Ryokans for Snow Crab Season

Crab plans run 7 November to 31 March. The Matsuba crab kaiseki uses about one crab per guest, as sashimi, boiled and steamed, alongside Tajima beef; the kani-zukushi course uses about one and a half and ends with crab shabu-shabu and rice porridge. A menu using only crab from Tsuiyama, the port just down the river, is booked by phone. Guests must be 10 or older.

• Over 160 years of history through seven generations - Relais & Chateaux member
• Free passes to all seven of Kinosaki's legendary public bathhouses
• In-room kaiseki dinner featuring Tajima regional cuisine

In Fukui the male snow crab is Echizen crab. Beniya keeps its own tank for crab landed at Mikuni and Echizen ports, and its main plan (7 November to 31 March) is one crab of about 1 kg per guest, boiled whole or as sashimi with the shell grilled. Dinner is served in your room, and all 17 rooms have a semi-open-air bath filled from the inn's own spring.

• One Michelin Key recognition
• All 17 rooms with private semi-open-air baths
• In-room kaiseki with seasonal Fukui ingredients

Six rooms on a small cape beside the Amanohashidate sandbar. The crab kaiseki (10 November 2026 to 20 March 2027) uses local live Matsuba crab as sashimi, boiled with a crab-miso fondue, grilled and in shabu-shabu, then crab porridge, served in a private dining room. Children 12 and under are not taken.

• Over 300 years of continuous hospitality since 1690, now in its 13th generation
• Unobstructed views of Amanohashidate, one of Japan's three most scenic landscapes
• Radium-rich Amanohashidate onsen with both indoor and outdoor bathing

A wooden inn rebuilt in 1927 and registered as a cultural property, where the writer Shiga Naoya stayed. Winter dinners use tagged live crab from Tsuiyama or Shibayama; the top plan serves two crabs' worth across six dishes, one and a half of it live crab. Dinner is in the dining room, not your room, and there is no lift.

• Over 300 years of continuous hospitality in the heart of Kinosaki Onsen
• Literary heritage as the favored inn of novelist Naoya Shiga
• Rare three-story wooden main building from 1927

Sixteen rooms on the Maruyama River, a short drive from the Kinosaki onsen street. The crab course runs from 6 November to the end of March and uses two crabs per guest; you see your live crab on arrival and choose how it is cooked. Dinner is in private dining rooms or at a counter facing the river.

• Four distinct types of natural hot springs including cypress baths
• Stunning Maruyama River views from rooms and outdoor baths
• Seasonal kaiseki with Tajima wagyu and winter crab courses

In the middle of Kinosaki's onsen street, close to the outer baths. Its winter course uses tagged Matsuba crab from the region's designated ports, from the 6 November opening, cooked by a head chef with 40 years in the kitchen.