Fodor's Expert Review Shikitei Hotel

A half-hour bus ride from JR Morioka Station takes you to this quiet hot-spring town and upscale (and expensive), traditional ryokan, which serves two meals a day in your tatami room. High walls around the premises prevent you from seeing some picturesque mountain views, but rooms peer out on a Japanese garden where goldfish swim in a pond. Some rooms have a private outdoor bath.