Morning baths and breakfast during a Kinosaki Onsen workation
If you are doing a workation, morning will eventually come. In the morning you will eat breakfast, but if you are staying at Kinosaki, breakfast is not served in the way it would be at a typical ryokan. In Kinosaki Onsen, however, that can become an advantage.
For the third entry, I will cover two of the charms of a Kinosaki Onsen workation: morning baths and breakfast. The previous entries in the series can be read below.
- 城崎温泉ワーケーション合宿に参加してきた
- 城崎温泉ワーケーションのお宿、そして夜
- Morning baths and breakfast during a Kinosaki Onsen workation (this entry)
- VisionOS 向けアプリをつくってみる (城崎温泉ワーケーション成果スライド)
If you want to eat breakfast outside in Kinosaki Onsen, I recommend the several cafes in town. As far as I researched, the earliest morning service starts at 8:00. Some cafes open at 8:00 or 8:30, and all of them serve good breakfasts.
The Kinosaki Onsen breakfasts I have visited so far are Kissa Moa, Cafe Koyama, and Kissa Yushima. The basics at all of them are bread or sandwiches with coffee or tea. Some also come with salad or side dishes. I recommend all of them, but there were also times when I went and found one temporarily closed. I learned that it is good to have up to a third choice in mind.
Waking up around 8:00, eating breakfast, and then soaking in a hot spring is one possible flow. This time, though, I chose the strategy of waking up at 7:00, taking a hot spring bath, and then going out for breakfast. I assumed a morning bath would take about 45 minutes and left the inn at 7:15. That timing worked well, and I was able to get breakfast right after the cafe opened.
Winter mornings in Kinosaki Onsen are very cold. The baths are also quite hot. In other words, if you wake up early, freeze a little, and then take a morning bath, the hardship up to that point is rewarded. If you are experienced, I recommend going out in a yukata and geta. Kinosaki Onsen encourages going outside in yukata. I thought a yukata would be too cold, so I at least wore a hanten jacket for a bit of atmosphere.
The farthest hot spring from Kinoie is Kouno-yu. I visited it for the first time this trip. Walk west along the Otani River, and Kouno-yu is near the ropeway platform. Taking a morning bath generally means you will bathe at least once more that day, and in Kinosaki Onsen there is a ticket that lets you use all seven public baths as much as you like. It is worth buying. If you bathe twice, it already pays off.
After taking a morning bath and eating breakfast, I took a short walk. In a plaza near the station, a morning market was open. I had not heard any announcement about the morning market, but another participant in the same workation happened to see it, so I decided to go too.
At the morning market, fresh pickles, vegetables, kakimochi rice crackers, rice, and other items were lined up. I had heard there were also hot dogs, but they were not being sold when I went. The people tending the shops, who seemed to be locals, kindly shared various information. The rice and vegetables bought there were very useful for the crab hot pot that night.
At night, Kinosaki Onsen becomes very beautiful with the area along the Otani River lit up. So some people may say Kinosaki Onsen is best at night. Even so, I think morning in Kinosaki Onsen is also quite nice.