Noboribetsu Onsen — photo: User:欅 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Hokkaido onsen: which towns, how far, and the water
You have a week in Hokkaido, a rail pass, and a picture in your head of a steaming outdoor bath with snow on the rocks. The lists you find give you Noboribetsu, Jozankei, Toya, Sounkyo and Akan, each with a photo and a hotel. What they do not tell you is that those five names are spread across an island the size of Austria, that some of them are a whole day apart, and that the water in them is not the same at all.
The island runs hot
Our database holds 1,538 onsen towns across Japan, 164 of them in Hokkaido — more than in any other prefecture. For 146 of the Hokkaido towns we have a source temperature on record, and 96 of those come out of the ground at 42 °C or above. That is two in three. The national figure is 573 of 1,167, just under half. Even Kyushu, the island people think of as Japan's hot-spring island, comes in at 71 of 116.
Thirty-five Hokkaido towns are recorded above 60 °C, and a few reach close to boiling: Rausu on the Shiretoko Peninsula at 99 °C, Kitayuzawa at up to 93 °C, Noboribetsu at up to 90 °C. At the other end, 21 are below 25 °C and are heated before anyone bathes in them.
So hot water is not the hard part in Hokkaido. Distance is.
What is near Sapporo, and what is not
We measured the straight-line distance from Sapporo Station to every Hokkaido onsen town we hold both coordinates and a temperature for. Inside 50 km there are only 7, and 3 of them reach 42 °C. Between 50 and 100 km there are 26, and 15 reach it. Between 100 and 150 km, 23 of 29. Beyond 150 km there are 44 more — and that is where Sounkyo, Akan, Kawayu and Shiretoko are.
In practice, the Sapporo side of the island gives you three realistic choices for a first night.
Jozankei is Sapporo's own onsen town, about 19 km south-west of the station in a river gorge, a bus ride of about an hour. It is a salt spring, and our records put the town's total flow at about 8,600 litres a minute. We do not hold a source temperature for it. It is close enough to go for an afternoon bath and be back in the city for dinner, which is exactly why it is busy.
Noboribetsu is 66 km away in a straight line: a little over an hour on the limited express to Noboribetsu Station, then about 15 minutes by bus up to the town. It is the strongest water within easy reach of Sapporo. Our records list six water types there at once — salt, bicarbonate, sulfate, iron, sulfur and radon — from sources between 45 and 90 °C, and 14 inns. Behind the town is the 地獄谷 (jigokudani), "hell valley", a steaming crater with a boardwalk. You look at it; you do not bathe in it.
Marukoma on the shore of Lake Shikotsu is 32 km from Sapporo and closer still to New Chitose Airport, under an hour by bus. It is a single inn, recorded at 54 °C, and its natural pool sits at the level of the lake, so the depth rises and falls with it. If you land late and want one night of hot water before anything else, this is the kind of place to look at.
Past those three, Lake Toya, 71 km, is a 50.3 °C salt spring at pH 6.7 with about 1,410 litres a minute, on the shore of a caldera lake. It is an easy pairing with Noboribetsu, and there are fireworks over the lake most nights from late April to October. Niseko, around 65 km, is known for skiing, but Niseko Yumoto in the hills above it is a sulfur and acidic spring at 52 to 56 °C.
Hakodate: the airport, a tram, and hot water
If you arrive by Shinkansen from Honshu or fly into Hakodate, you are about 250 km from Sapporo and do not need to go there to bathe. Yunokawa is on the edge of Hakodate, close to the airport and about 30 minutes by tram from the station. It is a 65 °C salt spring with about 4,861 litres a minute. At the other end of the tram line, Yachigashira is a single public bathhouse on a 65.1 °C source, where the city's residents go. It costs a few hundred yen.
The middle: Daisetsuzan's high, acidic water
The mountains in the centre of the island, reached from Asahikawa, hold the most unusual water in Hokkaido. Five Hokkaido towns in our records are more acidic than pH 3, and most are here.
- Tokachidake, high on the mountain above Furano, is an acidic spring at pH 2.4, 29 to 53 °C.
- Fukiage, just below it, is pH 2.6 and 42 to 48 °C. Its free outdoor pool has no building, no staff and no separate sides for men and women.
- Daisetsu Kōgen is pH 2.7 and 71.2 °C. The road to it closes in winter.
- Asahidake, at the foot of the ropeway, is a clear sulfate spring at 47 to 51 °C with 9 inns.
- Sounkyo, in a gorge on the north side, is a sulfur town with 17 inns, about two hours by bus from Asahikawa.
Acidic water stings a small cut, and you should not let it near your eyes. Take off silver jewellery before any of these; both acidic and sulfur water can blacken it.
The east: the most acidic water in our records
Kawayu, near Lake Kussharo and a short ride from JR Kawayu-Onsen Station, is recorded at pH 0.8. That is the lowest figure in our whole database — lower than Kusatsu, the town most people name as Japan's most acidic, at 1.0. It is sulfur and acidic water, 35 to 65.5 °C, and you can smell it in the street.
Akan, on Lake Akan, is a sulfur spring at 50 to 80 °C with 22 inns, the most of any Hokkaido town in our records. It is about an hour and a quarter by bus from Kushiro Airport.
On Shiretoko, Rausu is recorded at 99 °C. Further along the coast, Seseki is a 64 °C pool in the rocks on the beach, which the sea covers at high tide. You can only bathe there when the tide is out.
The north and the plains: water that looks and smells different
Toyotomi, near Wakkanai at the top of the island, is only 34.2 °C, but it is one of just 13 towns in our records with an iodine spring. The water has an oily film and smells of petroleum. It is not for everyone, and people travel a long way for exactly that.
Tokachigawa, near Obihiro, is known for its モール温泉 (mōru onsen), "moor" water that has passed through ancient plant matter. It is brown like weak tea and feels slippery. It has 18 inns.
How far apart these really are
Hokkaido distances catch people out. Sapporo to Noboribetsu is an easy day. Sapporo to Sounkyo is most of a day by train and bus. Sapporo to Akan or Kawayu is a full day each way, and Shiretoko is further. Trying to do Noboribetsu, Sounkyo and Akan in a single four-night trip means spending most of it on buses.
A workable shape for four or five nights is one region, not three: the south-west loop (Jozankei or Noboribetsu, then Toya, then Hakodate by train), or fly into Kushiro or Memanbetsu and stay in the east (Akan, Kawayu, then Shiretoko). Daisetsuzan fits between Sapporo and the east if you have more time.
In winter, the days are short. In December the sun sets in Sapporo around four in the afternoon, and many rural buses run fewer times a day than in summer. Plan to arrive at a mountain onsen before dark.
Things not to do
Do not drive a rental car on Hokkaido's mountain roads in winter unless you have driven on snow and ice before. The bus exists for a reason.
Do not plan a day trip from Sapporo to Akan, Kawayu or Shiretoko. Each is at least a night.
Do not walk to Seseki at high tide expecting a bath, and do not expect Daisetsu Kōgen to be open between autumn and early summer.
Do not wash your face with the water at Kawayu, Tokachidake or Fukiage. Rinse off with plain water after the bath if your skin feels tight.
Do not wear the inn's wooden 下駄 (geta) on icy streets. Use your own boots outside.
New to this? Start with how an onsen stay actually works. For what the water types mean, see reading the water sign and sulfur onsen. Thinking about a snow bath? See when to go. For the rest of the country, see where Japan's hot springs actually are.