A Meiji-era inn at the entrance to the Jigokudani Monkey Park, famous worldwide for wild macaques that climb into its rotenburo in winter. Day bathing is only 12:00–15:00, so most visitors combine it with the monkey park. It's a 30-minute mountain trail from Shibu Onsen — wear grippy shoes in winter.
The centerpiece of Nozawa's 13 public baths, a traditional bathhouse in the middle of the village. Local 'yunakama' associations have cleaned it daily since the Edo period; payment is a donation in the box at the door. Two pools, hot and 'mild' — though even the mild one exceeds 42°C. Adding cold water is bad manners: rinse first, then keep soaks short. No soap or shampoo.
The signature inn of Shirahone, famous for milky-white water. Its highlight is a large mixed-gender open-air bath — the water is so opaque that women find it comfortable. Day use at midday only.
Next to Fuji-Q Highland, with one of Japan's largest all-timber bath halls. Price includes loungewear and towels, so come empty-handed. Free shuttle from Fujisan Station. Prices revised April 2026.
One minute from the Yudanaka station gate: a free-flowing day bath with two bathrooms (each with an open-air tub) that swap monthly. The lounge overlooks the platform — perfect while waiting for the train back from the snow-monkey park.
Of Shibu's nine communal baths along the cobbled street, No. 9 'Ō-yu' is the only one open to non-guests. Hot rusty-brown water plus a steam room fed by the source; a footbath on the roof. Buy a ¥800 ticket at the tourist office or nearby inns and have the door unlocked for you.
In Nozawa, where 13 outer baths are free (donation), this is the only paid day facility with showers, shampoo and an open-air bath. A handsome building with a curved gable, hot and mild indoor pools and a stone outdoor bath — the fallback when the outer baths are too hot or you want a proper wash.
Right at the Shirahone bus stop, gender-separated public open-air pools built against the gorge cliff. Milky bicarbonate water for ¥700; no washing area, pure rustic soaking. Closed late Nov–late Apr and Tuesdays. Handy before or after Awa-no-yu's short day-use window.
A locals' public bath three minutes from the east exit of Echigo-Yuzawa Station, tucked into the shopping street. Indoor pool only, but the slightly hot, soft water that clings to the skin gets praise. Shampoo is provided and a towel set costs ¥400, so you can drop in empty-handed while waiting for the shinkansen. ¥600 since December 2025.
Forty minutes by car from Niigata city, the communal bath of Tsukioka Onsen, which bills itself as the spring that 'makes you beautiful'. The emerald-green water has one of the highest sulfur contents in Japan — you smell it the moment you step in. Indoor pool only, ¥600. On the edge of the ryokan street and popular with locals. 25 minutes by bus from Shibata Station. Closed Tuesdays and the third Wednesday.
On a mountainside above the Kofu basin, a spectacular open-air bath with Mt. Fuji and the city lights in view. It opens 'one hour before sunrise', so people arrive in the dark to watch dawn break over Fuji from the water. Of the two bathhouses, 'Acchi-no-yu' is the larger with the better view. ¥900. The deep-fried hot-spring egg from the food stall is a must. Ten minutes by taxi from Yamanashi-shi Station; a feasible day trip from Tokyo.
An hour by car from Niigata city, a ryokan in Tsukioka Onsen, famed for water that 'makes you beautiful'. Its emerald-green spring, among the most sulfur-rich in Japan, fills indoor and open-air baths, and day use runs late — 15:00–23:00 — so you can soak while the garden is lit up. ¥800 on weekdays (¥1,000 with towel), +¥200 on weekends and holidays. Combine with the free footbath and spring-source park in the village.
Three minutes by car from Yamanakako IC, a day spa with Mt. Fuji rising straight ahead of the open-air bath. Highly alkaline (pH 10.3) yet gentle on the skin. Two open-air baths—stone and cypress—plus a lie-down bath, jets and sauna for ¥900. On winter weekends (Dec–Feb) it opens at dawn so you can watch the peak blush red at sunrise, the 'benifuji' of its name. 30 minutes from Fujisan Station on the Fujikko-gō loop bus.
The public day bath at the heart of Matsunoyama, counted with Arima and Kusatsu among Japan's 'three great medicinal springs'. The water is fossil seawater some 12 million years old, heated geothermally — salty, slightly oily and hot enough to warm you to the core. Indoor bath plus a small open-air tub, ¥600 (¥500 after 17:00). In this heavy-snow region it becomes a snow bath in winter. Used by inn guests for bath-hopping too, and close to the site of the famous 'groom-tossing' festival.
The leading large ryokan of Shimobe Onsen in Yamanashi, the 'hidden bath' of warlord Takeda Shingen. Its hallmark is three springs of differing character (including the tepid original Shimobe water) served in eleven tubs, seven of them open-air — a mini bath-hopping circuit with streamside rotenburo and Shingen lore. Day use 11:00–15:00, ¥1,200; resting in the tatami hall is free, and lunch-and-rest plans start at ¥5,000. Irregular closures, so confirm ahead. Just 3 minutes on foot from Shimobe-Onsen Station on the JR Minobu Line — easy by rail, and a natural pairing with Kuonji temple on Mt Minobu, the Fuji River or a Lake Motosu / Fuji Five Lakes drive.
One of the three public 'outer baths' of Bessho Onsen near Ueda, the spa village nicknamed 'Kamakura of Shinshū'. Ishiyu is famed as the hidden bath of warrior Sanada Yukimura in Ikenami Shōtarō's novel Sanada Taiheiki; its tub is built around natural bedrock, filled free-flowing with faintly sulphurous, mildly alkaline water. Open 6:30–21:30 (last entry 21:00), closed Tuesdays, a modest ¥300 with free lockable lockers. Pair it with the other two — Ōyu (closed 1st & 3rd Wed) and Daishiyu (closed 1st & 3rd Thu) — plus Kitamuki Kannon temple and the National Treasure octagonal pagoda of Anrakuji, all on foot. Ten minutes' walk from Bessho-Onsen Station on the Ueda Dentetsu line.
In Asama Onsen, Matsumoto's spa hinterland, this day-use bath occupies the house of the hereditary bath-keepers who guarded the lords' private 'Goten-yu' for 400 years, since castle lord Ishikawa Kazumasa. Old garden trees and displays on the bath-keepers' history give the place the feel of a heritage site; the clear, mildly alkaline simple spring is fine-textured on the skin. Besides the main hall there is an open-air bath in a separate wing and a rest room, and many visitors come straight from Matsumoto Castle. Open 9:00–21:00 (last entry 20:00), closed Mondays (or the next day after a holiday), ¥900. About 20 minutes by bus from Matsumoto Station to Asama-Onsen Bunka Center-mae, then 10 minutes on foot.
The oldest communal bath in Echigo-Yuzawa, near the inn where Kawabata Yasunari wrote Snow Country — he is said to have bathed here himself. The tub fits only five or six people, but the sulphur-scented free-flowing spring is a rarity in Yuzawa and the star of the town's five-bath 'sotoyu' circuit. Adults pay ¥850 including bathing tax (revised 2026); open 10:00–21:00 (last entry 20:30), closed Tuesdays. Soap and shampoo provided, towels sold for ¥200. It sits up a slope 25 minutes' walk from Echigo-Yuzawa Station, or 10 minutes from Gala-Yuzawa Station; only 10 parking spaces.
A free, gender-separated open-air bath at the top of Tsubame Onsen, a trailhead village at about 1,100 m on Mt Myōkō. Five minutes up a mountain path from the village you find only a simple plank changing hut and a rock tub, where flakes of 'yunohana' drift in milky sulphur water. Known as a 'triple beauty bath' for combining sulphur, bicarbonate and sulphate, it faces the flanks of Myōkō. Free of charge from sunrise to sunset, open April to November (closed in winter; boots needed while snow lingers); no bathing on Monday and Friday mornings for cleaning. Fifteen minutes further along the gorge is the mixed 'Kawara-no-yu' (Jul–Nov). No soap allowed and minimal changing space, so follow local etiquette. Walk from the terminus of the bus (about 21 min) from Sekiyama Station.
A Western-style bathhouse on the shore of Lake Suwa, built in 1928 by the Katakura silk dynasty for the welfare of local residents and now an Important Cultural Property. Its famous Sennin-buro is a marble pool 1.1 m deep — you bathe standing, pebbles underfoot, surrounded by stained glass and sculpture — named for the hundred people it can hold at once. It uses Kamisuwa's spring water and also has a sauna and jet bath. Adults ¥750, open 10:00–20:00 (last entry 19:30), closed 2nd and 4th Tuesdays. The 2nd-floor rest room (until 19:00) and canteen (11:00–15:00) are open to bathers, and tours of the hall building are offered. Eight minutes on foot from Kami-Suwa Station, handy for Suwa Taisha shrine and Takashima Castle.
A day-use bathhouse among the vineyards and peach orchards of Makioka in Yamanashi city, cherished by onsen fans as one of the prefecture's finest 'fresh from the source' springs. About 500 litres a minute of 42°C alkaline simple water wells up naturally and goes straight into the tubs — no heating, no dilution, no recirculation — so fresh water overflows constantly at the spout. The feel is silky; from the cypress indoor bath and the rock open-air bath you can sometimes see Mt Fuji across the Kōfu basin. Adults ¥700 for up to two hours, children ¥500 (four hours with tatami-hall rest ¥1,300; all day ¥1,800); open 10:00–21:00 (last entry 20:15), closed Tuesdays and the New Year period. A restaurant serves hōtō noodles and tempura, and Erin-ji temple and the local wineries are close. About 25 minutes by car from Katsunuma IC or 15 minutes by taxi from JR Yamanashi-shi Station.
A town-run day spa on a 370 m hill in Ichikawamisato, south of the Kōfu basin. From the unobstructed open-air bath you take in the whole basin with Yatsugatake, Mt Kayagatake and the Southern Alps beyond, and after dark the carpet of city lights is certified as a 'Japan Night View Heritage' site. The water is a translucent tea-brown alkaline simple spring containing organic matter from ancient plants, smooth on the skin. Indoor bath, open-air bath, lie-down bath and sauna; adults ¥850, children ¥500; open late, 10:00–23:00 (last entry 22:30), so you can watch dusk turn to night from the tub. Closed only for maintenance days. The restaurant's hōtō noodles, chicken giblet stew and Kōshū wine-beef set, and the farm produce shop, are popular. About 10 minutes by car from Kōfu-minami IC or 7 minutes from JR Kai-Ueno Station. In summer you may even catch the Ichikawamisato fireworks from the open-air bath.
A mainly day-use hot-spring house at Senami Onsen in Murakami, Niigata, famous for sunsets over the Sea of Japan. Its own source 180 m down yields abundant water at about 94 °C, and although it is a seaside spa the water has a faint whiff of sulphur and leaves the skin silky. There is an indoor bath, a rugged rock-built outdoor bath and a mist sauna, and even the showers run spring water; in winter the outdoor bath becomes a snow-viewing bath. Private family baths, rentable rooms, weekday day plans with a meal (from ¥4,800) and overnight stays are also available. Adults ¥900, children ¥500, towel hire ¥210; open 09:00–22:00 (last entry 21:00), irregular closures. About 10 minutes by bus from JR Murakami Station or 12 minutes by car from Murakami-Senami-Onsen IC; 100 parking spaces. Combine with Murakami's salmon cuisine, its merchant townhouses and a sunset walk on Senami beach.
A lone day-bath building among the fields on the outskirts of Nirasaki, north-west of the Kōfu basin, and a nationally known pilgrimage spot for onsen lovers. Nothing is added or altered – no dilution, heating, recirculation or chlorine – and as you settle into the tepid 38°C sodium chloride-bicarbonate spring, your whole body is coated in fine bubbles, said to be among the most abundant in Japan. The faintly greenish-yellow water carries a whisper of sulfur and iron, and the source running from a tap in the bathroom can be drunk (fizzy, iron-tinged). There is no open-air bath or sauna – just one big indoor pool and washing stations, like a sentō – but the windows frame the Yatsugatake and Kayagatake peaks, and the mild water makes an hour disappear. Adults pay ¥600, children ¥300, soap and shampoo provided. Open 10:00–20:00, closed Tuesdays (next day if a holiday) and Fridays, with free parking for 25 cars. About 10 minutes by taxi from Nirasaki Station on the JR Chūō Line or 15 minutes from Nirasaki IC on the Chūō Expressway.
A city-run day spa (Niigata City Iwamuro Health Promotion Centre) at Iwamuro Onsen, a spa at the eastern foot of Mt. Yahiko in Niigata's Nishikan ward, often called 'Niigata's back parlour'. Set on a rise at the edge of the spa town, its main bath and open-air bath look out over the Echigo plain toward Mt. Kakuda and Mt. Yahiko. The indoor pool is heated tap water, but the small rock-lined outdoor tub is fed with rich, free-flowing sulfur-bearing sodium-calcium chloride spring (hypertonic, mildly alkaline) whose faint sulfur scent and floating mineral flakes feel unmistakably like real onsen. Admission is ¥650 for adults and ¥390 for children, and a face and bath towel set is included, so arrive empty-handed. Open 10:00–20:00 (last entry 19:30), closed the second and fourth Wednesdays (next day if a holiday) and 29 December to 3 January. An upstairs lounge allows re-entry, and there are rental rooms and a snack corner; free parking for 80 cars. About 10 minutes by car from Iwamuro Station on the JR Echigo Line or 20 minutes from Maki-Katahigashi IC. Pair it with Yahiko Shrine and Niigata's sake breweries.