Is Kinosaki Onsen worth it?

Hi,
I;m unable to use public onsens for reasons I can't disclose, but was hoping to go to Kinosaki Onsen and instead book a ryokan with reservable private onsens. I'm also not particularly keen on the in-room kaiseki dinner experience, and will likely eat out for dinner instead. Given the above, is it actually worth going to Kinosaki Onsen? There also seems to be a regulation in Kinosaki where in-room baths are not permitted to use the onsen water, so the private onsens offered by ryokans are instead shared - I'm wondering whether it would be better to consider another onsen town instead.
Thank you

I didnt mind Kinosaki onsen but thought it was only really good for people who were going to use the public baths, for the reasons you mentioned. And it is a lot of coin for a quaint but not fantastic town, the water isnt that great either.

We were staying at a fantastic ryokan (Nishimuraya Honkan) in rooms with private baths, but neither the private bath nor the hotel baths had onsen water, you have to go to the public baths for that. The town is pretty in a Takayama kind of way with the creek running though it, but I prefer Takayama. The journey to Takayama from Nagoya is a lot prettier than to Kinosaki Onsen as well, though the Kinosaki trip is pretty enough.

I spent a few days at Kiso Fukushima earlier this year, I'd go back there before I went back to Kinosaki Onsen.

Whatfs the reason youfve considered Kinosaki in the first place?
If you donft enjoy in-room dining, or communal/public bath (I assume thatfs what you mean), traveling there seems too long.

The attractions of Kinosaki are the gryokansh and the public (several locations in town) bath facilities you can walk from one to another.

Please note that because many/most guests eat at the inns they are staying at, other dining places might close early.

There would be other hot spring towns that are easier to get to (from large cities that is), their hotels/inns serve dinner in their dining hall/restaurant (instead of in-room), and have grent-to-yourselfh or grent-for-the-familyh bath facilities inside the ryokan that use hot spring water (you can use the hot spring water bath for something like 45 minutes or so just to yourself).

Thank you for the replies!
I'm planning to visit Amanohashidate anyway and will be based from Kyoto so the travel time won't be a massive issue. It's moreso whether that day/night would be better allocated to Kyoto instead (we've got 4 nights in Kyoto as is) if we're taking the public communal baths and kaiseki experience out of the equation.
I'm not too fussed about the food because we will be having breakfast at the ryokan, and I've scoped out a nice restaurant for dinner that is open till fairly late.
The main reason I wanted to visit Kinosaki was to experience an onsen to be completely honest - even if that meant using a private one. I figured booking a ryokan with multiple private onsens would give us a chance to try them out, since it seems a lot of them are a first come first serve type situation rather than a reserved time slot.

Kinosaki onsen has a nice ambiance but I think the water there is basically the same as boiled water.

On the Kaseki dinner, if it's a good Ryokan then a restaurant is not always the same. Just giving my two cents.

If you are looking for just an onsen experience, then ask about ones close to Kyoto with a day private onsen experience.

I'm sure there would be some in Shiga prefecture but others will know better than I.

I won't go into too much detail, but if you have a skin problem then a private onsen might not be the best solution, but if it's due to modesty then it's all good.

Kinosaki onsen is pretty expensive, I think you will be paying 200% of what you would elsewhere but only getting 50% of the bang for buck. Nishimuraya Honkan is supposed to be one of the best ryokans around and the hotel and rooms were fantastic but getting tap water in the hotel onsen and private bath kind of killed it for me.

Out of the many onsen towns I have stayed in over the years, Kinosaki Onsen would be one of the few I wouldnt go back to, unless I made the leap to going to public baths, and I dont think I ever will.

But having knocked it and lowered expectations, I'm sure you would have a fantastic time if you went. The first time I visited Kiso Valley I didnt really like it but the second, without the expectations, I loved it.

Kinosaki was nice, you can enjoy the whole thing in 3-4 hours. Water quality not the best. Easy to access duw to train station being so close