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Kumamoto Castle

Where to stay & onsen

We recommend one night at a hot-spring inn.

Three kinds of nightWhere to stay in Kumamoto

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.

A ryokan or hot-spring inn

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.

Includes 2 meals Book ahead
See ryokan and onsen inns › How an onsen works

A city hotel

Clean, small, reliable and priced per room. Right for early trains, late arrivals and anyone travelling with a large suitcase.

Per roomNear the station
See hotels in Kumamoto › Getting around

A guesthouse or minshuku

Family-run, cheaper, and often the only option in the countryside.

Ask about cashRural areas
See guesthouses and minshuku ›

Our first choice in Kumamoto is named below.

Looking for a room in Kumamoto tonight?

MAP How an onsen works

BookingSix things worth asking before you pay

Ask about these

Meals
Whether dinner and breakfast are included, and what time dinner is served. Inns often serve at a fixed time and will not wait
Tattoos
Ask whether the bath admits them, and ask about a private bath
Private bath
Kashikiri. Many inns have one, and it removes the question of bathing with strangers entirely
Payment
Card or cash. Rural inns are often cash only
Arrival time
Tell them. Inns lock up earlier than hotels
Luggage
They will hold it before check-in and after check-out. Just ask

What a night at an inn is like

Shoes
Off at the entrance. Slippers inside; nothing on the straw matting
The robe
A cotton yukata is provided and is worn to dinner and to the bath. Left side over right
Dinner
Many small dishes, often in your room or a dining room at a set time
Bedding
Laid out on the floor, usually while you are eating
Bathing
Before dinner and again before bed is normal here
Breakfast
Rice, fish, egg, pickles. Ask the night before if you need it early
How an onsen works

Our first choice hereThe one we would book

Sozankyo, Aso Uchinomaki Onsen

You are inside the caldera, so you can be on the rim before sunrise. The water runs straight through the baths without being recycled.

  • Inside the crater — nobody coming out from the city can reach the rim in time.
  • 22 rooms, so it is small enough to feel like an inn rather than a hotel.
  • Hot-spring water run straight through.
Where
Uchinomaki, inside the Aso caldera — you are sleeping in the crater
Address
145-1 Uchinomaki, Aso, Kumamoto 869-2301
Telephone
0967-32-0515
Booking
Through the official site, or the booking services below
Worth knowing

The inn sits on the flat floor of the caldera, with the rim standing all around it.

Checked 2026-08-20

MAP Call Official site

Where to go next

Places to see› Food & restaurants› Where to stay & onsen› Getting around› With children / with parents› Back to Kumamoto› Oita› Kagoshima› Fukuoka› Miyazaki›
Photo: Kumamoto Castle by 663highland (CC BY 2.5), via Wikimedia Commons
Photo credits and licences
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