Akiu Onsen — photo: 663highland · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The 3 best onsen towns near Sendai
If you are in Sendai and want a night at an onsen town, the three to look at are Ginzan, Akiu and Zao. All three are within 50 km of Sendai Station, none of them needs a car, and among the onsen that close they are the best known. Only Akiu is in Miyagi. The other two are over the mountains in Yamagata, which most "Sendai onsen" lists leave out because they stop at the prefecture border.
Why these three, in one paragraph
We did not pick by taste. We took the 18 onsen in our data that lie within 50 km of Sendai Station in a straight line, kept the ones you can reach by train or bus without a car, and ranked them 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.
Close to Sendai, the water is mostly gentle
Of those 18 onsen, 14 are in Miyagi and 4 in Yamagata. Twelve have a source temperature on record, and only 6 of them reach 42 °C. Three of the four nearest to the station are single-inn springs recorded at 19 to 24 °C, water that has to be heated. The hot water is further out, in the hills along the Zao range and towards Yamagata. That is the same pattern we describe in our Tohoku onsen guide: the big city is not where the hot water is.
It also explains the shape of this list. Akiu is the easy one, 15 km from the station. Ginzan and Zao are three times as far and on the other side of the mountains, but they are the two towns people actually ask about from Sendai: "ginzan onsen from sendai" and "zao onsen day trip from sendai" both turn up as search suggestions.
1. Ginzan: the lamp-lit street, if you can stay the night
Why it made it. Ginzan Onsen is the best-known onsen within 50 km of Sendai by a wide margin: 6,048 in our count, almost twice the second. It is 46 km from Sendai Station, close to the edge of the circle.
The town. A single short street of wooden inns facing each other across a river, with gas lamps that come on at dusk. It is the most photographed onsen town in Tohoku, and in the snow months it is busy enough that the town limits day visitors in the evening. Beyond the end of the street, a path leads up to the old silver mine the town is named after. Our Ginzan guide covers the evening rules in detail.
The water. Chloride and sulfur, recorded at 44 to 65 °C. It is the hottest water of the three with a temperature on record.
Getting there from Sendai. There is no direct train. Take the JR Senzan Line or a highway bus to Yamagata, about an hour and a bit, then a train north to 大石田 (Ōishida), then the bus to Ginzan, about 40 minutes and only every couple of hours. Allow most of a morning. The JR Pass covers the trains but not the highway bus or the Ginzan bus.
Good for: one special night, the street in the snow. Watch out for: it is the longest trip of the three despite the short straight-line distance, rooms go months ahead for winter, and a winter evening visit without a room needs a ticket.
2. Akiu: Sendai's own onsen town
Why it made it. Akiu Onsen is second at 3,151, and it is by far the closest of the three: 15 km from Sendai Station, inside the city of Sendai.
The town. Akiu is a resort town of large inns along a river valley. Our records list 16 inns with room for about 6,172 guests, and about 810,000 bathers a year, so it is built for numbers and you can usually find a room at short notice. The Sendai Kaleidoscope Museum is 1.8 km away and Akiu Great Falls 11.6 km.
The water. A chloride spring: salty water that leaves a thin film on the skin, so you stay warm for a long time after the bath. We have no temperature or pH on record for it.
Getting there from Sendai. Buses run from Sendai Station to Akiu in about 50 minutes. Many inns send a car to the station if you ask when you book. The JR Pass does not cover the bus.
Good for: a first night after landing at Sendai Airport, which has direct international flights; a day trip; groups who want a big inn with everything in it. Watch out for: it is a resort of large hotels, not an old street. If that is what you are after, choose Ginzan.
3. Zao: the acidic water and the ski slopes
Why it made it. Zao Onsen is third at 1,237. It is 43 km from Sendai Station.
The town. Zao is a ski town on a steep slope above Yamagata, with the ski area 0.6 km away and the ropeway up to the frost-covered "snow monster" trees in mid-winter. The Okama crater lake is 5.7 km away on the summit ridge, reached by a mountain road that closes in winter. Our Zao guide has the details, including the big outdoor bath that is shut for most of the ski season.
The water. Five water types on record: acidic, sulfur, chloride, sulfate and iron. It is the only acidic onsen within 50 km of Sendai; Miyagi has none at all. Acidic water stings small cuts and blackens silver, so take jewellery off. We have no temperature or pH on record for Zao.
Getting there from Sendai. The JR Senzan Line or a highway bus to Yamagata Station, about an hour and a bit, then the Zao bus, about 40 minutes. In the ski season there are sometimes direct buses from Sendai; check the current timetable. The JR Pass covers the Senzan Line but not the buses.
Good for: skiers, anyone who wants strong water that smells of sulfur, a day trip from Sendai. Watch out for: the lanes are packed snow in winter, and the acid is hard on skin that is already dry or broken.
Which of the three?
- Only an afternoon, or just landed: Akiu.
- One memorable night, and you can book early: Ginzan.
- Skiing, or the strongest water: Zao.
- The hottest water on record: Ginzan, at 44 to 65 °C.
- Two nights: Zao and Ginzan pair well, since both are reached through Yamagata; allow half a day to move between them.
The towns that only just missed
Sakunami came fourth at 998. It is 25 km from the station, on the way to Yamagata along the Senzan Line valley, with 4 inns and chloride and sulfate water at 50 °C. If you want hot water and do not want to cross the mountains, it is the better pick than Akiu.
Tōgatta was fifth at 784: the main town on the Miyagi side of the Zao range, 31 km from Sendai, recorded at 70 °C and pH 7.0, reached by bus from Shiroishi-Zaō Station on the Tohoku Shinkansen. Kamasaki was sixth at 509, a small spring near Shiroishi at 31 °C with chloride, sulfate and iron water.
The ranking depends on the radius. At 45 km, Ginzan drops out and Sakunami comes in third. From about 56 km, Naruko (1,332), the cluster with four water types north of Sendai, takes third place from Zao. From about 61 km, Iizaka (2,008) in Fukushima, a short private-railway ride from Fukushima Station, takes third instead.
How we picked these three
- Starting pool: 18 onsen in our data within 50 km of Sendai Station in a straight line, measured to the onsen itself: 14 in Miyagi and 4 in Yamagata. Sendai is not one of the cities in our travel-time data, so we used distance, not time.
- No car needed: we went down the list from the best known. The first six (Ginzan, Akiu, Zao, Sakunami, Tōgatta and Kamasaki) are all marked in our travel data as reached by train and a short walk or local bus.
- Known: ranked by how often each town's Wikipedia article is read. Ginzan 6,048, Akiu 3,151, Zao 1,237. The next ones are Sakunami at 998 and Tōgatta at 784.
- 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: of the 18, 12 have a temperature on record and 6 reach 42 °C. Ginzan is recorded at 44 to 65 °C; we have no temperature for Akiu or Zao. Zao is the only acidic onsen in the pool. The water did not decide the ranking.
- Distances are straight lines, not travel times. Ginzan is closer than it travels; check the route on Google Maps before you go.
For the rest of the region, see our Tohoku onsen guide. For every town you can reach by train, see onsen you can reach without a car and onsen on the JR Pass. Coming up from Tokyo instead? See the best onsen near Tokyo. Skiing? See the best onsen ski resorts. Want to know what "chloride" or "acidic" means? See onsen water types. 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.