Arima Onsen Gekkoen Yugetsusanso

Stayed here 2 nights and had a very relaxing and laid-back visit. Took the bus from Sannomiya in Kobe to Arima Onsen for about an hour (about 700 yen). Used Google Maps to find the place (what will register is Arima Onsen Korokan - it’s the same compound). It’s about a 10 minute easy uphill walk to the hotel from the bus stop, though you can get a free pick up from the hotel if you have a phone. The room is charming. It’s quite spacious for a ryokan, and comes with a sitting area with a window with a view of the mountains. The beddings are very comfortable and yakutas, wooden slippers, socks are provided for the duration of stay. There is a bridge that connects the big building to the back area building. Our room was in the back area. Here, there is an outdoor onsen for women, plus an indoor onsen. In the main building, there is an indoor and outdoor onsen, but the design is grey tile instead of rustic stone and wood. Each one has both a silver and gold water onsen. I preferred using the small onsen room in the back building because it was less crowded. In the main building, the lounge area in front of the onsen area on the second floor has electric massage chairs and beds that can be used for free (in other onsens we tried, it’s at least 100 per 10-20 min use). The massage beds were very relaxing and I really enjoyed using it. There are many bath, skincare and hair care products in the women’s onsen (hair growth serum, face moisturizers, BB cream, liquid soap, shampoo, conditioner). There is a digital scale, water cooler and towels. I didn’t need to use my own toiletries the whole stay. Our room included buffet breakfast and dinner. An area for improvement is they need to replenish the buffet items. We took the last time slots for all our meals and most of the times, many items were no longer available or there were no plates left so people would use the trays instead. Wifi signal is also not too strong, but maybe because of the mountainous location of Arima Onsen. There’s not much to do in town so if you want to getaway and relax, this is a great option to consider. At checkout, we were given a free ride to the bus station to go to the outlet stores before going back to Osaka.