How to Stay in a Ryokan (and What to Expect)

8 July 2026

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A night in a ryokan (旅館, ryokan) is the closest most travellers get to living inside old Japan for a day. You sleep on a futon laid over tatami, you soak in a hot spring, and dinner arrives course by course while you sit in a cotton robe you’ve probably tied slightly wrong. It’s wonderful — and, the first time, a little confusing, because a ryokan runs on a rhythm that no hotel prepares you for.

This guide walks you through exactly what happens from the moment you slide open the door, so you can relax and enjoy it instead of quietly panicking about your socks. I’ve stayed in everything from a ¥9,000 family-run inn to a splurge place with a private open-air bath, and the flow below holds true almost everywhere.

What a ryokan actually is

A ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn. Unlike a hotel, the room is the space, not the furniture — during the day it’s a sitting room with a low table, and at night staff transform it into a bedroom by laying out the futon. Most ryokan include two meals in the price: dinner and breakfast. This is called 一泊二食 (ippaku nishoku), literally “one night, two meals,” and it’s the standard way ryokan are booked and priced.

The people who look after you matter too. Your room attendant is the 仲居 (nakai), often addressed politely as nakai-san. The proprietress who runs the whole inn is the 女将 (okami). At smaller ryokan the okami may greet you personally, which is part of the charm.

Here’s the vocabulary worth knowing before you arrive:

Arriving: shoes, slippers, and check-in

Check-in at a ryokan is usually earlier than a hotel — often from around 3 p.m. — because they need time to prepare and serve your dinner. Try to arrive by 5 or 6 p.m. so you don’t collide with the meal schedule.

The very first thing that happens is at the 玄関 (genkan), the sunken entrance: you take off your shoes. Step up onto the raised floor in your socks, and you’ll be given slippers for the corridors. One rule catches everyone out — never wear slippers on tatami. When you reach a tatami room, leave the slippers at the edge and step onto the mats in socks or bare feet. There’s also a separate pair of plastic slippers waiting inside the toilet; those stay in the toilet, always.

After you’re seated, the nakai often serves green tea and a small sweet while explaining the bath hours and dinner time. This is when you confirm what time you’d like dinner, if the inn offers a choice.

Your room and the yukata

Your room will have tatami, a low table, floor cushions, and an alcove called the 床の間 (tokonoma) displaying a scroll or flower arrangement. The tokonoma is decorative — don’t stack your suitcase in it.

Folded somewhere you’ll find a 浴衣 (yukata), a light cotton robe that doubles as loungewear and pyjamas. You wear it everywhere inside the inn, to the bath, to dinner, even for a stroll around a hot-spring town. There’s one thing you must get right:

Wrap the left side over the right, so the left flap sits on top, then tie the obi sash. Right-over-left is only ever used to dress the deceased, so this is worth remembering.

If there’s a padded jacket called a tanzen provided, it goes over the yukata in colder months. Learning a few polite phrases makes these small interactions smoother — you can pick some up with our travel phrases tool before you go.

The onsen: bathing etiquette

If your ryokan has a hot spring, this is the heart of the stay. Baths are usually separated by gender (look for 男 otoko, men, and 女 onna, women), and the curtains are sometimes swapped between morning and evening, so check the sign each time.

The etiquette is simple once you know it:

1. Undress completely in the changing room — no swimsuits in the water.
2. Sit at a washing station, and wash and rinse your whole body before getting in. The bath is for soaking, not cleaning.
3. Bring the small towel with you, but don’t let it touch the water; most people rest it on their head or the edge.
4. Tie up long hair so it stays out of the water.
5. Soak slowly and quietly. Enjoy it.

Two practical notes. First, tattoos are still restricted at some onsen for historical reasons; if you have them, look for tattoo-friendly inns or ask about a private bath (貸切風呂 kashikiri-buro) you can book for yourselves. Second, hydrate — a hot soak before a big dinner can leave you light-headed.

Kaiseki dinner and breakfast

Dinner is the moment ryokan guests remember most. Many serve 会席料理 (kaiseki ryōri), a multi-course seasonal meal built around what’s local and fresh — sashimi, a simmered dish, something grilled, a hot pot at your table, rice, pickles, and a small dessert. It’s served either in your room by the nakai or in a private dining room, and it arrives at a measured pace, so settle in.

A few things help:

• Tell the inn about allergies or dietary needs when you book, not on the night. Kaiseki is planned in advance and hard to change last-minute.
• Vegetarian and halal-friendly ryokan exist but are limited, so search specifically.
• Eat the dishes in the order they’re served; the sequence is deliberate.

Breakfast is typically Japanese-style: grilled fish, rice, miso soup, tamagoyaki, nori, and small side dishes — a genuinely great start to the day. Some inns offer a Western option if you ask.

While you’re at dinner, the nakai slips into your room and lays out the 布団 (futon): a mattress, a duvet, and a pillow, straight onto the tatami. In the morning they’ll clear it away again. It’s more comfortable than it sounds, and sleeping low on tatami is part of the experience.

Tipping, timing, and checkout

You don’t tip in Japan, and a ryokan is no exception — service is included. There is one old custom called 心付け (kokorozuke), a small thank-you of a few thousand yen handed to your nakai in an envelope at the start of the stay, but it’s entirely optional and increasingly rare. If you’d rather show thanks with words, a sincere arigatō gozaimasu is plenty. (If you do want to hand over an envelope, our guide to Japanese gift-giving etiquette covers how to present it politely.)

Checkout is early — often by 10 a.m. — because breakfast and room-turnaround run on a tight schedule. Change out of your yukata (you can usually keep a small hand towel, but leave the yukata and slippers behind), settle any extras, and the okami or nakai will often see you to the door.

What it costs, roughly

Prices vary enormously with location, meals, and luxury, but as a rough guide per person, per night with two meals:

Because meals are included and generous, a ryokan often works out better value than the sticker price suggests — you’re getting dinner, breakfast, a bath, and a room in one.

The takeaway

A ryokan isn’t a hotel with tatami; it’s a different way of being a guest, built around rest, seasonal food, and hot water. Take your shoes off at the genkan, keep slippers off the tatami, wrap the yukata left-over-right, wash before you soak, and let dinner come to you. Do that, and you’ll spend the evening exactly the way it’s meant to be spent — warm, well-fed, and completely unhurried. If konbini snacks are more your speed for the road afterward, our konbini guide has you covered too.