14 Facilities6 Onsen towns
A city-run day bath in front of Awara-Yunomachi Station, two stops from the Hokuriku shinkansen at Awaraonsen. 'Heaven' and 'Earth' bathrooms alternate weekly between men and women, each with rotenburo and sauna. Chloride water keeps you warm long after. ¥600 and open until 23:00 — a rare walk-in option in a town dominated by ryokan. Try the hot-spring eggs. No tattoos.
Ten minutes by car from Tsuruga, the Hokuriku Shinkansen terminus, a municipal spa on a hill above Tsuruga Bay. Alongside the open-air and indoor baths and sauna there's a swimsuit 'Bade pool' of thermal water, so it's popular with families. Mild simple spring water; a Japanese restaurant and tatami hall for resting afterwards. ¥750 on weekdays, 10:00–22:00, closed Tuesdays — a handy first stop on a Hokuriku trip from Kansai or Nagoya.
A town-run day spa attached to the Echizen roadside station on the coast famous for Echizen crab. The open-air bath juts toward the Sea of Japan, facing sunsets over the horizon and, after dark, the squid-boat lanterns ('isaribi') that give it its name. Silky 'beauty water', an indoor bath and sauna for a wallet-friendly ¥520. Busy in winter with visitors pairing a soak with a crab lunch.
A public resort inn in the pine woods of the Echizen-Kaga Coast park, five minutes by car from the Tōjinbō cliffs. The glass-walled indoor bath and open-air Araiso-no-yu face the Sea of Japan and its sunsets, with cherry blossom in spring. Day use 11:30–15:00 (last entry), ¥900; closed to day visitors on Tuesdays for maintenance. Well stocked with shampoo and conditioner; towels are rented (¥310) or bring your own. Eight minutes by car from Mikuni-Minato Station — an easy stop between Tōjinbō and an Echizen crab lunch (Nov–Mar).
A day-use hot spring in Fukui city's Koshino district on the Echizen coast, famous for its wild daffodil fields. The mildly alkaline water is soft on the skin, and there is an indoor bath facing the Sea of Japan, a sauna and a small open-air tub. Adults pay just ¥640 and shampoo/body soap are provided. Open 10:30–20:30 on weekdays and 09:30–21:30 on weekends; closed 1st/3rd/5th Tuesdays (next day if a holiday). Winter (Dec–Feb) brings the daffodils and Echizen crab season, and many visitors stop here to finish a coastal drive. About 40 minutes by car from central Fukui; buses are infrequent, so a car is realistic.
A town-run hot-spring inn next to Hanahasu Park in Minami-Echizen, Fukui, where more than 130 varieties of lotus bloom. The alkaline simple water from about 1,000 m down clings softly to the skin; there is a roomy indoor bath, a garden-style open-air bath, the signature 'lotus bath' floated with lotus leaves and flowers, plus bubble bath, lie-down bath and sauna. Day bathing is a modest ¥650 for adults and ¥350 for children, and the long 08:00–22:00 hours (last entry 21:00) are a bonus. Closed Tuesdays (open on holidays, during the July lotus festival and at New Year). The restaurant serves set meals with sashimi boats and 'lotus udon', and overnight stays are possible. About 5 minutes by car from Imajō IC on the Hokuriku Expressway or 10 minutes by taxi from JR Imajō Station — an easy stop between the Echizen coast and Tsuruga. Lotus season runs from late June to early August.
A municipal spa retreat in the mountains at the eastern edge of Ōno, Fukui, close to Lake Kuzuryū. Ringed by the clear Kuzuryū River and forested hills, it offers colourless, soft alkaline simple spring water in an indoor bath and an open-air bath overlooking the valley through fresh greenery, autumn colours and deep snow (the outdoor bath may close on winter weekdays). There are a sauna, a tatami rest hall and a restaurant, and the site forms part of the Kuzuryū Hoyō-no-Sato complex with cottages and the Hotel Flairal Izumi next door. Adults from outside the city pay ¥800 (residents ¥700), children from age 3 ¥400 (¥350). Open 10:00–21:00, from 12:00 on Wednesdays; closed Tuesdays (next day if a holiday) and 1 January. About 17 minutes on foot from Echizen-Shimoyama Station on the JR Etsumi-Hoku Line, or right off the Kuzuryū IC on the Chūbu-Jūkan Expressway. An easy stop after the Kuzuryū roadside station, an autumn drive around the lake or a climb of Mt. Arashima.
A large inn built around a garden open-air bath among the widest in the Hokuriku region, known as the ten pleasures of a wind-swept spa. Water from its own source fills baths of several shapes, including a porcelain tub and a silk bath. Day bathing is received from 16:00 to 20:00 at 1,500 yen for adults and 700 yen for children of elementary age and under, with a small towel and a bath towel included. No reservation is needed and you can register at the front desk on the day; payment is cash only.
An inn known for a main bath that keeps the feel of the Showa era. The washing area is built of shakudani stone, called Fukui blue, and the water is praised as milder than much of Awara Onsen. Day bathing is received from 15:00 to 21:00 on a 60-minute basis at 800 yen for adults and 500 yen for children of elementary age and under. No reservation is needed, though the free station pickup must be requested by phone by the day before.
An inn of 120 rooms with a main bath and open-air bath said to be the largest in the Hokuriku region. Day bathing runs from 16:00 to 21:00, last entry 20:00, at 1,500 yen for adults, while children from infancy to elementary age pay 800 yen with a bath towel and hand towel included. It works by reservation, which can be made until 16:00 on the day, and cards are not accepted, so payment is made in cash on arrival. No rest room or guest room is provided, so after bathing you settle in the lobby and elsewhere. It is about five minutes on foot from Awara-Yunomachi Station, which makes an evening visit easy.
A large hot-spring resort at Awara Onsen, where day bathing needs no reservation. It opens from 7:00 to 10:00 in the morning and from 15:00 to midnight, with last entry at 22:00. Prices are 900 yen on weekdays, 1,300 yen at weekends and holidays and 1,500 yen on busy days; elementary pupils pay 500 yen except 580 yen on busy days, and infants and children under three are free. Towels can be rented for 330 yen, and consumption tax and bathing tax are included. There is also a plan combining a dinner buffet with bathing, which must be booked in advance. Entry may be refused when it is crowded.
A day-use onsen five minutes on foot from Mikuni-minato Station, beside Mikuni Sunset Beach. It has two panoramic baths - Kamome-no-Yu overlooking the sea and sunset, and Minato-no-Yu looking out over the Kuzuryu river and the Japan Sea - plus a sauna and a cold plunge. The source is Mikuni Onsen No.1, a sodium-calcium chloride-sulphate spring, and adults can bathe from 10:00 to 23:00 for 500 yen.
A hotel on a hillside in Tsuruga, Fukui, using the Tsuruga Tunnel Onsen — opened by piping water about 7 km from a spring that gushed out during Hokuriku Tunnel construction in 1960. The colorless, slightly silky water is loved as a 'beauty skin' bath, and the observation grand bath overlooks Tsuruga city.
A century-old secret hot spring founded in 1903 in Kamiuchinami, Ono, Fukui, deep in the upper Kuzuryu River gorge. Mobile phones lose signal 10 km short of the inn and no houses lie nearby, yet every room has a shower toilet - a well-equipped retreat in the Okuetsu mountains. The spring is a sodium chloride-bicarbonate water; cups by the tub invite you to drink it, savouring a faint saltiness and sulfur scent. Day bathing runs 10:00-17:00 (weekends and holidays too from 10:00) at 600 yen for adults, and the restaurant serves a genuinely good curry. Renowned as a base for autumn foliage hikes to Kari-ike Pond, Sanno-mine and Akagusagi-yama; closed in winter (mid-November to late April) because of snow.