Ginzan Onsen — photo: さかおり · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Driving to an onsen in Japan: when a car helps, and when it gets in the way
A rental car looks like the easy answer to an onsen trip: no bus timetables, no luggage on trains, and the small inns in the hills become reachable. Sometimes it is the only answer. Just as often the car is the problem: the town does not let it in, the mountain road is shut for the winter, or there is sake at dinner. Most driving guides cover one route from Tokyo. This one starts from our records of how each onsen town is reached, and covers what you need to sort out before you pick up the keys.
The short answer
- Most onsen towns do not need a car. For the big, well-known towns a train and a bus are usually simpler. A car earns its keep for the small, one-inn places in the mountains, and for linking several towns in regions like Tohoku, Hokkaido and Kyushu.
- Sort the licence first. Japan accepts a 1949 Geneva Convention international driving permit, or, for a few places including Taiwan, your own licence with an official Japanese translation. Nothing else.
- From December to March, snow country needs winter tyres and a driver who has used them. Some mountain roads close completely for the season.
- Some famous towns stop cars at the edge. Ginzan in winter and Kamikochi near Hirayu all year are the best-known. You park outside and take a shuttle.
How many onsen towns are car-only
We keep a short access note for 1,344 of the 1,538 onsen towns in our records, taken from how each town describes the way in. Sorting those notes:
- 696 give only a train station, bus or inn pick-up, with no driving route at all.
- 434 give both public transport and a driving route.
- 96 give only a driving route: an expressway exit and a number of minutes, or simply "by car".
- The rest point elsewhere or give no usable detail.
The car-only places are not spread evenly. Tohoku has the most: 30 of the 244 towns there with an access note. Then Hokkaido (17 of 155), the Chūbu mountains (17 of 352) and Kyushu with Okinawa (13 of 159). Around Tokyo and Osaka it is 5 of 183 and 5 of 121.
They are also small. Of the car-only places where the number of inns is recorded, 33 of 44 are a single inn. Among the places reached only by public transport it is 192 of 388. A car does not open up a hidden resort town; it opens up the lone inn at the end of a valley road.
A few examples from the records:
- Tenninkyō (Hokkaido): about an hour by car from Asahikawa, one inn, water recorded at 47 to 50 °C.
- Tōshichi (Iwate): about 60 minutes from the Nishine exit of the Tōhoku Expressway, one inn, 91 °C.
- Ōfuka (Akita): about 40 minutes from the Matsuo-Hachimantai exit, one inn, 94 °C.
- Daisetsu Kōgen (Hokkaido): "your own car or a taxi", one inn, 71.2 °C at pH 2.7.
- Akayu (Niigata): about an hour from the Yuzawa exit, and then a two-hour walk. Some places a car only gets you closer to.
When a car is the wrong tool
For the towns most visitors search for, the bus or train is usually less work. Our list of onsen you can reach without a car has them. Common reasons to leave the car:
- The town is built for walking. In Kinosaki, Shibu or Nozawa the evening is spent walking between public baths in a yukata. Once you arrive, the car sits in a car park until you leave.
- The lanes are narrow and busy. Old onsen streets were not laid out for cars. Many inns have a small car park or use one on the edge of town; ask when you book where to leave the car.
- There is dinner. A ryokan stay comes with an evening meal, and often a drink. Japan's drink-driving rules are strict and apply the next morning too if you are still over the limit. If you plan to drink at dinner, the car stays parked until well after breakfast.
- Expressway tolls add up. Tolls are charged by distance and are not cheap. There are regional expressway passes for foreign visitors (for example for Hokkaido, Tohoku and Kyushu), used with an ETC card from the rental company. Ask the rental desk which covers your route.
The middle ground is a car where the buses are thin. Some large towns list a short drive from an expressway exit: Ikaho about 20 minutes from the Shibukawa-Ikaho exit, Kinugawa about 30 minutes from Imaichi, Akiu 16 minutes from Sendai-Minami, Hirugami about 10 minutes from Iida-Yamamoto. These work either way, which makes the car a choice about the rest of the trip, not the onsen.
The licence you need
Japan accepts only these for a short visit:
- An international driving permit issued under the 1949 Geneva Convention, the paper booklet, together with your own licence. Permits issued under other conventions are not accepted.
- Your own licence plus an official Japanese translation, if it was issued in Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, Monaco or Taiwan. The translation must come from JAF (the Japan Automobile Federation) or another body named in the rules; for Taiwan this is JAF or the Taiwan-Japan Relations Association. The translation can be used for up to one year from the day you enter Japan.
Taiwan is not a party to the Geneva Convention, so an international permit issued in Taiwan is not valid in Japan. Taiwanese drivers use the translation route. Get it sorted before you fly, and check the current process with JAF. Rental counters will not hand over a car without the right papers.
Winter: tyres, chains and closed roads
The snow photos of onsen towns are real, and the roads to them are under the same snow. Our seasons guide covers what winter changes in the bath; this is the road side.
- Winter tyres. In snowy regions, rental cars from December to March normally come with studless winter tyres, but not everywhere: in Kyushu, for example, you may need to ask for them. Say when you book that you are driving into the mountains. Four-wheel drive helps on steep inn driveways.
- Chains. On some roads in heavy snow, chains can be required even with winter tyres. Ask whether the car has them and how to fit them before you leave the counter.
- Roads that close for the season. The high Shiga-Kusatsu road (Route 292) over the pass behind Kusatsu is closed in the snow season; approach Kusatsu from the Gunma side. The Zaō Echo Line, the high road across the mountain between Miyagi and Yamagata, closes from early November to late April. Opening and closing dates move each year.
- Daylight. Mountain roads are slower than the map says, and winter evenings are short. Plan to arrive at the inn before dark, which also gets you there in time for dinner.
If you have never driven on snow and ice, winter is not the time to learn on a mountain road in a rental car. Take the bus in, as our Hokkaido and Tohoku guides also say.
The towns that stop your car outside
- Ginzan (Yamagata). Cars do not drive into the inn street; you leave the car outside and walk or take a shuttle. In the 2025–26 winter (20 December to 1 March), day visitors' cars, rental cars included, were not allowed up the valley at all: they parked at a car park lower down and took a paid shuttle with timed tickets, and walking up the road from the checkpoint was banned. Overnight guests could use their inn's parking. This was a trial, and the rules for the next winter may differ; check with the town before you go.
- Hirayu and Kamikochi (Gifu and Nagano). Private cars are not allowed into Kamikochi. Drivers leave the car in the large car park near Hirayu and take the bus or a taxi on.
- Shirahone (Nagano). Not closed to cars, but the road is narrow and winding, and in winter you need winter tyres or chains.
- Kurokawa (Kumamoto). The inns line a narrow river valley. Cars help with the baths further out, but the roads in from Aso and Kujū can be icy in midwinter.
A car with a driver
For a trip like Ginzan in snow, or a day linking several inns, some visitors hire a car with a driver instead of driving themselves. You get the door-to-door part without the licence, the tyres or the sake problem. It costs more than a rental, and the driver still has to follow the same parking rules as everyone else.
Things not to do
Do not book a rental car in Japan without checking that your permit or translation is the kind Japan accepts.
Do not trust the navigation's route over a mountain pass in winter. Check whether the road is open.
Do not drive the morning after a late night of sake if there is any doubt.
Do not drive up to Ginzan in winter as a day visitor and hope to find a space. Look up the current rules first.
Planning the rest of the trip? See planning a first onsen trip, onsen without staying the night, and onsen towns near Tokyo. For towns reachable without a car, see onsen without a car.