湯元館民宿 (Yumotokan)

The foreigner staff were warm and welcoming while the Japanese staff (whom I assumed was the owner) was more reserved. This maybe simply due to the language barrier. Our proper interaction with the Japanese staff was when he informed us that an additional onsen/accom tax needed to be paid because it had been miscalculated earlier. The food was average. Guests staying in the higher-priced rooms could choose a beef meal, while the lower-priced rooms offered pork and chicken options. There were two functioning private onsen, which was a nice. One downside was that the property did not offer luggage storage after check-out.

It's walkable from Hirayu Onsen Bus Terminal. I don't think it's far. Along the way, there are also a couple of public foot baths you can stop by. On 永安, only rooms with shared bathrooms seem to be available, but they also have rooms with private bathrooms. I think you'll need to book through their official website if you want that option. The meal included with our room is fairly basic such as tonkatsu or beef curry. However, if you book a room with a private bathroom, you can choose meals like grilled beef or beef sukiyaki instead. The onsen water contains a lot of mineral sediment (I guess that maybe a good thing?) The bathroom facilities, though, are quite old.

Will not know the type of room (with attached toilet or not) when booking as it mentioned that it will be allocated randomly which is inconvenient for solo travellers. Food was mediocre and I even found plastic in the potato salad, hence decided to skip breakfast. Breakfast only starts from 07:30 which you will missed 2 busses into Kamikochi defeating the purpose of staying close to Kamikochi. Indoor public onsen is very mouldy and unappealing which explains why there is no one there to use it. Private onsen doesn’t come with shower, and it’s extremely dark pathway that they will give you a torch to find your way, feels eery at night, in the day looks beautiful but unable to validate the cleanliness of the water