Shirahone Onsen
Milky-white, carbonate-rich mountain onsen in the Japanese Alps.
Soica2001, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- Source temperature
- 45°C
- Bathing temperature
- 42°C
- Bathing
- Indoor / Outdoor
- Accommodation
- Hotel on site
Shirahone, "white bone", is named for the opaque calcium-carbonate water that clouds its baths as it cools and deposits mineral crusts on the rocks. The hamlet sits in a deep ravine at around 1,400 m on the approach to Norikura, with ryokan baths and a public open-air bath overlooking the gorge.
Recommendations
Hotels nearby
Explore places to stay near Shirahone Onsen.
The water
Thermal water
- Source
- Shirahone Onsen
- Mineralisation
- Calcium-magnesium hydrogen-carbonate, mildly acidic
- Character
- Turns milky white on contact with air and deposits mineral crusts.
Practical information
Ryokan day-use and a public open-air bath are available; the village is served by bus from Matsumoto and is snowbound in deep winter.
Location
Related places
More thermal baths in Japan
Hakone/Japan
Hakone Yumoto Onsen
The oldest onsen district in Hakone, where ryokan baths look onto the Sukumo river valley.
Bathing temperature 41°C
Beppu/Japan
Takegawara Onsen
Beppu's 1879 bathhouse, known for its hot sand baths.
Bathing temperature 43°C
Matsuyama/Japan
Dōgo Onsen Honkan
One of Japan's oldest hot springs, in a wooden bathhouse of 1894.
Bathing temperature 42°C