Nara · Soni Kōgen Onsen
Soni Kōgen Onsen Okame-no-yu
曽爾高原温泉 お亀の湯
A village-run day spa inside the Soni Kōgen Farm Garden at the foot of the Soni plateau, on Nara's eastern edge, where the pampas-grass meadows turn gold in autumn. The sodium-bicarbonate water is remarkably slippery and lives up to its 'beauty bath' reputation, leaving skin silky. The indoor hall has a free-flowing source tub, and the open-air bath looks out to the rock peaks of Kabuto-dake and Yoroi-dake and across the highland (a wood bathroom and a stone bathroom alternate weekly between men and women). Adults ¥900, children ¥500; open 11:00–21:00 (until 20:30 December–March; last entry one hour before), closed Wednesdays (open if a holiday, then closed the next day) and over New Year. A craft brewery, farm shop and restaurant share the site; it gets very busy in pampas season (October–November). About 45 minutes by bus from Nabari Station; about 1 h 50 min by car from Osaka.
- Price (adult)
- ¥900
- Hours
- 11:00–21:00 (last entry 20:00); Dec–Mar 11:00–20:30 (last entry 19:30)
- Closed
- Wednesdays (open on holidays, closed the next day) & New Year
- Access
- Mie Kōtsū bus for Yamakasu-nishi from Kintetsu Nabari Station, about 45 min to 'Taraji' then 10 min on foot; about 40 min by car from Hari IC; about 1 h 50 min from central Osaka
- Water type
- Bicarbonate spring
- Tattoos
- Ask ahead
- Admission
- Adults (junior high and up) ¥900, children (3 to elementary) ¥500; a 12-ticket book ¥8,500/¥5,000. Face towels sold ¥200, shampoo provided, lockers (¥100 refundable). Sauna, large tatami rest room, restaurant 'Okame-an' (craft beer, soft-serve, set meals), shop and farm stand. Cash and cards
- Baths
- A large day-use onsen inside the Soni Kogen Farm Garden at the foot of the Soni Plateau (a pampas-grass plain at 700 m) in Soni village, Nara. A panoramic rotenburo taking in the rock peaks of Yoroi-dake and Kabuto-dake to the west and the plateau to the east, two great baths of differing stone-and-wood character, and a sauna. The name comes from the plateau's Kame-yama and the gourd-shaped 'Okame Pond' of a beauty legend. Best in the pampas season (October–November) and in winter snow
- Spring water
- Soni Kogen Onsen, a sodium-bicarbonate spring (hypotonic, alkaline, high-temperature) — a 'beauty bath' that is slick and moisturising. Colourless to faintly tinted, soft water that leaves the skin smooth and keeps you warm afterwards. Indicated for the skin, burns, digestive complaints, skin disease, neuralgia, muscle pain, poor circulation and fatigue
- Access & parking
- From Akameguchi Station on the Kintetsu Osaka Line, Nara Kotsu bus toward Soni Kogen about 40 min to 'Soni Kogen Farm Garden'; about ¥4,000 by taxi. By car about 40 min from Hari or Kujira IC on the Meihan national road, around 2 h from Osaka or Nagoya. Free parking for 250. Soni Plateau trailhead 5 min by car, Akame Forty-eight Falls 25 min, Muro-ji and Hase-dera 40 min
- Phone
- 0745-98-2615
- Official site
- soni-kogen.com ↗
- Open in Google Maps
- Google Maps ↗
Essentials
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Why go
- Below the pampas meadows of Soni plateau
- Open-air bath facing rocky peaks
- ¥900; closed Wed; craft brewery on site
A panoramic rotenburo below the plateau and a slick beauty bath — Nara's hidden gem
Soni Kogen Onsen Okame-no-yu is a large day-use hot spring inside the Soni Kogen Farm Garden, just below the Soni Plateau at 700 metres in Soni village — the least populated village in Nara Prefecture — in the eastern mountains. In autumn the plateau's 40 hectares of hillside are covered in silver pampas grass and it is listed among 'Japan's 100 finest rural landscapes'; to the west rise Yoroi-dake and Kabuto-dake, basalt columns standing like a screen, and from the onsen's rotenburo you look down on both peaks and the plateau together. The name comes from the plateau's Kame-yama and the gourd-shaped 'Okame Pond' of a beauty legend, and true to that legend the water is an alkaline sodium-bicarbonate beauty bath with a cling to the skin for which 'slick and moisturising' is the exact description; the smoothness and warmth linger long after you get out, so you never chill. Two great baths of differing stone-and-wood character, a panoramic rotenburo and a sauna make the ¥900 admission well worth it, and the in-house restaurant Okame-an serves Soni craft beer (brewed in the village), soft-serve ice cream and mountain-vegetable set meals. Open 11:00 to 21:00 from April to November, until 20:30 from December to March; closed Wednesdays (open if a holiday, closed the following day) and at New Year, so check before you go. Forty minutes by bus from Kintetsu Akameguchi Station, or around two hours by car from Osaka or Nagoya — pair it with the pampas season (October–November), winter snow, or the Akame Forty-eight Falls and the temples of Muro in eastern Nara for a full day. The rotenburo is large and families come in numbers, so weekday mornings are quietest.
Claiming a spot in the rotenburo, and moving between the pampas, the snow and the farm garden
Park in the farm garden's large free car park (250 spaces; the bus stop is right there) and pay ¥900 at the bathhouse entrance for a ¥100 refundable locker. The changing room is spacious with plenty of shower booths and shampoo provided; towels are sold at ¥200 (bring your own). The layout: an indoor bath of stone tubs (wide and bright), a cypress-side indoor bath, then through the door the panoramic rotenburo facing Yoroi-dake and Kabuto-dake (big enough for several bathers at once), plus a sauna and plunge. The 'front seat' in the rotenburo — the rim where the rock peaks sit at the centre of your view — is the best place, so step outside first to claim it and then go back to wash. The water is a comfortable 41–42°C, clearly slick when stirred, and being alkaline it leaves the skin smooth after a long soak with no tightness afterwards. In the pampas season (mid October to November) the plateau turns gold at dusk as seen from the rotenburo, and in winter bathing amid snow with the white-capped peaks before you is superb (mind road ice when it snows). Afterwards the routine is to buy beer from the Soni craft brewery, bread from the rice-bread workshop, vegetables from the farm stand and highland ice cream within the garden, and eat mountain-vegetable sets or soba at Okame-an. The Soni Plateau walking path (about an hour round trip to the Kame-yama lookout) is five minutes by car, so 'plateau walk, bath, farm garden' is the most efficient order; on a rainy day, skipping the walk and settling for the bath and a meal is satisfying enough. Remember only the Wednesday closure and the early closing at 20:30 from December to March and you cannot go wrong.
Practical details and an eastern Nara route
Open 11:00–21:00 (last entry 20:00) from 1 April to 30 November, and 11:00–20:30 (last entry 19:30) from 1 December to 31 March; closed every Wednesday (open if a holiday, closed the next day) and at New Year; adults ¥900, children ¥500, towels ¥200, free parking for 250. Access is 40 minutes by bus from Kintetsu Akameguchi Station, or 40 minutes by car from Hari or Kujira IC (2 hours from Osaka or Nagoya). Suggested routes: (1) half a day at Soni Plateau — the plateau walk in the morning (Kame-yama lookout; pampas or new green), a bath at Okame-no-yu, craft beer, rice bread and ice cream at the farm garden, then home to Nara or Osaka; (2) a day in eastern Nara — the temples of Muro (Muro-ji, Hase-dera) in the morning, soba in Uda for lunch, Okame-no-yu in the afternoon, and views of Yoroi-dake at dusk; (3) with the Akame Forty-eight Falls — the falls walk from Akameguchi Station (40 minutes round trip to Fudo Falls), 40 minutes by bus to Soni, then a bath; (4) winter — snow scenery from December to February (dress warmly; it feels cold) and an early visit in view of the 20:30 closing; (5) families — a stay at the Sun Village Soni campsite with the onsen and farm-garden activities. Notes: closed Wednesdays (next day if a holiday); mountain roads ice in winter snow (chains); crowded on weekends in the sunset and pampas season; do not pick the pampas or enter prohibited areas; bring cash (some stalls do not take cards). Okame-no-yu is the hub of eastern Nara where 'plateau views, beauty water and local food' are all solved in one place, and it shows a mountain Nara entirely different from the city's Todai-ji and Nara Park.
Before you go
- No official tattoo policy is published — ask at reception.
- Last entry is 30–60 minutes before closing.
Features
Mood & scenery
Sauna & wellness
Price
Amenities
✔ Verified operating: 2026-09 Operating status and rates cross-checked against the official site and onsen guides (full source notes in Japanese on the JA page)
Prices and hours change. Check official sources before visiting.
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