Okukinu Onsen

Okukinu is four separate inns scattered along the upper Kinu River, with no town around them, and all of them sit beyond a gate. At Meotobuchi the road becomes the Okukinu Super Rindo, a forest road closed to private cars, and Teshirozawa's own access page adds that ordinary taxis cannot go past Meotobuchi either. You leave the car at the free Meotobuchi parking lot or step off the city bus and walk. Kaniyu puts its inn 4.5 km and about 1 hour 20 minutes up the trail; Hatchonoyu says about 90 minutes; Nikkozawa, at about 1,400 m, says 1.5 to 2 hours; Teshirozawa, the farthest, says 2 to 2.5 hours and asks you to be at Meotobuchi by 13:00 so you are not hiking at dusk. Kaniyu and Hatchonoyu run shuttles on the forest road for their overnight guests (about 25 minutes to Kaniyu). Nikkozawa and Teshirozawa have no shuttle at all, and Teshirozawa's guests cannot ride the other two inns' vans. Nikkozawa is the old-fashioned one: phone bookings only, cash only, and two mixed outdoor baths. Kaniyu draws on five different springs. In snow, add 30 minutes to an hour to the walk.