Kamai Onsen Ippen-an

Perched on a rise overlooking the Sea of Japan in Kamai, Kumihama-cho, Kyotango City, in the far northwest of Kyoto Prefecture, Ippen-an is a secluded hot-spring inn that welcomes only seven groups a day. Kamai Beach is about a three-minute walk away, and the nearby Fukushima Shrine, revered for prayers for safe childbirth, has lent the inn's bath its affectionate name, the "bath of fertility." With every room built as a detached cottage, it is prized as a hideaway for quiet, private stays.

The water is drawn from the inn's own source, Choja-no-yu, a sodium-calcium chloride spring with a faintly cloudy, milky character. From the large public bath to the private open-air baths in each room, it is served at 100 percent free-flowing kakenagashi, and the chloride spring's strong heat-retaining effect keeps bathers warm long after leaving the water. It is said to relieve nerve pain, poor circulation, joint pain, women's ailments and fatigue (pH and source temperature are not publicly disclosed).

All seven detached rooms are fitted with a cypress indoor bath and a free-flowing open-air bath, and the inn also offers a large public bath, a private bath, a rock sauna and a milky spring available around the clock. It operates essentially as an overnight inn, with rates from 29,160 yen per person including two meals. Check-in is at 15:00 and check-out at 11:00, with free parking for seven cars.