Where to go, which baths to choose, what a ticket costs and whether tattoos are allowed. Plus the bathing etiquette, explained for anyone new to onsen.
250+ PDF pages
2026 edition
The information is scattered across Japanese websites, forums and maps crowded with pins. Working out which ones are worth the trip can take whole evenings.
We picked fifty. For each one we explain why we chose it and which baths we recommend, ranked by our rating: in Kusatsu, for example, the list opens with the huge open-air bath at Sai-no-kawara.
If it’s your first onsen, the bathing rules are explained step by step. If you already know Japan, you’ll find places that rarely make it into itineraries, like Aoni Onsen, a remote ryokan at the end of a wooded valley that is still lit by oil lamps after dark.
Every entry has the same sections, always in the same place.
Fifty hot spring towns across eight regions, from Hokkaidō to Kyūshū.
150 hot spring baths, each with our rating and its location on Google Maps.
How Japanese bathing works, from the front door to the water.
Each town opens with a large photo and the key facts. After that come why we chose it, the practical information, our tips and the pages on each bath. These are the first two pages on Kinosaki in the Italian edition. The second is blurred; you’ll find it in full in the guide.
Inside
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The full guide: over 250 pages like these.
The guide runs from north to south. Each region opens with its map and the list of hot spring towns we chose.
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Japan’s northernmost island is a land of active volcanoes and long, snowy winters, where sulphur springs bubble up between steam vents. Onsen here are part of everyday life. In winter you can sit in an outdoor bath at –10°C, with snow all around and hot water up to your shoulders.
The north of Honshu, where hot spring villages sit deep in the forest and the snow lies thick all winter. This is where you’ll find some of Japan’s most rustic ryokan, a few still lit by oil lamps at night.
The region around Tokyo, with some of Japan’s best-known onsen towns a few hours away by train. Kusatsu’s acidic water, the wooded mountains of Nikkō and the volcanic steam of Hakone are easy to combine with a city trip.
The mountainous heart of Japan, where the Japanese Alps run down to the Sea of Japan and the Izu Peninsula faces the Pacific. Mountain villages, seaside spa towns and the snow monkeys that bathe in hot springs. With eighteen towns, it is the region with the most entries in the guide.
The region of Kyoto and Osaka, where temples and historic cities sit next to some of Japan’s oldest hot springs. Arima and Arashiyama are about an hour from Osaka and make easy day trips. Kinosaki, Shirahama on the Pacific coast and Yunomine, on the old Kumano pilgrimage routes, deserve at least a night.
The western end of Honshu, a quiet region between the Seto Inland Sea and the Sea of Japan, away from the busiest routes. The town we include is Tamatsukuri Onsen, in the land of the Izumo myths, where people have come to bathe for their skin for more than a thousand years.
The smallest of Japan’s four main islands, known for its 88-temple pilgrimage, walked by pilgrims dressed in white. Its most famous hot spring is Dōgo in Matsuyama, where a historic wooden bathhouse still welcomes bathers today.
The southernmost of the main islands, with active volcanoes, a mild climate and hot springs almost everywhere. Beppu has more hot spring sources than any other town in Japan. Kurokawa hides in the mountain woods, and in Ibusuki you get buried in warm volcanic sand on the beach.
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The download link appears right after payment and is also sent by email. You get the English and the Italian edition.
On your phone, on a tablet or on paper. Jump from the contents to any town and open any bath’s location in Google Maps.
We did. We have been travelling around Japan for more than ten years and we plan tailor-made trips there.
These are the places we’d go back to ourselves and the ones we recommend to anyone who asks us where to go.
We’re finishing the last checks on the town and bath entries. The guide will go on sale on this page as soon as it’s ready, at €14.90.
A download link appears right after payment. The same link is sent to the email address you give at checkout.
English and Italian. One purchase gets you both PDFs, handy if someone you’re travelling with reads Italian.
Phone, tablet or computer, with any PDF reader. The A5 format reads well even on a small screen.
It depends on the bath. For each one the guide gives the stated rule: tattoos allowed, allowed if covered (sometimes only small ones), allowed only in a private bath, allowed only if you bathe alone, or not allowed. Where a bath publishes no rule, we list tattoos as not allowed, so ask at the front desk before you go in.
Rarely: more than nine in ten of the baths in the guide are open to day visitors. Each entry says so, along with the ticket price.
No. A short glossary explains the words you’ll see on signs, such as the ones that mark the men’s and women’s baths. Every town and bath is also written in Japanese, so you can show it when you ask for directions.
Prices, opening hours, closing days and routes were checked before publication. They can change, especially in winter, so check the bath’s official website before you go.
The guide is digital content delivered as soon as you pay, so the usual 14-day right to cancel doesn’t apply. If the file is damaged or won’t download, write to us and we’ll resend it or refund you.
Yes, one per town, next to “Where to stay”: it opens a Booking.com search for that town. If you book through it we earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you.
We’re doing the last checks on the entries. As soon as they’re done, the guide goes on sale on this page. In the meantime, you can email us with any question.
Ginzan Onsen, Obanazawa