Wat Hotel & Spa Hida Takayama
ワットホテル＆スパ飛騨高山
Does Wat Hotel & Spa Hida Takayama allow tattoos? In a private bath
Wat Hotel & Spa trucks spring water from Hidamari-no-yu in northern Takayama to its roof, where four open-air family baths named for Alpine peaks are free to any guest who finds one empty.
Wat Hotel's lodging terms refuse guests with tattoos in the large bath. The way to bathe here is one of the four family baths on the roof: each is a private open-air hot spring tub, free, with no booking, used whenever it stands empty. The refusal is written in the rules for the large bath only, so ask the front desk if you want the family baths confirmed for you.
The bath
The hotel has no spring of its own. It carries source water by truck from Hidamari-no-yu, a spring in the north of Takayama, and uses it in the large bath, the open-air bath and the family baths. The water is a sodium bicarbonate and chloride spring, weakly alkaline and low in temperature. The hotel says it heats the water when the season calls for it, circulates and filters it to keep the tubs even, and adds a chlorine agent.
The four family baths sit on the roof: Kasa-no-yu, Yari-no-yu, Okuho-no-yu and Norikura-no-yu. Each is a private open-air tub with a shower and its own changing room. They cost nothing and cannot be reserved. When one is empty you go in. Hours are 3 p.m. to 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. to noon. Because the tubs are outdoors, the hotel warns that winter air is cold, and from the first frosts the showers are turned off, leaving the tub alone.
The large bath, Hotaka-no-yu, keeps the same hours. Its indoor tub stands behind a wall of glass and it has an open-air tub beside it. The women's side opens with a passcode. A lounge by the baths stays open around the clock, with vending machines, coin laundry and an ice machine.
The hotel
Wat Hotel & Spa Hida Takayama opened on April 26, 2018. It sells eleven room types, from a 21 square meter standard twin to triples, a Hollywood twin, a suite and an accessible room, all non-smoking with Simmons mattresses. The 2nd-floor restaurant Lamp serves a breakfast buffet for ¥1,000 and turns into a free sitting room for the rest of the day. The lounge Sora looks toward the Northern Alps; it is free by day and a self-service bar from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. for ¥2,000. There is no room service and no dinner restaurant.
Good to know
- No booking, no fee. A family bath is yours whenever you find one empty, until 1 a.m. and again from 6 a.m. to noon.
- In winter the family bath showers are off, so wash in your room first and use the roof tub for soaking.
- Parking for 45 cars is on site, ¥800 a night from noon to noon.
- A convenience store and a large supermarket are each about 5 minutes away on foot, by the hotel's count.
Getting there
From Nagoya Station the JR Hida limited express on the Takayama Main Line takes 2 hours 20 minutes to Takayama Station, by the hotel's table; it counts about 3 hours 20 minutes from Shin-Osaka by Shinkansen and Hida. Leave Takayama Station by the Norikura exit, the east side, turn right and walk 7 minutes. Highway buses from Nagoya arrive at the Takayama Nohi Bus Center in 2 hours 30 minutes, also 7 minutes on foot. The hotel lists no shuttle.
Takayama STN · JR Takayama Main Line
7 minutes from the Norikura (east) exit, turning right.
No shuttle listed; the Takayama Nohi Bus Center is the same 7-minute walk.
Where it is
Takayama STN
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- JR Takayama-Hokuriku Area Tourist Pass ¥19,800 · 5 consecutive days Worth it if Gero, Shirakawa-go or Kanazawa is on the same trip.
- 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
Skip the shared baths and use one of the private baths. No reservation needed.
How we know
Confirmed from official site (lodging terms, Article 11, rules for the large bath; the family baths are described on the hot spring page and the FAQ)
1.入れ墨又はタトゥーのある方のご利用をお断りさせていただきます。
This is the rule for the shared baths. It doesn’t apply to the private baths.
Best for: four free private open-air baths on a hotel roof, no reservation
The four family baths are Kasa-no-yu, Yari-no-yu, Okuho-no-yu and Norikura-no-yu, named for peaks of the Northern Alps. They are free, open 3 p.m. to 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. to noon, and taken first come: walk in when one is empty. Each has an open-air hot spring tub and a shower; in winter the showers are shut off against freezing and the tubs are for soaking only. The spring water is trucked in from Hidamari-no-yu in the north of Takayama, circulated, chlorinated and heated in cold weather. No day visits.
Book your stay
- BBooking.comCheck availability
- AAgodaCheck availability
- TTrip.comCheck availability
- EExpediaCheck availability
- HHotels.comCheck availability
- KKlookCheck availability
Booking through these links costs you nothing extra and earns us a small commission, which keeps this guide free and up to date for our tattoo community. Thanks for your support.