Gero Onsen — photo: 663highland · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The 3 best onsen towns near Nagoya
If you are based in Nagoya and want a night at a hot spring without renting a car, go to Gero in Gifu, Hirugami in the south of Nagano, or Yunoyama in the hills of Mie. All three are about two hours or less from Nagoya Station in our estimates, none of them needs a car, and each is closer to Nagoya than to Tokyo, Kyoto or Osaka. Among the towns that pass all three tests, they are the best known. That leaves out Arima and Atami, which also appear on "near Nagoya" lists, and the reason is that they belong to another city. Below is why each of the three made it, what the water is like, how to get there, and the towns that only just missed.
Why these three, in one paragraph
We did not pick by taste. Our travel data lists 505 onsen towns within about three hours of Nagoya Station. Nagoya sits in the middle of Japan, so that circle reaches Tokyo, Osaka and the Sea of Japan coast. We kept only towns estimated at about two hours or less: 148. We then kept only those you can reach without a car: 99. Many of those are really day trips from Kyoto, Osaka or Tokyo — Arima is 105 minutes from Nagoya in our estimate but an hour from Osaka — so we kept only towns that are quicker to reach from Nagoya than from any of those three cities: 58. Finally we ranked the 58 by how often each town's Wikipedia article is read, as a measure of how established a town is. The top three are Gero, Hirugami and Yunoyama. The full method, with numbers, is at the end.
Three directions, three kinds of trip
The three do not cluster. Gero is about 80 km north-east of Nagoya Station in a straight line, up the Hida River on the railway to Takayama. Hirugami is about the same distance to the east, over the mountains in Nagano, and is reached by highway bus. Yunoyama is the closest, about 40 km west, at the foot of the Suzuka mountains, on a private railway. Of the 58 towns in the final pool, 18 are in Gifu, 8 each in Aichi, Mie and Ishikawa, and the rest in Shizuoka, Fukui, Nagano and Toyama. Only 12 of the 47 with a temperature on record reach 42 °C, which is why Gero stands out.
1. Gero: the hot-water town on the Hida line
Why it made it. Gero Onsen is the most looked-up town in the pool by a wide margin: 2,959 in our count, against 1,989 for the next one.
The town. Gero is counted with Kusatsu and Arima as one of the 日本三名泉 (Nihon san-meisen), the "three famous springs" named by a seventeenth-century scholar. It is a real town of large inns along both banks of the Hida River, with footbaths in the streets and public baths you can use without staying the night. Zenshō-ji, a temple 4.3 km away, is the easy half-day outing; the hill behind the town, Mount Nakane, starts 0.8 km from the centre.
The water. Gero is a simple spring recorded at 84 °C and pH 9.0: clear, alkaline and slippery. It is the hottest town in the final pool. Water that alkaline makes bath floors slick, so walk carefully; see onsen etiquette.
Getting there. Take the JR Limited Express ひだ (Hida) from Nagoya to 下呂 (Gero), about an hour and 40 minutes. The inns start a few minutes' walk from the station. The JR Pass covers it.
Good for: a first onsen night from Nagoya, anyone heading on to Takayama, anyone who wants a town with a choice of inns and baths. Watch out for: it is a busy resort town, not a quiet village, and weekends book up. Our Japanese Alps guide covers Okuhida, the hotter and smaller towns another two hours further on.
2. Hirugami: the newer town, over the mountains
Why it made it. Hirugami Onsen is second at 1,989. It is about two hours away in our estimate, by highway bus.
The town. Hirugami is a young onsen town: the water was struck in the 1970s, while the expressway tunnel under Mount Ena was being dug. It sits in the village of Achi, in a river valley in the south of Nagano, with inns along the river and a morning market. The village promotes night-sky tours, and the area around it is rural: Afuchi Shrine is 2.6 km away, the Tenryū-kyō gorge 9.2 km, and Iida Castle in the city of Iida 12.2 km.
The water. Hirugami is a sulfur spring at pH 9.0. That makes it one of the gentlest sulfur baths we know of: you will notice the smell and the smoothness, not much else. Our sulfur guide explains why. We have no source temperature for it, so we do not say whether it is heated.
Getting there. Take a Chuo Expressway highway bus from the Meitetsu Bus Center at Nagoya Station towards Iida, and get off at the 昼神温泉 (Hirugami Onsen) stop at the Achi parking area. The inns are about five minutes away by road from there, so ask yours about a pickup or take a taxi. Our records also give a route by JR to Iida and a local bus of about 40 minutes, but the JR Iida Line is slow, and from Nagoya that way takes far longer than two hours. The JR Pass does not help here.
Good for: a quiet night away from cities, a first sulfur bath, a stop between Nagoya and the Kiso Valley or the Southern Alps. Watch out for: the last few minutes need a car or a pickup, and there is little to do in the evening beyond the inn.
3. Yunoyama: the closest, under the ropeway
Why it made it. Yunoyama Onsen is third at 997, and the closest of the three: about an hour and a half in our estimate.
The town. Yunoyama sits at the foot of Mount Gozaisho in the Suzuka mountains, at the bottom of the Gozaisho Ropeway. The inns are spread along a steep wooded valley rather than on a flat street. Our records give the area about 2.2 million visitors a year, which tells you it is mostly a day-trip and weekend place for Nagoya and Yokkaichi.
The water. Yunoyama is a radioactive spring, the kind also called a radon or radium spring. The trace radon leaves the water quickly; the name sounds more alarming than the bath. We have no source temperature or pH on record for it, so check the sign in the changing room to see how each bath is run.
Getting there. Take the Kintetsu Nagoya Line from 近鉄名古屋 (Kintetsu-Nagoya) to 近鉄四日市 (Kintetsu-Yokkaichi), change to the Kintetsu Yunoyama Line to the end at 湯の山温泉 (Yunoyama-Onsen), then take the local bus about 10 minutes up to the ropeway stop. This is a private railway, so the JR Pass does not cover it.
Good for: the shortest trip of the three, a day trip from Nagoya, anyone who wants a mountain ride with the bath. Watch out for: the station is not in the town, and the bus is the link; check the last one back if you are not staying.
Which of the three?
- Hottest water, a proper onsen town, or on the way to Takayama: Gero.
- A quiet countryside night and a soft sulfur bath: Hirugami.
- Shortest trip, or a day trip: Yunoyama.
- Travelling on the JR Pass: Gero is the only one of the three it covers.
The towns that only just missed
Yuwaku came fourth at 829: a small town of 9 inns in the hills above Kanazawa, reached by local bus from Kanazawa Station, with chloride and sulfate water at 32 °C and pH 8.2. It is about two hours from Nagoya in our estimate, but most people will stay there as part of a Kanazawa trip. Nagashima was fifth at 788. It is a big resort of hotels, baths and a theme park rather than an old town, with water at 60 °C, and the direct bus from Nagoya Station takes about 45 minutes. Yuya in Aichi was sixth at 699, with its own station on the JR Iida Line and 9 inns, but its water is recorded at only 19.5 °C.
The famous names failed the "closer to Nagoya" test, not the fame test. Arima (4,489) and Ogoto (3,400) are both quicker from Osaka or Kyoto; they are on our list for Osaka and Kyoto. Awara (1,923) is an equal 105 minutes from Nagoya and from Kyoto, so it did not count as Nagoya's. Sakakibara (1,606), in Mie, came out slightly quicker from Kyoto in our estimates. Atami (1,227) is an hour and a half from Nagoya by Shinkansen, but 45 minutes from Tokyo; see the best stops between Tokyo and Kyoto.
How we picked these three
- Starting pool: 505 onsen towns within about three hours of Nagoya Station in our travel data. 148 of them are estimated at about two hours or less.
- No car needed: 99 of the 148 are reached by train or bus and a short walk, local bus or pickup.
- Nagoya's own: 58 of the 99 are quicker to reach from Nagoya than from Tokyo, Kyoto or Osaka. Ties went to the other city.
- Known: ranked by how often each town's Wikipedia article is read. Gero 2,959, Hirugami 1,989, Yunoyama 997. 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: Gero is recorded at 84 °C and pH 9.0, Hirugami at pH 9.0 with no temperature, and Yunoyama with neither. The water did not decide the ranking.
- Travel times are rough estimates from station locations, not a timetable. For Hirugami the estimate holds by highway bus, not by JR. 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. For the mountains north of Nagoya, read Japanese Alps onsen. 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.