Ginsuiso Choraku

Choraku stands on a wooded rise above Arima; rooms are mostly Japanese-style, from about 32 sq m.

Arima has two waters; this inn draws both from its own sources. Its analysis gives the kinsen, the gold water, as an iron- and carbon-dioxide-bearing sodium chloride strong salt spring, colourless as drawn and browning in air; the ginsen, the silver, is a radon water at 22.27 Mache units. The house calls it 二泉十浴 — two springs, ten baths. The main bathhouse pairs a kinsen open-air pool with a ginsen indoor one and a dry sauna; Kunugi-no-yu, in its own building among the oaks, adds a standing bath, a walking bath and, in one of its two bathhouses, a ginsen steam room. Men’s and women’s sides swap morning and evening.

The reservable open-air bath carries both waters and seats four, 5,500 yen for 50 minutes; slots are named at check-in, though the inn advises booking ahead. Tattoos are refused in the communal baths, allowed only here. Choyoan, about 110 sq m, has its own ginsen open-air bath and steam room, and each of Shiki’s three detached sukiya rooms, for guests 13 and over, has a kinsen open-air bath, a ginsen half-open-air bath and a foot bath.

Dinner is kaiseki, changing monthly, served course by course in the room; breakfast is Japanese, with a Western tray for three parties a day, ordered by 16:00. Check-in 14:00, check-out 11:00. A free shuttle covers Arima, 7:00–22:00, on a call. Some staff handle English.