Takaragawa Osenkaku
unscoredno first-hand write-up in the thread
A rustic bath destination in Minakami and no luxury ryokan, which SeamasterLux, the one member who has stayed, says himself ("not luxurious by any means") while calling it a wonderful experience he would repeat, all for the large riverside mixed-gender rotenburo. The river runs through the middle of the property with the open-air baths along its banks, and the baths are why people come, since nobody has praised the rooms, the food or the polish. The soak in an extraordinary place is the memory he took away, and the inn around it is beside the point.
Scores
Food
Nobody in the thread has written about the food here.
Bath 4.5 / 5
The large mixed-gender open-air onsen is the reason people come, with the river flowing through the middle of the property. SeamasterLux calls the baths beautiful and the stay a wonderful experience ("What an experience!"), and he came back to the thread looking for anything comparable, without much luck. KI-NRT has never stayed, though he confirms Takaragawa Onsen is well regarded for exactly this kind of communal mixed-gender bath.
Service
Nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
Room
Nobody has described the rooms. SeamasterLux, the one member who has stayed, calls the property "not luxurious by any means", and that is all the thread says about the accommodation.
Place 4 / 5
The river flowing through the middle of the property, with the open-air baths on its banks, is the setting, and SeamasterLux calls it the highlight of the stay. Nothing else about the surroundings has been described in the thread.
Getting there
- Tokyo — ~2h, 1 transfer (estimated). Joetsu Shinkansen Tokyo->Jomo-Kogen ~1h15, local to Minakami, then ~30 min by car.
- Niigata — ~1h30, 1 transfer (estimated). Joetsu Shinkansen Niigata->Jomo-Kogen ~40 min, then ~30 min by car via Minakami.