Places

Japan

Every thermal bath and spa published in Japan.

21 thermal baths

Wooden onsen bath overlooking a forested valley in Hakone

Hakone/Japan

Hakone Yumoto Onsen

The oldest onsen district in Hakone, where ryokan baths look onto the Sukumo river valley.

Bathing temperature 41°C

Steam under the wooden roof of a historic Beppu bathhouse

Beppu/Japan

Takegawara Onsen

Beppu's 1879 bathhouse, known for its hot sand baths.

Bathing temperature 43°C

Wooden three-storey bathhouse with drum tower at dusk in Matsuyama

Matsuyama/Japan

Dōgo Onsen Honkan

One of Japan's oldest hot springs, in a wooden bathhouse of 1894.

Bathing temperature 42°C

Sukayu/Japan

Sukayu Onsen

A vast hinoki-cypress bathhouse in the Hakkōda mountains, famous for its acidic sulphur water and thousand-person bath.

Bathing temperature 44°C

Minamioguni (Kurokawa)/Japan

Kurokawa Onsen

A hot-spring village in the Kumamoto highlands where two dozen inns share their baths with day visitors.

Beppu/Japan

Hyotan Onsen

A Beppu bathhouse in the Kannawa quarter, known for its cascade baths and sand baths.

Obanazawa (Ginzan)/Japan

Ginzan Onsen

A former silver-mining valley in Yamagata lined with Taishō-era wooden ryokan and gas lamps.

Noboribetsu/Japan

Noboribetsu Onsen

Hokkaido's best-known hot-spring resort, fed by the sulphurous vents of Jigokudani.

Bathing temperature 42°C

Willow-lined street of Kinosaki Onsen with wooden bathhouses and a stone bridge

Toyooka/Japan

Kinosaki Onsen Sato no Yu

A willow-lined onsen town on the Sea of Japan coast where guests move between seven public bathhouses in yukata and wooden geta.

Bathing temperature 42°C

The Kin no Yu public bathhouse in Arima Onsen, Kobe

Arima/Japan

Kin no Yu, Arima Onsen

The public bathhouse at Japan's oldest onsen, where iron-rich "golden water" turns rust-brown on contact with the air.

Bathing temperature 42°C

Bathers buried in hot volcanic sand on the beach at Ibusuki

Ibusuki/Japan

Ibusuki Sunamushi Onsen Saraku

Japan's signature sand steam bath, where geothermal heat rises through a black volcanic beach.

Bathing temperature 55°C

Nyūtō Onsen/Japan

Tsurunoyu Onsen

The oldest inn of the Nyūtō onsen villages, with milky sulphur water and thatched Edo-era lodgings.

Bathing temperature 43°C

The Tsuboyu bath hut over the stream at Yunomine Onsen

Yunomine Onsen/Japan

Tsuboyu, Yunomine Onsen

A tiny wooden hut over a spring in the Kumano mountains — the only bathing place inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Open-air pools in the ravine at Zaō Onsen

Zaō Onsen/Japan

Zaō Onsen Dai-rotenburo

A large open-air bath built into a mountain stream, fed by some of the most strongly acidic water in Japan.

Bathing temperature 42°C

Minakami/Japan

Hōshi Onsen Chōjūkan

A Meiji-era wooden bathhouse in the Gunma mountains, bathing over its own spring.

Bathing temperature 41°C

Gero/Japan

Gero Onsen

One of Japan's three great hot springs, with 84 °C alkaline water above the Hida river.

Bathing temperature 42°C

Steaming volcanic ground at the Unzen jigoku

Unzen/Japan

Unzen Onsen

Acidic sulphur springs at 700 m on a volcano, beside the steaming ground of the Unzen jigoku.

Bathing temperature 42°C

Shirahone Onsen/Japan

Shirahone Onsen

Milky-white, carbonate-rich mountain onsen in the Japanese Alps.

Bathing temperature 42°C

Yufuin/Japan

Yufuin Onsen

A ryokan town of gentle alkaline springs beneath the twin peaks of Mount Yufu.

Bathing temperature 42°C

Nozawa Onsen/Japan

Ōyu Bathhouse, Nozawa Onsen

The finest of Nozawa's thirteen free village bathhouses.

Bathing temperature 44°C

Steaming hot spring channels running through the snowy valley at Kusatsu Onsen

Kusatsu/Japan

Sainokawara Rotenburo

One of Japan's largest open-air baths, in a valley of steaming acidic springs above Kusatsu.

Bathing temperature 43°C

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