu, is not covered either way by the refusal, so ask before counting on it.

大変申し訳ございませんが、当館では入れ墨（刺青）・タトゥーのあるお客様は、大浴場・露天風呂へのご入浴はご遠慮いただいております。ファッション目的・宗教的理由による入れ墨・タトゥーであっても、他のお客様に不快な思いを与えてしまう恐れがありますので、何卒ご理解ご協力いただきますようよろしくお願い申し上げます。

Best for: An open-air tub on your own veranda over a garden the inn has kept for decades

The inn draws its own well on the grounds, an alkaline simple spring at pH 8.4, about 80 tonnes a day from 500 m down. The source is only 27°C, so the water is heated and recirculated; the operator says it never dilutes with tap water and only rarely tops up from a spring on site. Two shared baths, Iwa-no-yu and Mori-no-yuya, each with an indoor bath, an open-air bath and a sauna, swapped between men and women, 15:00 to 24:00 and 05:00 to 10:30; Mori-no-yuya added a Finnish sauna. The rented bath Kokage no Ideyu is an 80 m² room with a large tub, a small sauna and a sitting area with sofa and television in the changing room, at 3,300 yen for 60 minutes plus 550 yen per extra 10 up to 90. Day-use bathing is by reservation only, 3,400 yen for adults and 2,200 for children, 15:00 to 21:00 for up to three hours. All rooms non-smoking.

Otaru Asari Classe Hotel

小樽朝里クラッセホテル

The hotel’s own bath page publishes no tattoo rule, but the Asarigawa Onsen association page for this hotel carries a flat refusal for the day-use bath, so treat the large bath as closed until the hotel itself says otherwise. What the hotel does publish is eleven rooms with a private spring bath, six with an open-air tub and five with an indoor one, on the same chloride water as the big bath. That is the booking to make.

Best for: A private spring bath in the room at a resort hotel with indoor tennis, squash and a pool downstairs

The bath is called Yawaragi-no-yu, a calcium and sodium chloride water the hotel describes as salty and colorless and close to seawater in composition. Open-air baths are rock-built, two on the women’s side, one in winter, and one on the men’s. L-shaped two-tier sauna at 85°C with an 18°C cold bath, and the sauna window looks at the open-air bath. Guest hours 11:00 to 24:00 and 05:00 to 09:00, no sauna in the morning. Day use is 1,500 yen for adults including 100 yen bathing tax and 700 for elementary age, weekdays 11:00 to 18:00 and weekends and holidays to 16:00; a bath-and-lunch set is 3,500 yen. The Asarigawa Onsen association’s page for this hotel adds “入れ墨・タトゥのある方はご利用いただけません” to the day-use listing.

Winkel Village

ウィンケルビレッジ

There is no shared bath on this site at all, so there is no rule to publish and none is published. The six condominiums each have a private open-air bath of undiluted natural spring water, which the operator says is held at a comfortable temperature at all times. The cottages and the pet cottage do not have one; book a condominium if the bath is the point.

Best for: A cabin with its own open-air spring tub and a covered terrace you can barbecue on in the snow

Six condominiums: Wakakusa, Hiyori and Kazahana for four; Ai and Kurumi for five; Mizuki for seven. They run from 40 to 87 m² excluding the terrace, some single-story, some two, with either a low table or chairs. Every terrace is roofed for year-round barbecue and has a fireplace guests can light themselves. There are also plain rental cottages with no spring bath, a dog-only cottage called Taro and a campsite. Occupancy counts everyone aged two and up, and day visitors count toward it.

Asarigawa Onsen Hotel

朝里川温泉ホテル

The hotel publishes no tattoo rule on its own site; the Asarigawa Onsen association does, refusing tattooed bathers in this hotel’s day-use bath, so plan around the large bath rather than testing it. The way in is the step-free family bath, which is real spring water, reserved by the hour, and sold to day visitors as well as guests. At 3,000 yen for sixty minutes it is the cheapest private spring bath a non-resident can book in this valley.

Best for: A step-free private spring bath booked by the hour, open to people who are not staying the night

The family bath is barrier-free, with low thresholds and grab rails, by reservation, 60 minutes at 3,000 yen; 11:00 to 21:00 for guests and 11:00 to 20:00 for day visitors with last entry 19:00. Day visitors pay extra per head above three people, and extra again if they also want the large bath. The large bath is a calcium and sodium chloride water, open 06:00 to 09:00 and 15:00 to 24:00 for guests, with a self-löyly Finnish sauna added in December 2023 (HARVIA Legend15 on the men’s side, KIP8 Black on the women’s) and a free-flowing cold spring bath at about 7°C. Day-use bathing 11:00 to 20:00, last entry 19:30, 850 yen for adults on weekdays and 1,000 on weekends and holidays, 400 and 500 for elementary age, 100 yen for preschoolers. Rooms are Japanese, Western and long-stay rooms with a mini kitchen. The jacuzzi in the indoor bath is off in the morning.