Yamanaka Onsen — photo: 663highland · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The 3 best onsen towns near Kanazawa
If you are in Kanazawa and want a night at a hot spring without renting a car, go to Awara in Fukui, the four towns of Kaga Onsen to the south-west, or Wakura on the Noto Peninsula. Two of them are a few stops down the Hokuriku Shinkansen, and the third is at the end of a limited-express line. Among the onsen towns close to Kanazawa that you can reach by public transport, they are the best known. One warning comes first: Wakura was badly damaged in the earthquake of 1 January 2024, and many of its inns were still closed for repair in 2026.
Why these three, in one paragraph
We did not pick by taste. We took the 45 onsen towns in our travel data whose station lies within 65 km of Kanazawa Station, kept the 33 you can reach without a car, counted the four Kaga towns as one place, and ranked by how often each town's Wikipedia article is read, as a measure of how established a town is. The full method, with numbers, is at the end.
Three directions on two railway lines
Kaga Onsen and Awara are both south-west of Kanazawa on the Hokuriku Shinkansen. From Kanazawa the trains call at Komatsu, then 加賀温泉 (Kaga-Onsen), then 芦原温泉 (Awara-Onsen). Kaga-Onsen Station is 39 km from Kanazawa Station as the crow flies, Awara 55 km. Wakura is the other way, 61 km north up the Noto Peninsula on the JR Nanao Line. All three have salty chloride water, the most common kind in Japan, and all three have hot sources: Wakura is recorded at 89.1 °C, the hottest in our pool.
1. Awara: Fukui's onsen town, at the end of the line
Why it made it. Awara Onsen is the most looked-up town in the pool: 1,923 in our count, against 1,394 for the best-known Kaga town.
The town. Awara is a flat town of inns on the plain behind the Sea of Japan coast, in Fukui Prefecture, just over the border from Ishikawa. It is a short trip from the coast at Mikuni: Mikuni Shrine is 3.7 km away, the temple of Takidan-ji 4.3 km, Lake Kitagata 6.5 km, and Maruoka Castle, one of the few castles in Japan with an original keep, 10.7 km.
The water. Awara is a chloride spring, with sources recorded from 33.5 °C to 77.5 °C. Many inns have their own wells, so the water can differ from inn to inn. We have no pH on record for it.
Getting there. Take the Hokuriku Shinkansen from Kanazawa three stops to 芦原温泉 (Awara-Onsen), then a taxi of about 10 minutes into town. The station is named after the town but is not in it. The other way in is the local Echizen Railway to あわら湯のまち (Awara-Yunomachi), about 200 m from the inns. The JR Pass covers the Shinkansen; the taxi and the Echizen Railway are extra.
Good for: a night on the way between Kanazawa and Kyoto or Osaka, anyone heading to the coast at Tōjinbō and Mikuni. Watch out for: the Shinkansen station is out of town, so plan the last few kilometres.
2. Kaga Onsen: four towns, one station
Why it made it. Counted one by one, the Kaga towns read 1,394 (Katayamazu), 1,329 (Yamanaka), 1,120 (Yamashiro) and 551 (Awazu). Counted as one place, Kaga Onsen is second. Counted separately, Katayamazu and Yamanaka would take second and third, and Wakura would drop out.
The towns. This is the largest group of inns near Kanazawa: our records give 26 inns in Yamanaka, 20 in Yamashiro, 13 in Katayamazu and 8 in Awazu, 67 in all. They are not the same kind of place. Yamanaka is a narrow river town in a wooded gorge, with about 514,000 visitors a year in our records. Yamashiro is built around a central public bathhouse, with about 480,000. Katayamazu sits on the shore of a lake, with about 395,000. Awazu is the smallest and the oldest by its own account; the temple of Nata-dera is 3 km away.
The water. Here the four towns really differ:
- Katayamazu: chloride, 72.5 °C, pH 7.3. The only one of the four recorded as hypertonic, meaning saltier than your body.
- Yamashiro: chloride and sulfate, 65 °C, pH 8.1, with the largest flow of the four at 1,450 litres a minute.
- Yamanaka: sulfate only, 48.3 °C, pH 8.6. Mildly alkaline and smooth.
- Awazu: sulfate, with no temperature on record.
If you want to compare water types in one trip, this is the easiest place in the region to do it. Our guide to onsen water types explains what the names mean.
Getting there. Take the Hokuriku Shinkansen from Kanazawa two stops to 加賀温泉 (Kaga-Onsen). Katayamazu is 3.2 km from the station; Yamashiro and Yamanaka are further inland. Our records do not give the last leg for those three, but local buses, including the CAN BUS sightseeing loop, run from the station; check the current timetable before you go. For Awazu, our records give a direct Hokutetsu bus from Kanazawa Station towards Yamanaka Onsen (get off at 粟津温泉 (Awazu Onsen)), or a Komatsu bus from Komatsu Station. The JR Pass covers the Shinkansen to Kaga-Onsen.
Good for: the widest choice of inns, comparing different water, two nights split between two towns. Watch out for: "Kaga Onsen" is not one town; check which of the four your inn is in before you book.
3. Wakura: the hottest water, still rebuilding
Why it made it. Wakura Onsen is third at 1,256, and it has the strongest numbers for water of any town in the pool.
The town. Wakura sits on Nanao Bay on the east side of the Noto Peninsula, with big hotels along the waterfront. Our records list 22 inns and about 1,022,000 visitors a year, but those figures date from before the earthquake of 1 January 2024. The quake damaged the seawall and many buildings, and in 2026 more than half of the town's inns were still closed for repair or rebuilding, with reopenings spread across 2025 to 2027. Check that your inn is actually taking guests, and expect building work around the bay. Nearby are the Ishikawa Nanao Art Museum 5.6 km away, the shrine of Keta-hongū 6.8 km, and the ruins of Nanao Castle 10.4 km.
The water. Wakura is a chloride spring recorded at 89.1 °C, pH 7.6, and hypertonic, with a flow of 2,618 litres a minute: the hottest and the largest flow of our three. Water that hot has to be cooled before you can bathe in it, so ask how each bath is run; the water types guide explains the signs.
Getting there. Take the JR limited express 能登かがり火 (Noto Kagaribi) from Kanazawa to 和倉温泉 (Wakura-Onsen). The station is 1.4 km from the waterfront; take a bus or taxi, or ask your inn about a pickup. The JR Pass covers it.
Good for: very hot salty water, a night by the sea, a base for the Noto Peninsula. Watch out for: the recovery. Fewer inns are open than our numbers suggest, and further up the peninsula roads and towns are still being repaired.
Which of the three?
- The widest choice of inns, or comparing water: Kaga Onsen.
- On the way to Kyoto or Osaka: Awara or Kaga Onsen, both on the Shinkansen towards Tsuruga.
- The hottest water, or the sea: Wakura, once you have checked your inn is open.
The towns that only just missed
Yuwaku came fourth at 829. It is the closest: a small town of 9 inns in the hills above Kanazawa, reached by local bus from the east exit of Kanazawa Station, with chloride and sulfate water at 32 °C and pH 8.2. The Yumeji-kan museum is in the town. If you only have an evening, this is the one; the water is cooler than our three. Ōmaki in Toyama was fifth at 396, a single inn on a gorge, with water at 57.6 °C. Tōjinbō-Mikuni on the Fukui coast was next at 158.
With a radius of 55 to 60 km, Wakura would drop out and Yuwaku would take third. From 61 km up to 80 km the three stay the same. Beyond that you reach Okuhida and Shirakawa-gō, which are best approached from Takayama; see our Japanese Alps guide.
How we picked these three
- Starting pool: 45 onsen towns in our travel data whose station is within 65 km of Kanazawa Station in a straight line. Towns reached by a bus straight from Kanazawa Station count as 0 km, even when the ride is long (Wajima is one).
- No car needed: 30 of the 45 are marked as reached by train or bus and a short walk, local bus or pickup. 8 need a taxi or a hike, and 7 are unknown. We kept 3 of the unknown ones, Yamanaka, Yamashiro and Katayamazu, because they share Kaga-Onsen Station and a bus line with Awazu. That makes 33.
- One place, not four: the four Kaga towns are counted as Kaga Onsen, using the best-known of them (Katayamazu).
- Known: ranked by how often each town's Wikipedia article is read. Awara 1,923, Kaga Onsen 1,394 (Katayamazu; Yamanaka 1,329, Yamashiro 1,120, Awazu 551), Wakura 1,256. The next one, Yuwaku, is at 829.
- Not used: scenery, inn quality, price, tattoo policy or how good the food is. We have no data that ranks those fairly, so we did not pretend to.
- About the water: Wakura is recorded at 89.1 °C, Awara up to 77.5 °C, and the Kaga towns from 48.3 °C to 72.5 °C. The water did not decide the ranking.
- Inn and visitor numbers come from Wikipedia and, for Wakura, date from before the January 2024 earthquake. Distances are straight lines between stations, not travel times. Check the route on Google Maps before you go.
For every town you can reach by train, see onsen you can reach without a car and onsen on the JR Pass. Coming from Nagoya? See the best onsen near Nagoya. From Kyoto or Osaka? See the best onsen near Osaka and Kyoto. Going for the day only? See onsen without staying the night. New to this? Start with how an onsen stay actually works and onsen etiquette. Tattooed? Read going to an onsen with tattoos before you book.