Kinugawa Onsen — photo: Miyuki Meinaka · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Kinugawa onsen: the gorge, the empty hotels, day baths, getting there from Asakusa, and Kinugawa or Kusatsu
Kinugawa is a resort town of large hotels along a deep river gorge in Nikko City, Tochigi, about two hours north of Tokyo by direct train. Search for it and half of what comes up is photographs of abandoned hotels; the other half is lists of inns. This guide puts the town in numbers, explains what happened to the empty buildings and where they are, shows how a day trip works, and helps you choose between Kinugawa, its quieter neighbours and Kusatsu.
What the numbers say
- Kinugawa Onsen's Wikipedia article is read 2,044 times in our sample, 16th of the 1,538 onsen places in Japan in our records and 1st of the 50 in Tochigi.
- Our records list the water as a simple spring, alkaline, a type on record at 341 of the 1,468 onsen places with a water type. Simple means low in dissolved minerals, not weak or fake.
- We have no source temperature, flow, pH or count of inns for Kinugawa, so we do not give them.
- Kinugawa is 127.2 km from Tokyo Station in a straight line and 12.1 km from Tōbu-Nikkō Station, the station for the shrines. Kawaji is 7.8 km up the river and Yunishigawa 18.9 km.
Getting there
Our travel data puts Kinugawa at about two hours from Tokyo, with no car needed. The town has two stations on the Tōbu line: 鬼怒川温泉 (Kinugawa-Onsen) for the southern part of town, and 鬼怒川公園 (Kinugawa-Kōen), one stop further, for the northern part. Check which one is closer to your inn.
- Tōbu limited express from Asakusa. The simplest way. Direct trains run from Tōbu Asakusa Station to Kinugawa-Onsen in about two hours. Seats are reserved.
- Through trains from Shinjuku. A few limited expresses a day run from JR Shinjuku through onto the Tōbu line. They are convenient from western Tokyo, but the JR Pass does not cover the Tōbu part of the trip.
- From the Nikko shrines. Take the Tōbu line from Tōbu-Nikkō to Shimo-Imaichi and change for Kinugawa. On running days, mostly weekends and holidays, the SL大樹 (SL Taiju) steam train covers the last stretch from Shimo-Imaichi in about 35 minutes; check the timetable, as the days change.
- By car. About 30 minutes from the Imaichi interchange on the Nikko-Utsunomiya road.
Times here are rough; check the current timetable before you go. Tōbu sells passes for visitors that cover the train from Asakusa and local travel around Nikko and Kinugawa, which usually works out cheaper than the JR Pass for this trip. For other options, see onsen trips from Tokyo and the 3 best onsen towns near Nikko, where Kinugawa comes first.
The empty hotels: what happened
Kinugawa grew fast in the second half of the 20th century as a place for big company and group trips from Tokyo: a coach or train full of colleagues, one large hotel, a banquet, a night of drinking. Hotels were built bigger and bigger along the gorge to take them. When the economy turned in the 1990s and travel in Japan moved from groups to couples, families and friends, that trade fell away, and a number of the largest hotels closed. Some of the buildings were never taken down, and they are still there.
That is why "Kinugawa abandoned" is one of the most searched phrases about the town. Two things are worth knowing before you go:
- The town is not empty. The closed buildings stand among hotels that are open and busy, especially at weekends. Most of the photographs are taken in the northern part of town, around the bridges near Kinugawa-Kōen Station, looking across the gorge. The area around Kinugawa-Onsen Station is mostly working hotels and shops.
- Do not go inside. The buildings are private property, they are unsafe, and they are closed off. Looking at them from a bridge or the river path is fine; climbing in is trespassing.
If the faded look of the town matters to you, either way, this is the honest picture: the gorge is striking, several of the big hotels are old and tired, and a few are new or refurbished. It is a resort of large buildings, not an old street of wooden inns.
A day trip: where to bathe without staying
Kinugawa works as a day trip from Tokyo or as a half day after the Nikko shrines. You have three kinds of choice.
- The foot bath at the station. 鬼怒太の湯 (Kinuta-no-yu), in the square in front of Kinugawa-Onsen Station, is a free foot bath with the town's water. Bring a small towel. On steam-train days you can sit in it and watch the engine being turned round on the turntable next to the station.
- Hotel day bathing. Many of the big hotels sell a bath ticket to non-guests in the middle of the day. Look for 日帰り入浴 (higaeri nyūyoku, day bathing) on the hotel's own site. Hours are usually limited to the gap between check-out and check-in, and some stop day bathing at weekends.
- A hotel with a day plan. Some hotels sell a plan with a bath, lunch and a room for the afternoon, which is the most comfortable option if you want a rest.
Prices and hours change, so we do not list them. Coin lockers are at the station, and most hotels will hold your bags before check-in. If you have tattoos, the reliable route is a private bath; see private baths and going to an onsen with tattoos.
Around Kinugawa
- The river boat. 鬼怒川ライン下り (Kinugawa line-kudari) is a flat wooden boat that runs about 6 km down the gorge in about 40 minutes, from spring to late autumn. It is the best way to see the cliffs.
- The ropeway. A short ropeway climbs Maruyama, the hill above the town, to a view over the valley and a monkey park at the top.
- The suspension bridge. 鬼怒楯岩大吊橋 (Kinu Tateiwa suspension bridge), a walk of about 15 minutes from Kinugawa-Onsen Station, crosses the river to a large rock face.
- Ryūōkyō Gorge, 4.3 km up the river in a straight line, has a walking path past rock formations; it is near Ryūōkyō Station on the line to Kawaji. Kirifuri Falls is 9.6 km away, on the Nikko side.
- Theme parks. Edo Wonderland, a reconstructed Edo-period town, and Tōbu World Square, a park of model buildings, are both a short bus or train ride away. With children they are the main reason many families pick Kinugawa.
The town's name is written 鬼怒川, and the first character means "demon", which is why the town mascot is a little demon and why demons turn up on signs and souvenirs. See onsen kanji for the other characters you will see.
Kinugawa, Kawaji or Yunishigawa?
All three are on the same railway up the Kinugawa valley, and all three have a simple spring in our records.
- Kinugawa is the big one: the most trains, the most hotels, the most to do, and the theme parks. Pick it for a first trip, with children, or for one night combined with the Nikko shrines.
- Kawaji (601 in our count) is 7.8 km further up the river, about a 10-minute walk from Kawaji-Yumoto Station. It is smaller and quieter, with the same kind of water.
- Yunishigawa (1,222) is a hidden valley of old houses, recorded at 25 °C, and about 30 minutes by bus from its own station. Pick it if you want the old, remote feel Kinugawa does not have.
Our guide to the 3 best onsen towns near Nikko covers all three and Yumoto, the sulfur water by Lake Yunoko, high above Lake Chūzenji.
Kinugawa or Kusatsu?
Both are about the same distance from Tokyo and both are among the best-known onsen towns in the Kantō region. They are very different places.
- Kinugawa is a direct train from Asakusa, with the station in town. The water is a mild, alkaline simple spring. The town is big hotels on a gorge, with a boat, a ropeway and theme parks. Pick it for ease, children, and pairing with Nikko.
- Kusatsu needs a train and then a bus up into the mountains. Its water is recorded at 44.9 to 94.5 °C with a pH as low as 1.0, strongly acidic, and it has 171 inns in our records. It is read 5,880 times in our sample, the best known in the Kantō region. The town centres on a steaming square of wooden channels. Pick it for strong water and an old onsen-town feel.
They are 102.3 km apart in a straight line, with no quick way between them, so most visitors pick one per trip.
When to go
Kinugawa is busiest at weekends, in the autumn leaf season, which usually runs from late October into November in the gorge, and over the summer holidays. Midweek outside those times is the quietest and the cheapest. The river boat stops in winter, but the town stays open, and snow on the gorge is pretty. Our seasons guide compares the year across Japan.
Things not to do
Do not go inside the abandoned hotels.
Do not assume the JR Pass covers the train; the last part is Tōbu.
Do not get off at the wrong one of the two stations with heavy bags; check which is nearer your inn.
Do not expect old wooden streets; for that, go on to Yunishigawa.
New to this? Start with how an onsen stay actually works and onsen etiquette. For the rest of the area, see the 3 best onsen towns near Nikko, the 3 best onsen towns near Tokyo and onsen near Tokyo. For a short trip, see onsen day trips. Want to know what "simple spring" means? See onsen water types.