Oomiya Ryokan

Oomiya Ryokan is about five minutes on foot from the Zao Onsen bus terminal, in the old centre of the town. The inn calls itself a retro ryokan with a Taisho-era feel and says its history goes back a thousand years. All 32 rooms are Japanese style, some with beds. The whole building is laid with tatami and has no lift, and no room has its own bath. The baths take the strongly acidic sulfur spring straight from the source: an egg bath, a source bath, and an open-air bath fed from a stone wall, which is closed from late November to early April. The men's and women's baths swap at set times and are open 24 hours. Dinner is kaiseki at tables in the Koto or Tarobe restaurant, with Yamagata beef grilled on a ceramic plate, as sukiyaki or as shabu-shabu. Day visitors can bathe from 12:00 to 14:00 for ¥880. Children below primary-school age cannot stay, tattoos are not allowed in the baths, and cards are accepted.