Sun Urashima Yuki no Sato
サン浦島 悠季の里
Does Sun Urashima Yuki no Sato allow tattoos? In a private bath
Sun Urashima sits on Ikaura Bay among the oyster rafts and draws two springs of its own. Its special rooms have open-air tubs fed from them, and three private baths, one inside a karaoke room, are booked by the session.
Sun Urashima publishes no tattoo rule, so the shared baths of its Marobine-an bathhouse are not the plan. It has three private baths, each booked for a session, and a run of special rooms with an open-air bath fed from the inn's own spring.
The bath
The inn has three private baths, all reserved, all starting on the hour, and all with towels. Urara-sansan is an open-air tub built into a karaoke room, so you can sing before or after; the photo shows a broad tub of carved pale stone against a bamboo screen. It costs ¥3,300 for 50 minutes. Saishi-no-yu is an indoor family bath with a large tub, which the inn suggests for small children, at ¥2,200 for 40 minutes. San-no-yu stands in the woods outside the building, has no toilet, and opens only from April to June and October to December, at ¥3,300 for 50 minutes. The inn's spring table names the large baths, the open-air baths and some rooms as fed with the spring; it does not name the private baths.
The special rooms on the 6th to 9th floors of the main building have an open-air bath of the inn's spring, one of them barrier-free. The Mizu no Hoshi annex adds two special rooms with an open-air bath, one in cypress.
The inn draws two springs on its own land: one tapped in 1989, which it calls the oldest in Toba, and a second tapped in 2014, both alkaline simple springs, of pH 9.5 and 9.8, heated and circulated. They fill the bathhouse Marobine-an, reached along a wooden corridor.
The hotel
A ryokan on Ikaura Bay in Uramura, where oyster rafts float in front of every room; the inn says all its rooms face the sea, and some have the spring piped in. Besides the main building's special rooms there are Japanese rooms on the 6th to 8th floors and the Mizu no Hoshi annex of Japanese-Western rooms.
Good to know
- Book a private bath ahead; all three are by reservation.
- The forest bath San-no-yu opens only April to June and October to December.
- Inn bus from Toba Station at 3, 4 and 5 p.m., about 20 minutes, booked ahead.
Getting there
Take the Kintetsu limited express from Kintetsu Nagoya to Toba, about 1 hour 30 to 1 hour 40 minutes. From exit 1 of Kintetsu Toba Station the inn's bus, marked Yuki no Sato, leaves at 3, 4 and 5 p.m. and takes about 20 minutes; book it in advance. It returns to the station at 9, 10 and 11 a.m. By car, follow Route 42 from Toba toward the Pearl Road for about 15 minutes to the white Asonoura Bridge; the entrance is about 450 meters past it on the left.
Toba STN · Kintetsu Toba Line (limited express from Kintetsu Nagoya)
Not walkable.
Inn bus from Kintetsu Toba exit 1 at 3, 4 and 5 p.m., about 20 minutes, reservation needed.
Where it is
Hotel bus stop
- Kintetsu limited express 1 hr 35 min
- hotel bus about 20 min
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- Kintetsu Rail Pass, 5 days ¥4,900 Worth it if you’re coming from Osaka, or stopping at Ise or Nara on the way. It covers Kintetsu trains between Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Ise, Toba and Nagoya; the limited express seat is extra, about ¥1,340 from Nagoya or ¥1,640 from Osaka. From Nagoya and back, ordinary tickets cost less.
- Ise Grand Shrine and Toba Aquarium day tour Ise Grand Shrine, the Wedded Rocks at Futami, and Toba Aquarium or Mikimoto Pearl Island, from Nagoya.
- 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.
How we know
Bath layout confirmed, tattoo policy not published Checked on the official site ()
Best for: a sea-facing room on Ikaura Bay with an open-air tub of the inn's own spring, away from the Toba hotel strip
Private baths, all by reservation and with towels: the open-air Urara-sansan, inside a karaoke room (50 minutes, 3,300 yen); the indoor Saishi-no-yu (40 minutes, 2,200 yen); and the forest bath San-no-yu outside the building (50 minutes, 3,300 yen, April to June and October to December only), all starting on the hour. The inn's spring table lists the large baths, the open-air baths and some rooms as fed with the spring, and does not list the private baths. Rooms with a spring open-air bath: special rooms on the 6th to 9th floors (one barrier-free), plus two special rooms in the Mizu no Hoshi annex; a 6th-floor barrier-free Western room and a 1st-floor annex room have an indoor spring bath. Both springs are heated and circulated. Day bathing 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., 2,200 yen.
Book your stay
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