Into The Hot Water At Taenoyu Onsen

Read my previous posts on Taenoyu onsen here and here.

After settling down in our room, we decided to check out the hot spring baths Taenoyu has to offer. We took turns with Zaini and Raimie going to the baths first while I sat and relaxed in our room. After Zaini and Raimie came back, it was my turn to enjoy them. There's only one set of key so if one of us (the one holding the key) wasn't finished bathing yet, the others have to wait outside if we didn't take turns.

Although rooms at the ryokan were fully booked (there weren't that many rooms at the ryokan to begin with anyway), the baths were pretty quiet. When I went in, there were just a mother and her daughter enjoying the indoor bath. After I came out from the shower, they were gone and I got to enjoy the bath all to myself.

I guess we were pretty lucky to get the baths to ourselves most of the time because we can take photos of the baths uninterrupted. We wouldn't have dreamt trying to take any photos if there were people around!

The communal changing area. One in each side for each gender. Like the baths, the communal changing area of female and male are switched at 8.00am and 8.00pm daily. That means, guests can enjoy all the baths that Taenoyu has to offer. Mixed bath included. There are four baths that were gender segregated, two mixed and one private bath available here.

At the changing area, you put your slippers in the slippers cupboard, walk inside, take off all your clothes and place them in one of the baskets available there. There were towels available there for wiping your body dry afterwards.
Shower area. There were face cleanser, body wash, shampoo and conditioner available. Take a shower before you hit the bath. There were four shower stalls in each area with a cubicle so you do have a bit of privacy while washing up. Not that it matters as you'll soon be walking naked to get to the baths.

Rock style outdoor bath with a view of the mountain slope. I absolutely love this bath so much so that I took a dip there more than twice! This bath can be clearly seen from the corridor inside as it had a clear glass door instead of screens.

An indoor bath located on the upper floor with pebbles at the bottom of the bath. Both of these two baths are located in one section. The rock bath located on the lower level and the indoor bath on the upper level.

An indoor bath at the other section. At this section of the baths, you immediately enter towards the bath after changing out of your clothes to walk to the shower area. Might be a little bit intimidating for first timers if there were people around at the bath.

An outdoor bath where you can lie down and rest your head on one of the head rest and enjoy your bath in tranquility. These two baths were in the other section. I got to enjoy these two baths first before being able to enjoy the other two mentioned above later at night.

View from the private bath. The private bath can be reserved for an hour by staying guests. We chose to enjoy this facility after dinner at 8.00pm.

The mixed baths (two of them) were located next to the private bath. Both the private baths and the mixed baths were located in the middle between the segregated bath area. Ladies were allowed to wear a towel when enjoying the mixed bath while men can't.

A shrine located just outside the bath area.

After enjoying our bath after dinner, we slept like a baby. It was that good. Both Zaini and I woke up at 5.00am and excitedly went to the baths again. At 5.00am, there was only one male guest using the bath. It wasn't a total darkness because by 5.00am, the sun was already up in Japan. I went into the rock bath first before heading to the bath on the higher floor. By 6.00am, the mother & daughter guests that I saw the day before went in to enjoy their bath and I finished mine by 6.30am. Totally refreshed and looking forward to our breakfast at 7.30am.

A hot bath in the morning sure opens up my appetite! But you have to wait for post on our Japanese breakfast.