16 Facilities5 Onsen towns
A terraced open-air bath along a mountain stream that holds 200 people, with bluish-white strongly acidic sulfur water. Open late April to late November only; closed in winter. Summer starlight sessions at night.
A Kengo Kuma-designed communal bath at the entrance to Ginzan's Taishō-era street. Hot water with drifting mineral flakes for ¥500. The one place day visitors can bathe in Ginzan's water — reception closes at 3:30 pm.
A log-cabin-style communal bath at the top of Takayu-dōri. Zao's three public baths (Kamiyu, Shimoyu, Kawarayu) all cost ¥200, paid into an honesty box. No washing stations — just rinse and sink into the strongly acidic milky sulfur water.
The large ryokan at the entrance to Ginzan. Indoor, open-air and lie-down outdoor baths — far roomier than Shirogane-yu. Day use 11:30 am–2 pm (last 1:30), ¥1,500, closed Thursdays; day bathing has been suspended and resumed repeatedly, so check the website. Cash only.
Hijiori Onsen, 1,200 years old, is a cure-spa where inns huddle at the bottom of a caldera in Ōkura village, Yamagata. Right in the middle of the street stands Kami-no-yu, the only communal bath open to visitors. A small bathhouse with an attendant's counter, it has slightly hot free-flowing sodium-chloride/bicarbonate water and a tiny Yakushi shrine in the corner of the tub. Adults pay ¥400 (free for guests of the village inns); open 08:00–18:00 (until 17:00 in winter), no bathing on Thursday mornings for cleaning. The Hijiori way is to pair it with the morning market that sets up from about 5–6 am (Apr–Nov). In winter this is one of Japan's snowiest places, and just walking the street between snow walls is an experience. About 55 minutes by bus from Shinjō Station.
Yunohama Onsen is a seaside spa on the Sea of Japan in Yamagata's Shōnai region. This municipal communal bath sits on the ground floor of the 'Cospa' community centre on the roundabout at the centre of the resort and is the locals' everyday bath. It uses a blend of Yunohama's springs — sodium-calcium chloride water — free-flowing with only a little dilution, in a single no-frills indoor tub. Adults pay ¥400; open in two sessions, 06:00–07:00 and 10:00–21:30, closed 2nd and 4th Thursdays. Soap and shampoo sold for ¥200, towels ¥100. The beach is two or three minutes' walk away, and the best plan is to watch the famous Yunohama sunset before soaking. About 35 minutes by bus from Tsuruoka Station.
The oldest of the communal baths surviving in the spa town of Kaminoyama, a former castle and post town about 10 minutes on foot from Kaminoyama-Onsen Station on the Yamagata Shinkansen. Moved to its present site in 1624, it is said to have been used by the Zen master Takuan. The big tub is split into hot and tepid halves, filled free-flowing with clear sodium-calcium-chloride-sulphate water. With its flagstone washing area and old-style attendant's counter, it charges an astonishing ¥150 for adults and ¥100 for children (hair washing ¥100 extra), and the tatami hall upstairs can be used for a day's rest for ¥300. Open 06:00–22:00 (from 06:30 December–February; last entry 21:30), every day. Take a morning or evening dip with locals while touring Kaminoyama Castle, the samurai-house street and the town's five foot baths. About 25 minutes by car from Yamagata city, 40 minutes from Zaō Onsen. No soap is provided, so bring your own; park in the shopping-street car park opposite.
Day bathing at the annex of Kosekiya, an inn of some 500 years standing beside the Ginzan river in the middle of the Taisho-era streetscape. It resumed on 16 May 2026 and takes day bathers only on Saturdays and Sundays, 11:30–14:00 (last entry 13:30), at ¥1,000 for adults and ¥700 for children; towels are sold for ¥200 and bath towels rented for ¥300. To ease crowding each bath admits six people at a time, bathing runs 30 minutes to an hour from check-in, and payment is cash only. The indoor baths draw straight from the source.
One of the three public baths of Zao Onsen, set quietly up the Yu-no-Ka lane. It is a 'foot-of-the-spring' bath where water rises directly beneath the slatted floor, with no added water and no recirculation — a full flow-through. Open 6:00–22:00 with no closing day, it is unmanned: you put ¥300 (¥100 for children) in the box at the entrance. There are no showers or taps, only a rinse before entering, but the strongly acidic sulphur spring is exactly as it comes from the ground. It is run by the Zao Onsen tourist association, and inns in Zao sometimes hand out free bathing vouchers.
A refined inn in the Hayama district of Kaminoyama Onsen, known for a temple-like main bath built of Towada stone. Day bathing is received from 3:00 in the afternoon to 9:00 at night, at 1,100 yen for adults and 550 yen for children, with a bath towel and face towel included. The water is mildly alkaline, drawn from the Hayama no. 1 and no. 2 sources. As a high-grade inn it does not accept day bathers on some weekend days, so a phone call ahead is needed.
A village-run bath house at Hijiori Onsen, which counts 1,200 years, known for a soda-like carbonated spring whose bubbles cling to the skin. It is received from 9:30 to 19:00 between April and November and from 10:00 to 16:30 between December and March, with last entry 30 minutes before closing. Prices are 500 yen from junior high age, 200 yen for elementary pupils and free for infants. It closes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, or the following day when those fall on a holiday.
An onsen inn in Yunohama Onsen, Tsuruoka, Yamagata. Its chloride spring (Yunohama Onsen) fills a 2nd-floor large bath overlooking the Sea of Japan, and day bathing is accepted.
A wooden public bathhouse in the heart of Zao Onsen in Yamagata City, a spa said to have been opened 1,900 years ago. Zao has three communal bathhouses - Kamiyu, Kawarayu and Shimoyu - long used by locals and long-stay cure guests. Zao's water is among Japan's most strongly acidic sulfur springs (around pH 1); Shimoyu blends the Jaaragawa-Orikuchi, Inkyo and Kaminokawa sources in full free-flow. Because the water barely meets air, it stays clear rather than milky. An unmanned style - drop coins in the red box at the entrance - with simple gender-separated indoor tubs, no showers, just ladle-water for rinsing. At 300 yen it delivers Zao's intense spring water straight, and many rate it the most quintessentially Zao of the three bathhouses. A lukewarm footbath adjoins. About 3 minutes on foot from the Zao Onsen Bus Terminal, open 6:00-22:00 year-round.
A private-rental communal bath in Ginzan Onsen, Obanazawa, Yamagata - the Taisho-romance gaslamp street famous nationwide. Renovated from the former Kaminoyu public bathhouse, it is the only bathhouse in the spa town you can book out entirely for one party. The free-flowing sulfur water carries a faint sulfurous scent with yunohana drifting on the surface, and its crisp, hot soak (around 44°C to the touch) sinks right into you. The tub room of roughly eight tatami fits four or five adults, and even the wash taps run spring water. Use is 2,000 yen for 50 minutes; check in at the Haikara-san Curry Pan shop on the main street - no advance reservations, same-day only (10:00-17:50, last entry 17:00, irregular closures). A rare chance for families and couples to have Ginzan's water entirely to themselves. Ginzan has evening entry restrictions in winter, so check current rules before visiting.
A day-bathing-only open-air facility beside the spring-fed stream just below the Zao Onsen Grand Open-Air Bath in Yamagata City. Its motto is always the first-bath welcome, and the tubs - fed by some of Zao's most abundant flow - pride themselves on spotless cleanliness. The water is Zao's signature strongly acidic sulfur spring (acidic, sulfur-bearing aluminum sulfate-chloride), free-flowing; praised for joint pain and skin troubles, it is also known as a beauty-skin bath. The spacious rotenburo offers autumn foliage by day and light-ups by night, with yunohana drifting through the milky water. Admission is 550 yen for junior high and up, 300 yen for elementary, free for preschoolers; open 10:00-19:00 (Wednesdays from 14:00). A few minutes by car from the Zao Onsen Bus Terminal - a fine companion to a communal-bath tour.
An inn right in front of the Zao Onsen Bus Terminal in Yamagata City, running 100% free-flowing water from its own self-springing source - a certified natural-hot-spring display facility of the Japan Spa Association. That source feeds the main bath, the open-air bath and all four private baths: a lavish use of water. The bath is Zao's classic milky, strongly acidic sulfur spring, and the sulfurous halls live up to the inn's name - enjoying onsen through the five senses of sight, touch, scent, sound and taste. Day bathing runs 12:30-17:00 (last entry 16:30) at 800 yen for adults and 400 yen for ages 3-12, covering the indoor and open-air baths. The four characterful private baths are available for 2,500 yen per 50 minutes (12:00-17:00, until 15:00 when crowded). An ideal base for the Zao Ropeway and the communal-bath tour, with free parking for 30-40 cars.