Captivated by the notion of sitting in an onsen bath surrounded by snow, we recently took a trip to Gunma prefecture for an around-Valentine’sy-time vacation. Gunma prefecture is only a few hours north of Tokyo by bullet train and holds a good number of famous and esteemed onsen towns. Avoiding the most well known in favour of the available and budget-friendly, we booked a night at a Ryokan in the Sawatari Onsen town.
Up in the mountains and sprinkled with snow, the onsen town was crisp and fresh and almost entirely void of people.
We stayed the night at Sawatari Onsen Miyataya Ryokan. I was once again very impressed by the quality of lower-priced Ryokan rooms. We had a gorgeous room, with futons, complementary tea and cakes, a TV and heating, among other amenities.
Like kotatsu (heated blanket tables) for sleepy boys!
And beautiful mountain views!
My string of incredibly good onsen luck also continued at this Ryokan, as both times I went to visit the public onsen I found it deserted. Relaxing privacy, and the opportunity to sneak my camera in!
The indoor bath
and the outdoor bath!
Our reservation included breakfast, but not dinner. We asked for recommendations at the front desk as we went out to find food and were told there was a noodle restaurant right next to our ryokan. It turned out to be the only building with a light on we could spot on the entire mountain road.
Even so, the restaurant owners seemed surprised to have customers. Regardless they were friendly and the food was absolutely delicious.
The most chicken-noodle-soup-y udon I’ve ever had. I’m still dreaming of it.
Our breakfast spread in the morning was equally delicious, and extremely impressive. We had a private little room and table with the meal set beautifully before us.
After breakfast we left our cozy mountain and headed to explore around another onsen town, Shima-Onsen. The weather was crisp but sunny, the scene still and frosty, and the town itself beautiful.
This red bridge in front of an onsen apparently inspired the design of the long bridge in Ghibli’s Spirited Away!
And this was the public onsen we took a quick bath in after walking around the mountain’s upper, middle, and lower town sections. An extremely nice and very relaxing trip all and all!
Where's She Now? 