Ikariya Ryokan

Located in the middle of the hot spring town of Shibu Onsen, opposite the famous inn Kanaguya (is it similar to the design of that building in the Ghibli anime?), and right next to the largest bath in the outdoor baths. It was founded in the Taisho era, and is a three-story wooden building with a hot spring in the basement and only stairs. There are only a few rooms, and the staff is also quite limited, even though it is summer vacation. Even so, I got the impression that they were busy laying out futons, serving meals, preparing towels, etc. There is no washing area for the outdoor baths (I couldn't go around all of them in one night), so you have to pour hot water over yourself and fill the hot water with water to make it the temperature you like, so I think it is necessary to wash your body in the washing area of ​​the hot spring at the inn beforehand. However, the hot spring at the inn is also hot and flowing, so if you and the people you are with have different preferences for temperature, be careful not to get burned. The meals at dinner and breakfast are not very varied, but the portions are good. The side dishes are delicious, but the rice was delicious, probably because of the good water. I was also given coffee. The dining area is a chair. I panicked at the end when I went by car, but when I entered the inn's phone number into the navigation system, it tried to take me right to the front of the inn, but there is no parking lot in front of the inn (and I was almost taken to the inn by driving the wrong way down a one-way street). It is better to park in the paid parking lot for visitors to Shibu Onsen along the river from the start and walk there. If you say that you parked in that parking lot when staying at this inn, you will get half of your parking fee refunded. The parking attendant also told me this.