15 Facilities7 Onsen towns
The original bath of Misasa, one of the world's most radon-rich springs. Locals take short dips in the hot water. Free foot bath and drinking fountain next door; the free riverside mixed bath is nearby.
A hotel-attached day bath at the entrance to Kaike Onsen on the Sea of Japan coast in Yonago. While ryokan in Kaike charge around ¥1,500 for day use, here ¥450 covers the indoor bath, rotating specialty bath, rotenburo and jacuzzi (¥580 with sauna). Open straight through 10:00–23:00 daily. Close to the beach, so busy with swimmers in summer. 20 minutes by bus from Yonago Station.
Twenty minutes by car from the Tottori Sand Dunes, the communal bath of Iwai Onsen, one of San'in's oldest springs at 1,300 years. It preserves 'yukamuri', a quirky custom of singing while ladling water over a towel on your head. The 47.6°C source in a corner of the car park flows in 100% untreated. ¥380, open 6:00–22:00. A humble soak to pair with the Uradome coast or the dunes.
A ryokan built out over Lake Tōgō, known as the 'inn on the lake': lobby and baths are surrounded by water on three sides, and the open-air Kōsuke-yu sits almost level with the surface. Free-flowing simple spring water. Day bathing runs on an irregular basis, roughly 11:00–14:00, ¥1,000 cash only — phone the same day to confirm. Private open-air baths are ¥1,650 per 45 minutes, booked by phone from 9:00 that morning. 18 minutes by bus from Kurayoshi Station to the Hawai Onsen stop. No restaurant inside, so eat in the onsen town or at the Enchōen roadside station.
Tottori Onsen is a national rarity — a hot spring rising right in front of a prefectural-capital station — and this Shōwa-retro bathhouse at its heart is about five minutes' walk from JR Tottori Station. Old-style layout with a bandai counter and just one pool split into deep and shallow halves, but the 46°C-plus sodium-sulphate-chloride water is properly hot and leaves skin silky. Adults ¥550, children ¥200; open in two sessions, 06:00–10:00 and 14:00–24:00, closed the 2nd Monday and New Year's Day. No soap provided — bring or buy. Good after walking the Tottori sand dunes or castle ruins, or as a morning bath before an early train. Parking for 11 cars plus coin car parks nearby.
The communal bathhouse of Shikano, a castle town in western Tottori City laid out by the warlord Kamei Korenori. Light pours through glass-block walls into a bright bathroom with a main tub, jacuzzi, sauna, cold plunge and an open-air bath facing Mt Jūbō, all generously filled with clear, gentle simple spring water. Inexpensive at ¥550 for adults and ¥280 for children; open 10:00–22:00 and closed only on the first Thursday of the month (the following week if a holiday). There is no restaurant, but a rest area and souvenir counter, plus a roofed foot bath and the 'Omoshiro Market' soba house next door. Pair it with a stroll around the castle town's canals and paving, Shikano Castle ruins park and the Bird Theatre. About 4 minutes by car from Hamamura-Shikano-Onsen IC on the San'in Expressway, or 10 minutes by bus from JR Hamamura Station to 'Imamachi'. Handy on the way back from the Tottori dunes or Uradome coast.
A day bathing facility at Sekigane Onsen, a 1,300-year-old spa in the hills of Kurayoshi near the Tottori–Okayama border. Once known as the 'platinum bath', its clear radium (radioactive) spring is said to be among the richest in Japan and leaves skin soft. Men's and women's indoor and open-air areas offer eight kinds of tubs, and the outdoor bath looks across ridges running toward Mt. Daisen. Adults pay ¥820, elementary pupils ¥410 and small children enter free. Open 10:00–21:00 (last entry 20:30), closed Mondays (next day if a holiday). On site are the Shirogane dining room using local produce, a free tatami hall, paid private rooms (¥1,580 for two hours), massage and beauty treatments, and free parking for 100 cars. From JR Kurayoshi Station take the Sekigane-bound bus about 35 minutes to Sekigane Onsen and walk 5 minutes, or drive about 40 minutes from Yubara IC on the Yonago Expressway via Route 313. Pair it with the cliff temple Nageiredō on Mt. Mitoku, Kurayoshi's white-walled storehouses or the Hiruzen highlands.
A long-established inn of Misasa Onsen whose 1929 building is almost entirely registered as a national tangible cultural property. The water comes from its own spring and a self-flowing source, running full flow-through, and is a simple weakly radioactive radon spring. The famous cave bath switches between men and women by hour, so during the day-bath window there are times when men cannot enter it. Day bathing is 1,500 yen for adults (tax included), accepted from 16:00 to 20:00, paid in cash. It stands at the entrance to the spa street, a pleasant walk past the Mitoku river and its bridge.
A large inn of Misasa Onsen with its baths set in a Japanese garden of some 1,000 tsubo. There are several bathing places, including an open-air bath looking over the garden and one placed beside a waterfall, and they switch between men and women morning and evening. Day bathing is accepted 11:00 to 21:00 at 1,000 yen for adults, 500 yen for children aged 3 to elementary school, and free for under 2s. Reception is paused during busy weekend and holiday hours, closure days and maintenance, so it is worth checking. The private open-air bath can be used by day visitors from 11:00 to 14:00 with same-day booking only, for a separate fee.
A leading ryokan of Kaike Onsen with its own spring, Housho-no-izumi. Hana-no-yu on the first floor pairs an indoor great bath with an open-air bath set around a garden, where the sound of the Sea of Japan and the salt air are close at hand. The water is a sodium-calcium chloride spring at pH 7.4 and runs flow-through. Day bathing is accepted 15:00 to 21:00 at 1,500 yen for adults and 750 yen for children aged 3 to elementary school. The window is well suited to an open-air soak at dusk with the sea in view.
A long-established inn at the heart of Iwai Onsen, said to be the oldest hot spring in the Sanin region. Its signature Chosei-no-Yu is a deep bath reaching the chest, fed by spring water rising from directly beneath pine boards laid on the tub floor, so the water is used exactly as it emerges. Day bathing is 12:00-14:00 Friday to Monday, 1,000 yen for adults.
An onsen inn right on the shore of Lake Togo, proud of being literally at the water's edge. The chloride-sulphate spring rising from beneath the lake is used free-flowing, and the open-air bath on the fifth floor looks down over the water. Day bathing runs 10:30-14:00 (entry until 13:00) at 770 yen for adults.
A long-established ryokan in Tottori Onsen, the rare downtown hot-spring quarter five minutes from JR Tottori Station. Its own artesian spring flows unrecirculated (kake-nagashi) — a sodium chloride/sulfate spring at 56°C — filling a main bath with an octagonal Yumedono-style tub, cypress and stone indoor baths, and an open-air bath with garden views through the seasons.
A public inn at the northern foot of Mount Jubo in Shikano Onsen, a national recreational onsen area. Its unrecirculated weakly alkaline simple spring — nicknamed "Onna-yu" — fills two open-air baths (Oishi-no-Yu and Hori-no-Yu) and a top-floor observation bath, Amanogawa, overlooking the mountain; day visitors are welcome.
A communal bath in Sekigane Onsen, Kurayoshi, Tottori, loved by locals since 1903 as the resort's original bath. Jointly run by residents, its wooden tub is filled with a simple weak-radon spring, free-flowing with no added water, heating, or disinfection. A humble single-tub bathhouse for just 200 yen.