Private Villa Abrigo

Abrigo — Portuguese for hideaway — is the top three floors of a building in central Arima, let to one party at a time. Shops occupy the two floors below, and guests climb to the flat by a stair off a back lane. The lowest level holds the entrance, kitchen, living-dining room and a Japanese-style room sleeping five on futons; two twin bedrooms and the bathroom sit above, a rooftop terrace over the spa town on top. Nine at most; under-sixes needing no futon are not counted.

There is no hot spring here and the house says so outright: the bathroom is a plain unit bath. For 2,250 yen a head guests may use the large bath at Tosen Goshoboh, the group’s parent inn two minutes away, between 16:00 and 20:00. Goshoboh calls it free-flowing kinsen — the iron-bearing brown one of Arima’s two waters — blended from the Gosho and Netamu sources, 95°C at the mouth, indoor tubs separated by sex, opening onto a shared half-open-air section. Kin-no-yu, the town’s bathhouse, is ten seconds off.

No meals are served. The kitchen carries a rice cooker, microwave, fridge, pans, dishes and cutlery, and a convenience store is five minutes away. A hotpot prepared by the Goshoboh kitchen can be ordered at 4,400 yen a head.

Nobody is on site: check-in is at the Goshoboh desk from 16:00, and its materials give the last arrival as either 21:00 or 23:00. Check-out is 12:00. Arima Onsen station is five minutes on foot.