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# Where to Eat Matsuba Crab Tottori-Style: Kaike or Misasa
- URL: https://www.nipponstays.com/matsuba-crab-where-to-stay-tottori/
- Published: 2026-10-01T01:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T00:59:59.000Z
- Description: Kaike or Misasa Onsen for Tottori's matsuba crab season: sea view vs. radium springs, access from Yonago or Kurayoshi, and which ryokan run a real crab plan.
- Author: Hideaki Yasukawa
- Tags: Tottori, Hotels, #2026-10-winter-crab-sanin-01

**Quick Answer:** Where to eat matsuba crab Tottori-style comes down to two onsen towns. Kaike Onsen puts you on the Sea of Japan with big, family-friendly ryokan like [Kaike Grand Hotel Tensui](https://www.trip.com/hotels/yonago-hotel-detail-705788/kaike-grand-hotel-tensui/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=matsuba-crab-where-to-stay-tottori&trip%5Fsub3=D19742697&ref=nipponstays.com), a 20-minute bus from Yonago Station. Misasa Onsen, 40 minutes inland, is a quieter radium-spring hot spring town built around small inns like [Misasakan](https://www.trip.com/hotels/misasa-hotel-detail-1653060/misasakan/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=matsuba-crab-where-to-stay-tottori&trip%5Fsub3=D19742872&ref=nipponstays.com). Pick Kaike if you want sea views and space to spread out; pick Misasa if you want a smaller, slower onsen town and don't mind an extra bus transfer from Kurayoshi Station. Both sit inside Tottori's matsuba crab season, which runs November 6 to March 20.

## Two onsen towns, 40 minutes apart

Kaike Onsen and Misasa Onsen are Tottori's two matsuba crab bases, and they answer different questions. Kaike sits on the coast just outside Yonago, a strip of large seaside ryokan and hotels with sea-facing baths and a beach you can walk to in two minutes. Misasa sits inland on the Mitoku River near Kurayoshi, a compact hot spring town of older, smaller inns known for unusually radioactive radium spring water rather than crab per se — the crab is what you eat there, not what the town is famous for.

Neither town is a crab market like nearby Sakaiminato. What they sell is a room, a bath, and a kaiseki dinner built around the season's crab. Both towns fall inside the same fishery calendar covered in our [Japan crab season dates guide](https://www.nipponstays.com/crab-season-in-japan-2026-27/); if you are still choosing between regions rather than between these two towns, our [comparison of Kinosaki, Echizen and Tottori](https://www.nipponstays.com/which-crab-town-japan-kinosaki-echizen-tottori/) covers that decision first. The comparison below covers what actually differs between Kaike and Misasa.

| Onsen        | Ryokan style                                        | Spring type                          | Access                                    |
| ------------ | --------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------- |
| Kaike Onsen  | Large seaside ryokan and hotels, several 100+ rooms | Coastal hot spring, sea-facing baths | \~20-min bus from JR Yonago Station       |
| Misasa Onsen | Small to mid-size inns, some over a century old     | Inland radium spring                 | \~20–25-min bus from JR Kurayoshi Station |

## Kaike Onsen — sea view and big ryokan

Kaike is the easier base for a first winter trip to Tottori: it is a straight bus ride from Yonago Station, which has direct trains from Okayama and a regional airport of its own. The ryokan here run larger, with more room categories and more flexibility for families or groups than Misasa's smaller inns.

[Kaike Grand Hotel Tensui](https://www.trip.com/hotels/yonago-hotel-detail-705788/kaike-grand-hotel-tensui/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=matsuba-crab-where-to-stay-tottori&trip%5Fsub3=D19742697&ref=nipponstays.com) reopened its renovated restaurant and bath in 2026 — the buffet-style dining room from 18 July and the large bath from 1 May — and sits on the Sea of Japan with a private hot spring source of its own; it runs seasonal matsuba crab dinners, including an all-you-can-eat crab buffet format alongside the plated kaiseki option. [Kaike Tsuruya](https://www.trip.com/hotels/yonago-hotel-detail-1489981/kaike-tsuruya/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=matsuba-crab-where-to-stay-tottori&trip%5Fsub3=D19742711&ref=nipponstays.com), one of Kaike's older seafront ryokan, also runs matsuba crab dining plans through the winter season. For a lower-cost option, [Ooedo Onsen Monogatari Kaike](https://www.trip.com/hotels/yonago-hotel-detail-4523417/ooedo-onsen-monogatari-kaike-old-yukai-resort-kaike-saichoraku/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=matsuba-crab-where-to-stay-tottori&trip%5Fsub3=D19743341&ref=nipponstays.com) runs a buffet-style dining hall rather than an individually plated kaiseki course — worth knowing before you book if you specifically want the formal course.

## Misasa Onsen — radium springs and small inns

Misasa's spring water carries an unusually high radon content, and the town markets itself on "gendai toji" (現代湯治) — modern, slower-paced hot spring stays — rather than on crab. That framing is the town's own marketing language, not a medical claim about the water. What matters for a crab trip is that Misasa's inns are smaller and older, several running for a century or more, with fewer room types and less flex on late bookings during peak crab weekends. For the broader question of private versus shared baths at either type of ryokan, see our [guide to private-bath vs. shared-bath onsen stays](https://www.nipponstays.com/onsen-ryokan-private-bath-vs-shared/).

[Izanro Iwasaki](https://www.trip.com/hotels/misasa-hotel-detail-1653034/misasa-onsen-izanro-iwasaki/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=matsuba-crab-where-to-stay-tottori&trip%5Fsub3=D19742865&ref=nipponstays.com), founded in 1920, runs a live matsuba crab kaiseki plan and has twelve differently designed bathhouses fed by the inn's own radium spring. [Misasakan](https://www.trip.com/hotels/misasa-hotel-detail-1653060/misasakan/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=matsuba-crab-where-to-stay-tottori&trip%5Fsub3=D19742872&ref=nipponstays.com) draws on three of its own hot spring sources and runs the town's best-known crab course, a "kanizukushi kaiseki" built around roughly three crabs' worth of meat per guest served as sashimi, charcoal-grilled, tempura, in a hot pot, and finished with rice porridge; it also has family-size rooms combining a 10-mat and 7.5-mat room with two beds, which matters if you are travelling with children or in a group of four.

## Sakaiminato as a day out

If you base in Kaike, Sakaiminato is a roughly 30-minute drive or a 50-minute local train from Yonago and makes an easy half-day: it is home to the Mizuki Shigeru Road, a roughly 800-metre street lined with bronze yokai statues from the Kitaro manga, and to the fish market that lands much of the crab you will be eating that night. It is a day trip, not a second base — nobody sleeps in Sakaiminato for the crab season plans covered here.

## What a crab kaiseki plan actually includes

The plans named above are one-night, two-meal packages: dinner and breakfast are built into the room rate, and the crab course is the dinner. This matters because Trip.com and other OTAs sometimes list only a room-only (素泊まり) rate for the same property in their default search, with the crab plan buried in a separate plan list or unavailable to book online at all. If a listing looks unusually cheap for a named ryokan during crab season, check whether it is actually the meal plan before assuming it includes dinner — a room-only booking at a crab ryokan in January gets you the room and nothing at the table.

Room count also matters more than price at these five ryokan: a four-person family room, as at Misasakan, is a fixed, limited category rather than an upsell, and it sells out first on peak weekends in late December and January — book it directly rather than assuming the standard two-guest room will flex to fit a family.

| Name                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              | Town   | Sleeps | Crab plan style          |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------ | ------ | ------------------------ |
| [Kaike Grand Hotel Tensui](https://www.trip.com/hotels/yonago-hotel-detail-705788/kaike-grand-hotel-tensui/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=matsuba-crab-where-to-stay-tottori&trip%5Fsub3=D19742697&ref=nipponstays.com)                                            | Kaike  | 2–5    | Plated kaiseki or buffet |
| [Kaike Tsuruya](https://www.trip.com/hotels/yonago-hotel-detail-1489981/kaike-tsuruya/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=matsuba-crab-where-to-stay-tottori&trip%5Fsub3=D19742711&ref=nipponstays.com)                                                                 | Kaike  | 2–4    | Plated kaiseki           |
| [Ooedo Onsen Monogatari Kaike](https://www.trip.com/hotels/yonago-hotel-detail-4523417/ooedo-onsen-monogatari-kaike-old-yukai-resort-kaike-saichoraku/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=matsuba-crab-where-to-stay-tottori&trip%5Fsub3=D19743341&ref=nipponstays.com) | Kaike  | 2–4    | Buffet-style             |
| [Izanro Iwasaki](https://www.trip.com/hotels/misasa-hotel-detail-1653034/misasa-onsen-izanro-iwasaki/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=matsuba-crab-where-to-stay-tottori&trip%5Fsub3=D19742865&ref=nipponstays.com)                                                  | Misasa | 2–5    | Plated kaiseki           |
| [Misasakan](https://www.trip.com/hotels/misasa-hotel-detail-1653060/misasakan/?Allianceid=9711325&SID=327049682&trip%5Fsub1=matsuba-crab-where-to-stay-tottori&trip%5Fsub3=D19742872&ref=nipponstays.com)                                                                         | Misasa | 2–6    | Plated kaiseki           |

Of the five ryokan compared above, all five run a named matsuba crab plan through the season, and one (Ooedo Onsen Monogatari Kaike) serves it buffet-style rather than as a plated course (checked September 2026).

## FAQ: Matsuba crab in Tottori

### When does matsuba crab season run in Tottori?

The male matsuba crab fishery opens November 6 and runs to March 20\. Female crab (seko-gani) has a shorter fishery, closing December 31 — so seko-gani effectively disappears from menus at the end of December while male matsuba crab keeps going into March (source: [Tottori Prefecture's matsuba crab page](https://www.pref.tottori.lg.jp/178131.htm?ref=nipponstays.com)). If seko-gani is the specific reason for your trip, travel in November or December rather than betting on a later date.

### Should I stay in Kaike or Misasa for crab season?

Kaike if you want a sea view, a bigger room selection, and the easier transfer from Yonago Station. Misasa if you prefer a smaller, older hot spring town and don't mind the extra bus leg from Kurayoshi Station. Both put you inside Tottori's crab country.

### Is a crab plan the same as a normal room booking?

No. The crab kaiseki plans above are one-night, two-meal packages where the crab course is dinner. Some OTA listings default to showing a room-only rate for the same ryokan, so confirm the plan includes dinner before booking, especially in January and early February when weekend rooms sell out first.

### How far is Kaike or Misasa from Yonago or Tottori?

Kaike Onsen is about a 20-minute bus ride from JR Yonago Station. Misasa Onsen is about a 20–25-minute bus ride from JR Kurayoshi Station, which is roughly 30 minutes by limited express from Tottori Station.