Isawa Onsen — photo: Sakaori (talk) · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The 3 best onsen towns near Mount Fuji
If you want a night in a real hot spring town within reach of Mount Fuji, and you are not driving, go to Isawa in the Kōfu basin, Hakone on the Tokyo side, or Shimobe in the Fuji River valley. All three are within 35 km of the summit in a straight line, all three are reached by train with a short walk at the end, and among the towns that pass both tests they are the best known. That leaves out Kawaguchiko, the lake town most "near Fuji" lists start with, and the reason is in the numbers below. One thing we cannot tell you is which baths look at the mountain: we have no data on views, so we did not pick on them.
Why these three, in one paragraph
We did not pick by taste. We drew a circle of 35 km around the summit. Our database has 15 onsen towns with a location inside it. We dropped the ones where the last step from the station is a taxi or a car, and counted the separate Hakone records (Sokokura, Ubako) as part of Hakone. That left 10. We then ranked them by how often each town's Wikipedia article is read, as a measure of how established a town is. The top three are Isawa, Hakone and Shimobe, and by a wide margin: 2,598, 1,275 and 756, against 130 for the fourth. The full method, with numbers, is at the end.
Three sides of the mountain
None of the three sits on Fuji's own slopes. Isawa is 33.9 km north, across the Misaka mountains, on the floor of the Kōfu basin. Hakone is 32.8 km east, inside an older volcano of its own. Shimobe is 23.3 km west, in the valley of the Fuji River, behind the ridge that walls the mountain off on that side. The towns right at the foot of Fuji, around the Five Lakes, are smaller as hot spring towns and less looked up; they are covered under "only just missed". If you want to sleep by the lakes, that section is for you.
1. Isawa: the big, young town in the fruit valley
Why it made it. Isawa Onsen is the most looked-up town in the circle: 2,598 in our count, about twice the next one.
The town. Isawa is new by onsen standards. Hot water came up in a vineyard in 1961, and a resort of large hotels grew around it. Our records count 50 inns. The area around it is orchards: peaches in summer, grapes and wine in autumn. Kai Zenkō-ji temple is 4.9 km away, Takeda Shrine 7.0 km and the Shōsenkyō gorge 12.1 km. Two smaller springs, Kasugai and Hinode, are within about a kilometre and a half.
The water. Isawa is a simple spring, alkaline, recorded at 49 °C with a flow of about 8,080 litres a minute. That is plenty of hot water: Isawa is the hottest of the three by record. Kasugai next door is recorded at 56.6 °C and pH 9.33.
Getting there. Take the JR Limited Express かいじ (Kaiji) or あずさ (Azusa) from Shinjuku to 石和温泉 (Isawa-Onsen). Our estimate from Tokyo Station is about two and a quarter hours. The hotels are a walk or short taxi ride from the station. The JR Pass covers it. Our records also list Fujikyū buses between Isawa and Kawaguchiko, which is the way to combine the two.
Good for: a big choice of inns, the hottest water of the three, autumn fruit and wine. Watch out for: it is a resort of large hotels on a flat basin, not an old street of wooden inns.
2. Hakone: the one most people already mean
Why it made it. Hakone is second at 1,275, and by far the quickest from Tokyo: about 75 minutes in our estimate.
The town. Hakone is a whole valley of separate spa areas, from Yumoto at the bottom to the shore of Lake Ashi at the top, joined by a mountain railway, a cable car, a ropeway and buses. Hakone Shrine is 5.2 km from the centre and the Open-Air Museum 0.7 km. The lake end is the side nearest Fuji; Ubako, by the ropeway, is 28.7 km from the summit. Our Hakone guide explains the areas, the bags problem and the loop in detail, so this is only the short version.
The water. Hakone is the only town in the circle with five kinds of water on record: simple, chloride, bicarbonate, sulfate and sulfur. Which one you get depends on the area and the inn. Ubako is recorded at 44 to 63 °C.
Getting there. The Odakyū Romancecar runs from Shinjuku to 箱根湯本 (Hakone-Yumoto). Odakyū and the Hakone lines are private, so the JR Pass only helps if you take the Shinkansen to Odawara and change there.
Good for: the shortest trip from Tokyo, the most choice of water, sightseeing between baths. Watch out for: crowds and prices, and the upper areas are slow to reach with luggage. Whether you see Fuji depends on the inn, the area and the weather; much of Hakone faces the other way.
3. Shimobe: the quiet old spring on the Minobu Line
Why it made it. Shimobe Onsen is third at 756, the only other town in the circle above 150. It is also the closest of the three to the summit.
The town. Shimobe is a small, old spring in a narrow valley, one of several in Yamanashi said to have been used by the warlord Takeda Shingen. Our records count 12 inns. Kuon-ji, the head temple of the Nichiren school on Mount Minobu, is 6.9 km away and is the natural outing.
The water. Shimobe is a simple spring recorded at only 21.7 °C, which is cool, not hot. The hot baths are heated. If an inn also keeps a bath at the source temperature, expect it to feel cold. The sign in the changing room tells you which pool is which.
Getting there. Shimobe-Onsen Station is on the JR Minobu Line, which runs between Kōfu and Fuji on the Tōkaidō Line. Our estimate from Tokyo is about two and a quarter hours. The station is 0.9 km from the centre in our records and the inns run up the valley, so ask yours about a pickup if you have bags. The JR Pass covers it. Fujinomiya, the town of Fuji's main shrine, is on the same line.
Good for: a quiet night, a temple visit, a route that links the Shizuoka and Yamanashi sides of Fuji. Watch out for: the Minobu Line is slow and not frequent; check the timetable.
Which of the three?
- Shortest trip from Tokyo, or most choice: Hakone.
- Hottest water and a big choice of inns, or combining with Kawaguchiko: Isawa.
- A quiet old spring, or travelling between Shizuoka and Kōfu: Shimobe.
- On the JR Pass: Isawa and Shimobe. Hakone needs Odakyū or the Hakone lines.
The towns that only just missed
Kawaguchiko is the town people expect. It is the closest real resort to the mountain, 18.8 km from the summit on the lake, with 50 inns in our records, as many as Isawa. But it ranks fifth in the circle at 100, and we have no temperature or pH on record for its simple water. It is a lake and sightseeing town that has hot water, rather than a hot spring town. If you want to sleep at the foot of Fuji, it is the obvious base; reach it by the Fujikyū line from Ōtsuki, a private railway the JR Pass does not cover.
Around the other lakes, Yamanakako is recorded at 26.1 °C and pH 10.2, very alkaline, with 7 inns, and Fujisan Onsen near Fujisan Station at 37 °C and pH 10.3, with 1. We have no location on record for Yamanakako or for Yoshinoike, so they are not in the count; at 55 and 87 they would not have reached the top three anyway. Nakagawa, a small valley spring in the Tanzawa hills 30.5 km east, came fourth at 130, but it is a 30-minute bus ride from a station on the Gotemba Line.
Hottarakashi, the hillside bath above the Kōfu basin that view lists often put first, is 39.0 km from the summit and a taxi ride from Yamanashi-shi Station, so it failed both tests. It is recorded at 32 to 41.4 °C and pH 9.6 to 10.1, and it is a day-bathing place, not a town to stay in. Isawa is the place to sleep if you want to go there.
How we picked these three
- Near Fuji: within 35 km of the summit in a straight line. 15 onsen towns in our database have a location inside that circle. 35 km is wide enough to take in Hakone, which most visitors mean by "near Fuji".
- No car needed: 2 need a taxi from the station and 1 a car, so we dropped them. Hakone and Isawa have no rating of their own, but Hakone's Sokokura and Ubako records and the Isawa group record are reached on foot from a station, so we kept both. We counted Sokokura and Ubako as Hakone. 10 towns remained.
- Known: ranked by how often each town's Wikipedia article is read. Isawa 2,598, Hakone 1,275, Shimobe 756. The next are Nakagawa 130 and Kawaguchiko 100.
- How sensitive the circle is: any radius from 34 to 39 km gives the same three. At 33 km Isawa drops out and Nakagawa comes in. Under 28 km you are left with Shimobe, Kawaguchiko and the small springs at the foot of the mountain.
- Not used: views of Fuji, inn quality, price, tattoo policy or food. We have no data that ranks those fairly, so we did not pretend to.
- About the water: Isawa is recorded at 49 °C, Hakone has five types and up to 63 °C at Ubako, Shimobe is at 21.7 °C. The water did not decide the ranking.
- Travel times are rough estimates from station locations, not a timetable. Check the route on Google Maps before you go.
Starting from Tokyo? See the three best onsen towns near Tokyo and every onsen within reach of Tokyo. Breaking the trip to Kyoto? See the best stops between Tokyo and Kyoto. For every town you can reach by train, see onsen you can reach without a car and onsen on the JR Pass. 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.