- Source temperature
- 98°C
- Bathing temperature
- 42°C
- Bathing
- Indoor / Outdoor
- Established
- 1653
- Accommodation
- Hotel on site
Unzen Onsen sits high on the Shimabara Peninsula among fumaroles known as the jigoku, or hells. Bathing was formalised in the seventeenth century and the village later became one of Japan's first resorts popular with foreign residents.
Balnevia view
Why visit
Strongly acidic, milky sulphur water and paths through steaming volcanic ground give Unzen a rawness that polished resorts lack.
Recommendations
Hotels nearby
Explore places to stay near Unzen Onsen.
The water
Thermal water
- Source
- Unzen jigoku springs
- Mineralisation
- Strongly acidic sulphur, pH about 2
- Character
- Volcanic sulphur water, milky white and strongly scented.
Practical information
Reached by bus from Isahaya or Shimabara; most bathing is in ryokan and a few public baths.
Location
Related places
More thermal baths in Japan
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The oldest onsen district in Hakone, where ryokan baths look onto the Sukumo river valley.
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Beppu's 1879 bathhouse, known for its hot sand baths.
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Matsuyama/Japan
Dōgo Onsen Honkan
One of Japan's oldest hot springs, in a wooden bathhouse of 1894.
Bathing temperature 42°C