[Review] Hotel Sunshine Kinugawa

I visited this particular onsen on a weekend afternoon during the foliage season.

The building itself is a sort of landmark in the area given the fact that it stands overlooking the river and the hanging bridge.

I took a bit of a hike beyond the bridge onto the viewing platform and breathed in the scenery beneath me. Then I crossed the bridge back onto the main stretch of land, and went into the hotel.

They have a foot bath cafe on the ground floor right in front of the bridge, but I opted for the full onsen experience.

The interesting thing that sets them apart from the other onsens is the fact that they built their onsen on the upper floors. The onsens in the Kinugawa river area usually have the baths on their lowest floor for reasons I assume to be the cost efficiencies of plumbing and structural weight.

The front desk was empty when I approached it and the staff only appeared at the summon of the bell. But they were efficient and I was on in the elevator my way to the onsen in no time at all.

Honestly, I was a little surprised by how different the onsen looked compared to the official site images. The outdoor iwaburo was surrounded by a wooden fence of sorts and it obscured half of the available view (understandably so for privacy reasons). On their official photos it looked like the view was completely unobstructed.

It was not a major issue and I still very much enjoyed the baths.

As usual, I spent more time in the outdoor bath.

One thing that stood out was how there were baths of different temperatures in the outdoor bath. The outer area closer to the edge had a lower temperature. And then you wade inwards and cross a little threshold (it was still in the same bath) and the water becomes almost too hot to be comfortable.

For an autumn afternoon, this was perfect. I sank into a corner soaking all the way up to my chin. It felt like I dissolved into the waters while I watched the orange leaves peeking from the top of the wooden fence rustling in the wind.

The indoor bath, on the other hand, was an inverted L shape built attached to the glass. The wooden fences protected the view here too. The water flowed from the top of the L so sitting near the start of the flow felt like sitting in a mild river. The stream of water had an almost massage-like feeling to it. I stretched my body parallel to the current and closed my eyes for a bit enjoying it.

Interestingly, I met a sweet old lady while in the sauna. She was prescribed onsen therapy as a long term treatment for her injury from a car accident years ago and so she has a monthly plan with the hotel. Maybe I’ll meet her again if I make another visit.