Where to stay & onsen
We recommend one night at a hot-spring inn.
We recommend one night at a hot-spring inn.
The choice is really about what kind of night you want. A hot-spring inn feeds you twice and stops you moving. A city hotel is the right answer if you are arriving late or leaving early.
Dinner and breakfast brought to you, a bath, and floor bedding laid out while you eat. The price is per person and includes both meals.
Clean, small, reliable and priced per room. Right for early trains, late arrivals and anyone travelling with a large suitcase.
Family-run, cheaper, and often the only option in the countryside.
Our first choice in Fukui is named below.
This is the one to aim for in Fukui, and it is the easy way into a hard place. Eiheiji is a working Zen training monastery where monks live under a strict rule, and this inn stands at its gate. It opened in 2019, has only eighteen rooms, and was built using cedar cut from the temple’s own grounds. You can sit zazen, copy sutra, and go to the morning service — then come back to a large bath and a proper bed.
Come here for the practice with a proper bed at the end of it. This is a hotel at the temple gate, run as a hotel. You get the practice with a proper bed at the end of it. If you want the stricter version, see Koyasan in Wakayama, where you sleep inside the temple itself. Eiheiji has its own opening hours and its own rules about photography inside the halls — ask at the inn before you walk up.
Checked 2026-08-17