Takamagahara Onsen — photo: Yasu (talk) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Hiking to an onsen in Japan: the hot springs you can only reach on foot
Most Japanese onsen are at the end of a road. A few are not: the last part is a footpath, sometimes fifteen minutes long and sometimes two days. This guide lists the walk-in hot springs in our records by how long the walk is, with the water temperature and type we hold for each, then covers the season, the huts, and the onsen towns that work as a base for a day hike with a bath at the end.
The short version
- Under an hour, no hiking gear needed: Mikurigaike (15 minutes from Murodō on the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route), Meiken (15 minutes) and Babadani (45 to 60 minutes) from Keyakidaira station on the Kurobe Gorge Railway.
- Two to five hours, a proper hike: Akayu (2 hours), Sandogoya (about 2 hours from the Nasu Ropeway), Nakadake (about 2 hours from the Asahidake Ropeway), Hokkein (about 2 hours), Yumata (2½ to 3 hours), Honzawa (about 3½ hours) and Hakuba Yari (4 to 5 hours).
- A multi-day trek: Takamagahara, deep in the Northern Alps, which most people reach on the second day.
- Almost all of these are in the mountains, and most are open only from early summer to autumn. Check the hut or inn before you set out.
Under an hour: the walk is part of the view
Mikurigaike Onsen (Toyama). An inn a short walk across the plateau from Murodō, the high bus and trolley-bus terminal on the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route. Our record says about 15 minutes on foot from the station. The water is acidic and sulfurous, 70 °C at pH 3.1, and the inn takes day bathers as well as guests. The path is paved but at high altitude, and snow lies here well into early summer. The Japanese Alps guide covers the Alpine Route itself.
Meiken and Babadani (Toyama). Both are walks from Keyakidaira, the last station of the Kurobe Gorge Railway, which reopened along its full length on 1 October 2026. Meiken is about 15 minutes away, sulfur water at 98 °C. Babadani is 45 to 60 minutes up a gorge path, sulfur water at 77.5 °C and pH 7.7, with an outdoor bath by the river. Each has a single inn. The railway runs from spring to late autumn only, so these are closed in winter with it. Kanetsuri, a stop earlier on the same line, has a riverside bath a short walk from its station.
Two more need only a few minutes on foot, but you cannot drive to the door. Ubayu (Yamagata) is reached by the inn's car from Tōge station, booked ahead, then a 5-minute walk: acidic, iron and sulfur water at 50.2 °C and pH 2.6. Ōdaira (Yamagata) is 15 minutes down a mountain path from the car park, after a 50-minute transfer from Yonezawa station.
Two to five hours: bring boots and water
Sandogoya Onsen (Tochigi). The most looked-up of the walk-in springs in our records, read 1,020 times in our sample of Wikipedia pages. From Kuroiso station, take the bus to the Nasu Ropeway (about 75 minutes), ride to the top, and walk about 120 minutes over Ushikubi. Two inns, simple spring water at 40 to 58 °C. The ropeway closes in winter.
Akayu Onsen (Niigata). About an hour by car from the Yuzawa interchange, then 2 hours on foot. One hut, chloride water at 41 to 51 °C, pH 6.5. There is no bus to the trailhead, so this is one for drivers; see driving to an onsen.
Nakadake Onsen (Hokkaido). Not a building but sulfur water rising in a stream on the slopes of Daisetsuzan. Take the bus from Asahikawa to Asahidake Onsen (about 70 minutes), the ropeway to Sugatami, then walk about 2 hours. This is a mountain route with no facilities at the spring; go only in settled weather in summer. The Hokkaido guide covers Asahidake.
Hokkein Onsen (Ōita). A single lodge in a basin of the Kujū mountains, reached on a walking route from Chōjabaru in about 2 hours. Sulfate and sulfur water at 43.2 °C, pH 6.9. It is the one walk-in spring in Kyushu in this list; the Kyushu guide has the onsen towns below it.
Yumata Onsen (Nagano). 湯俣温泉, in the city of Ōmachi, where the Yumata and Mizumata rivers meet to form the Takase River below the peaks of the Northern Alps. It is not a town: two mountain huts, with room for about 53 guests between them in our records, and nothing else. Getting there takes three stages. From Shinano-Ōmachi station on the JR Ōito Line, a taxi goes up the valley past Kuzu Onsen to Nanakura, where private cars must stop. From Nanakura only licensed taxis run on through the dam tunnels to Takase Dam, or you can walk that road, about 5 km. From the dam it is a mostly flat 2½ to 3 hours up the valley, first through tunnels, then along the river.
The water is sulfur, 55.3 °C at pH 6.3. Besides the huts' own baths, hot water seeps up through the gravel of the riverbed, and people scoop out a hollow at the edge and let river water in until it is cool enough. Further up the Yumata river is the 噴湯丘 (funtōkyū), a mound built up by spouting hot water and a national natural monument: one to look at, not to bathe in. Nakabusa Onsen is only 5.9 km away in a straight line and Mount Yari 6.9 km, but both are over high ridges, and the trails beyond Yumata are mountain routes, not walks. The huts open only from spring or early summer to autumn, and the road to Takase Dam has its own season; check both with the huts before you go.
Honzawa Onsen (Nagano). In the Yatsugatake range. From Matsubarako station take the town bus to its terminus, then about 3½ hours on the trail via Shirabiso hut. Drivers can get closer, but the last stretch is still on foot. One inn, sulfate and sulfur water, with an outdoor bath a short climb above the inn that people go up to for the view.
Hakuba Yari Onsen (Nagano). The longest day walk here: bus from Hakuba station to Sarukura, then 4 to 5 hours up. One hut, bicarbonate and sulfur water at 43.1 °C. The route crosses snowfields well into summer and is a real mountain climb, not a stroll. The Japanese Alps guide has the Hakuba valley below.
Kamoshika Onsen (Miyagi) is about 1½ hours on foot from Gaga Onsen, on the Zaō side of the mountains.
Takamagahara: the one that takes two days
Takamagahara Onsen in Toyama is the hot spring Japanese hikers talk about as the most remote in the country. Our record says only "on foot from Oritate", the end of the Arimine forest road, and that is the honest summary: there is no shortcut. Most people walk from Oritate to the Tarōdaira hut on the first day and on to Takamagahara on the second, and need as long again to get out. The water is sulfur, 51.1 °C at pH 6.15, in outdoor baths a short walk below a single mountain hut. This is a trek for people who are already comfortable on multi-day hikes in the Alps, with hut bookings made in advance.
What to know before you go
- Season. The huts in the high mountains open roughly from July to early autumn, and the ropeways and mountain railways that shorten the walks stop in winter. The dates change every year with the snow. Check the hut's own site or phone it; do not rely on a blog from last year.
- Bookings. If you plan to stay, book. Mountain huts in Japan are small and fill on summer weekends. Many still take cash only.
- Day bathing. Some huts and inns take walkers for a bath without a stay; some do not, or only at set hours. Ask before you count on it.
- The bath itself. Remote outdoor baths are often mixed, with little or nothing in the way of a changing room, and some set women-only hours. Our mixed bathing guide explains the towel and swimsuit rules. Soap and shampoo are often not allowed in a river bath.
- Sulfur water. Most of these springs are sulfur. Take off silver jewellery, and expect your clothes to smell of it for a day.
- Mountain safety. These are real mountain routes. Carry water, rain gear and a light, start early, and turn back in bad weather. Wild bears live in most of these areas, so many Japanese hikers carry a bell. Do not walk in the dark, and do not start a long walk straight after a long soak.
Onsen towns that make good hiking bases
If you want a walk in the day and an onsen town at night, without carrying a pack to a hut, these are easier. Each has its own guide:
- Hirayu (Gifu): the bus hub for Kamikochi and the Shinhotaka Ropeway.
- Zaō (Yamagata): a ropeway up the mountain in summer as well as in the ski season.
- Noboribetsu (Hokkaido): a walk from the town past Jigokudani to Oyunuma and the river footbath.
- Shibu (Nagano): the forest path to the snow monkeys at Jigokudani.
- Yunomine (Wakayama): on the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route, with the Dainichi-goe path over from Hongū.
- Unzen (Nagasaki) and Nyūtō (Akita): mountain villages with trails from the edge of the onsen area.
For timing a soak around a long day on your feet, see when to take an onsen bath; for the time of year, see the seasons guide.
How we chose these
We went through the access notes in our records for all 1,538 hot spring places and kept the ones where the bath can only be reached by walking: either the note gives a walk after the last road, bus, train or ropeway, or it says simply "on foot". We left out places where the walk is a stroll from a car park in a town. Walking times are the ones in our records, except Hokkein and Yumata, where the record has none and we used the times published locally. Temperatures and pH are from our records; where we give none, we do not have one. This list is not a ranking.
New to this? Start with how an onsen stay actually works and onsen etiquette. For where Japan's hot springs are, see where the onsen are; for the water most of these share, see sulfur springs.