Tattoo friendly onsen in Shimoda

Shimoda Bay Kuroshio

下田ベイクロシオ

This is the only operator in Shimoda that writes down a way in. The hotel asks that tattoos not be left exposed and accepts three ways of covering them: a proper cover seal, a supporter, or taping. It names no size limit and does not say whether it sells seals at the desk, so bring your own. The rule sits on the hot spring page and applies to the top-floor view bath and the open-air bath alike, which swap between men and women late at night.

当施設では、すべてのお客様に安心してお過ごしいただくため、タトゥー（刺青）の露出はご遠慮いただいております。ご利用の際は、専用カバーシールの使用やサポーターやテーピングによるカバーで、隠していただきますようお願いいたします。

Best for: A tattooed traveler who can cover the work and wants the bath on the top floor

The baths are on the top floor and switch between men and women late at night: a view bath over the bay and an open-air bath in the trees. Day use is 1,500 yen for adults and 600 yen for children over three, face towel included; returning after checkout is 500 yen and 300 yen. The operator warns it may turn day visitors away when the bath is busy, and day-use parking is separate. Shimoda Onsen, simple spring, diluted, heated and filtered.

Seiryuso

清流荘

Nothing on seiryuso.co.jp mentions tattoos, and a crawl of the site turned up no rule at all. What the inn does publish is a reservable open-air bath, Getsuseki-no-yu, at 1,650 yen for fifty minutes and free after 23:00, plus guest rooms with their own spring-fed open-air or indoor tub. Book one of those rooms or the reservable bath and the shared baths never come into it. The large open-air and indoor baths swap between men and women at midnight, so do not assume a quiet hour will solve the problem for you.

Best for: A traveler who wants a private tub booked by the fifty minutes and a 25-meter hot spring pool in the same stay

Three of the inn’s own sources feed the baths at 506 liters a minute, free-flowing, at 56.7°C, 43.3°C and 30°C, pH 8.2. Getsuseki-no-yu is a reservable open-air bath with an indoor tub beside it, 1,650 yen for 50 minutes, available 24 hours and free from 23:00. The 110-square-meter special room has its own source-fed indoor bath. Shared baths are closed for cleaning 11:00–14:00 and switch sides 23:30–00:00.

Nonohanatei Komurasaki

野の花亭 こむらさき

The inn takes five parties a night and every one of the five rooms has its own garden open-air bath fed at 100 percent source flow, with a second indoor tub and shower behind it. There is no shared bath here to be turned away from, and meals come to the room, so a tattooed guest never has to negotiate anything. The operator publishes no tattoo rule, which in this layout does not matter.

Best for: Two people who want the whole building to hold four other guests at most

Five rooms, all the same plan: a 2-mat entry, a 12.5-mat main room, a 6-mat sunken-kotatsu room, an indoor bath with a shower, a garden open-air bath and a washlet. Kobushi is the near corner room on the corridor and Kikyo the far one. Kaiseki dinner and breakfast are both served in the room.

Daichi-no-Irodori Kagetsutei

大地の彩 花月亭

Thirty pages of the inn’s site carry no tattoo rule, so the shared baths are an unknown and should be treated as one. The way in is a room with its own open-air bath: the single E-type suite, the D-type special rooms, or the standard open-air-bath rooms, all of which the operator lists as separate room grades. Ask for one of those grades by name when you book, because the plain Japanese-style rooms have no tub of their own.

Best for: Someone who wants a sunken hearth in the same room as the open-air tub

E type is one suite a night, over 100 square meters, a 20-mat Japanese-Western room with twin beds, a wood floor, an open-air bath and an irori hearth room, Simmons beds. D type is about 90 square meters with the open-air bath on a wood deck and a separate bedroom. Both sleep two to five. All rooms are non-smoking. Part of the Sukumo group.

Kannon Onsen

観音温泉

Thirty-six pages of kannon-onsen.com say nothing about tattoos, so the two shared bathhouses on the estate are not an answer for anyone with visible work. Book into the Pygmalion building, where every room has its own free-flowing open-air bath, or into the detached Ubusunatei, where rooms come with a cypress tub or an open-air tub of their own. The day-use bathhouses, Kannon Principle and Galatea, publish no rule either.

Best for: Someone who wants water soft enough to drink coming out of the tub in their own room

Three of the estate’s own sources, pH 9.5, soft enough that the operator bottles it and cooks with it. Four lodging buildings: Pygmalion (every room with a source-fed open-air bath), Shoun-kan, the main building, and the detached Ubusunatei, which has cypress-bath and open-air-bath rooms and takes small dogs. Ubusunatei sits about 200 meters from the main building with a shuttle. Two day-use bathhouses on site, Kannon Principle and Galatea. The road in is steep and remote.

Shimoda Yamatokan

下田大和館

This one is blunt: the hotel refuses tattooed guests in the large baths and the open-air baths, and it bars them from the summer pool as well. The stay still works if you take one of the rooms with its own open-air tub, of which there are five grades including a Shigaraki-ware tub, an Izu-stone tub and one on a powered lift, or if you reserve Spa Villa, the private open-air bath. Nothing on the site suggests a seal or a cover changes the large-bath answer.

刺青（ファッションタトゥーを含む）をされているお客様の大浴場及び露天風呂のご利用はお断りいたしております。

Best for: A surfer who wants the sand a minute away and a tub nobody else uses

The same page separately bars tattooed guests from the pool: 刺青(ファッションタトゥーを含む)をされた方の、プールのご利用はお断りさせていただいております。 Room grades with their own open-air bath are the 専用露天風呂付き特別室, the Shigaraki-ware and Izu-stone rooms, the western-style room and the powered-lift room. Spa Villa is the reservable open-air bath. The two large baths, Haruto and Tatado Winds, are closed 11:00–15:00 for cleaning and open to checked-out guests 15:00–18:00.

Shimoda Juraku Hotel

下田聚楽ホテル

Thirty pages of jyuraku.com carry no tattoo rule, so the shared stone and cypress baths are unresolved. Ten of the fifty-one rooms have a private open-air bath facing the harbor, and the top grade, the kihinshitsu, has a cypress tub of its own. Those rooms are the reliable route; the standard Wafukan rooms have the view but no tub.

Best for: Someone who wants to watch the harbor Perry sailed into from their own tub, then eat at a sixty-dish buffet

Fifty-one rooms, all facing Shimoda bay, ten with a private open-air bath. Four grades: kihinshitsu, 専用露天風呂付客室, Wafukan special room and Wafukan. The buffet restaurant reopened in December 2016 and runs to more than sixty dishes a day. Registered as a government-listed international tourist ryokan. Day-use bathing is 1,500 yen, 15:00–18:00. Run by Kawaguchi Juraku.

Satoyama-no-Bettei Shimoda Central Hotel

里山の別邸 下田セントラルホテル

The hotel’s own FAQ refuses tattooed guests in the large bath, fashion tattoos included, and the same FAQ says there is no reservable private bath on the property. That leaves exactly one way in: a room with its own open-air bath, which the operator sells as a distinct grade. Every room here draws the hotel’s own spring, so the room tub is real hot spring water rather than a plumbed bathtub.

※泥酔状態・入れ墨（ファッションタトゥー含む）のあるお客様のご入浴はお断りさせて頂いております。

Best for: A traveler who wants ten thousand tsubo of hill country and a tub on the deck of the room

The FAQ also answers 貸切風呂を利用できますか？ with ご用意がございません and says day-use bathing is not offered. The large bath is open around the clock except 11:00–15:00 for cleaning. Alkaline simple spring, pH 9.4, from the hotel’s own source; the water is used in the cooking and there is a drinking fountain. Bottled milk is free in the changing lounge 16:00–19:30. The open-air-bath rooms were added in the December 2013 renovation. Grounds run to about ten thousand tsubo with a pool, tennis courts and a stream.

Hotel Yamadaya

ホテル山田屋

The inn publishes a free reservable family bath, one cypress indoor tub, booked in forty-minute turns until midnight. You cannot reserve it in advance; you claim a slot at the front desk when you check in, so ask the moment you arrive. No tattoo rule appears anywhere on the site, which means the two large baths and the two garden open-air baths are an unknown rather than an invitation.

Best for: A traveler who does not want to pay extra for forty minutes alone in cypress

One reservable cypress indoor bath, free, forty minutes a party, last turn at 24:00, booked at check-in only. Shared baths are two large baths and two garden open-air baths, men and women separate, 15:00 to 09:30 the next morning. Shimoda Onsen, simple spring, hypotonic weak alkaline.

Kurofune Hotel

黒船ホテル

Thirty-six pages of the hotel’s site say nothing about tattoos, so treat the shared baths as undecided. The hotel sells two kinds of room that settle it anyway: three detached maisonettes, each with its own open-air bath on the lower floor, and open-air-bath rooms in the east wing. The Kurofune Suite goes furthest, with a dry sauna, a cypress indoor bath and a stone open-air bath inside the room.

Best for: A couple who want a sauna, a cypress tub and a stone open-air bath without leaving the room

The three maisonettes are Uro, with a true-oval cypress tub; Onjaku, finished in white stone with far-infrared and low-radiation mineral stone set into the tub; and Misago, with an Izu-stone open-air tub and a 10-mat Japanese room. Each is 50 square meters upstairs and 20 downstairs plus the bath. The Kurofune Suite, renovated December 2022, has twin beds, a stone open-air bath, a cypress indoor bath and a four-person dry sauna with self-loyly. There are also pet rooms and an indoor dome pool.

Shimoda View Hotel

下田ビューホテル

Twenty-two pages of the hotel’s site carry no tattoo rule, so the four shared baths are not a safe bet. The room list includes a 10-mat Japanese room with its own open-air bath, offered in three different tub styles, and that grade is the one to ask for. Dinner and breakfast are both served in the room, so a stay can be built without crossing the bathhouse at all.

Best for: A traveler who wants sunrise over the sea from the room and both meals brought to it

Shared baths are Momoyama, finished in granite and rose marble, and a sea-view bath in black granite, each with an adjoining open-air bath, Rakuto-no-yu and Gozan-no-yu. Two cypress tubs were added to Gozan-no-yu in July 2013, used by men at night and women in the morning. All baths run 05:00–11:00 and 13:00–25:00, simple spring. The operator’s site answers on https://viewhotel.co.jp only; the www host serves a blank server page.

Hotel Izukyu

ホテル伊豆急

The hotel lists a reservable private bath among its facilities and says some facilities need booking ahead, so ask when you reserve the room. Read the hot spring answer in its FAQ carefully before you count on the room: the hotel states plainly that the bath in the guest rooms is not hot spring water. The private bath and the open-air bath draw a weak alkaline sulfate spring that rises on the site, while the large baths are piped from Rendaiji. No tattoo rule appears anywhere on the hotel’s site.

Note: The bath in the guest rooms is not hot spring water; the hotel says so. Its reservable private bath and the open-air baths are on the spring, diluted and heated.

※客室のお風呂は温泉ではございません。

Best for: A beach day that ends in a booked private tub rather than a shared one

The FAQ lists a 貸切風呂 among the facilities and warns that some need advance booking. Two waters: a simple spring piped from Rendaiji for the large baths, and a weak alkaline sulfate spring from the site for the open-air and private baths; both are diluted, heated and recirculated. The bath in the guest rooms is not hot spring water at all. Large baths run 15:00–24:00 and 05:00–10:00. A free shuttle runs from Izukyu Shimoda station from 14:00, about ten minutes. All rooms non-smoking, no pets. Sister properties are Le-Nessa Akazawa and Le-Nessa Jogasaki in Ito.