Noboribetsu Onsen — photo: User:欅 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Noboribetsu onsen: six water types, Hell Valley, day trip or a night, and getting there from Sapporo
Noboribetsu is the onsen town most people mean when they say "an onsen in Hokkaido". It sits in a narrow valley a short walk below Jigokudani, a crater of grey rock and steam vents, and it is a train ride and a bus ride from Sapporo, New Chitose Airport and Hakodate. Most guides give you the Hell Valley boardwalk, the bear park and a list of hotels. This one is about the water, which is the unusual thing here: how many kinds there are, what they are like in the bath, and why the hotel you choose decides which of them you get. Then the practical part: day trip or a night, how to get there, and how it compares with Jozankei and Lake Toya.
What the numbers say
Noboribetsu is recorded in our database with six water types: chloride, bicarbonate, sulfate, iron, sulfur and radioactive (radon), from sources between 45 and 90 °C.
- Six types is close to the top in Japan. We have water types on record for 1,441 onsen towns. 910 have one type, 386 have two, and only 11 have five or more. Just one town has more than Noboribetsu: Nasu in Tochigi, with seven.
- The water is very hot. Of the 1,167 towns with a source temperature on record, 51 reach 90 °C or more. In Hokkaido it is 10 of 147, and Noboribetsu is one of them. Water this hot is cooled before anyone can get in.
- It is the most read onsen town in Hokkaido. Of 165 onsen towns on the island in our records, its Wikipedia article is the most read (1,724 in our count), and it is 31st of 1,538 towns nationwide.
- We do not hold a pH for Noboribetsu, and the flow figure in our source is clearly wrong, so we use neither.
So Noboribetsu is not one kind of water in a lot of hotels. It is several different waters coming out of the same volcanic valley.
What the six waters are like in the bath
You will not meet all six in one bath. Each hotel and bathhouse draws from one or more sources, and the sign in the changing room says which. Roughly what to expect:
- Sulfur water is the one in the photographs: milky white or grey, with the smell of the crater. Take off silver jewellery first, because it tarnishes. See sulfur onsen.
- Chloride water is salty and usually clear, and leaves a thin film of salt on the skin, so you stay warm for a while afterwards.
- Iron water is clear at the source and turns reddish brown as it meets the air. It can stain a white towel, so use the hotel's towels rather than your own good one.
- Sulfate and bicarbonate waters are clear; bicarbonate water feels smooth and a little slippery, so walk carefully on wet stone.
- Radioactive (radon) water carries a trace of radon gas, which leaves the water quickly. It looks like ordinary clear water.
Some sources in a volcanic valley like this are also acidic. Do not rub your eyes with wet hands, and if the water stings a scratch, get out and rinse. For how to read the sign on the wall, see reading the water sign.
The practical point: if you have a particular water in mind, such as the milky sulfur bath, check which sources a hotel uses before you book it. The largest hotels have several separate baths fed from different sources; a smaller inn may have one.
Day trip or a night?
A day trip from Sapporo works, and many people do it: walk Jigokudani, go on to the steaming pond of Oyunuma, have lunch on the main street, and bathe at a hotel that sells day-use bathing before the bus back. Day-use hours are set by each hotel and often end in the afternoon, so check before you go. Bring a small towel. See onsen without staying the night.
A night is better if the water is the reason you came. In the evening and early morning the day visitors have gone, and you can try more than one bath in a large hotel without watching the clock. Most hotels sell dinner and breakfast with the room; see what "two meals included" means. Our records count 14 inns, most of them large hotels, so weekends, the autumn leaves and the winter holidays book up early.
If you would rather not bathe in front of strangers, or have tattoos, look for a hotel with a private bath or a room with its own tub. Tattoo rules are set by each hotel, not by the town; see going to an onsen with tattoos.
In town, and through the year
- Jigokudani. The crater is a short walk uphill from the bus terminal, with boardwalks between the vents. This is where the town's water comes from. Keep to the paths; the ground and the water are hot enough to burn.
- Oyunuma and the river footbath. A trail continues past Jigokudani to Oyunuma, a pond of hot grey water, and down to a stream where warm water runs through the forest and people sit with their feet in it. Bring a towel for your feet. In winter parts of the trail can be icy or closed.
- The oni. Demon figures (oni) stand along the main street and at the bridges. The town treats them as guardians of the hot springs, and holds a summer festival around them.
- Mount Shihorei and the bears. A ropeway from the town goes up to a park with Hokkaido brown bears in enclosures.
- Seasons. The leaves in the valley turn in autumn, earlier than in Sapporo. Winter brings deep snow, which is when an outdoor bath here is at its best; buses run, but allow extra time. See onsen through the year.
Getting there
Noboribetsu is about 66 km south of Sapporo Station in a straight line, and about 6 km uphill from JR Noboribetsu Station on the coast. The town itself has no railway. No car is needed.
- From Sapporo. Limited express trains to Noboribetsu Station take a little over an hour, then a local bus up to the Noboribetsu Onsen bus terminal takes about 15 minutes. There are also direct highway buses from Sapporo to the town, slower than the train but with no change.
- From New Chitose Airport. About 55 km away in a straight line, so closer than Sapporo. By rail you change at Minami-Chitose for a train to Noboribetsu Station, then take the bus. Some direct buses from the airport to the town run; check the current timetable before you rely on one.
- From Hakodate. The limited express between Hakodate and Sapporo stops at Noboribetsu Station, so Noboribetsu fits on the way between the two.
- The JR Pass covers the train to Noboribetsu Station but not the bus up to the town. Our onsen on the JR Pass page lists towns you can reach by JR.
Fares and timetables change; check them on the day. If you are leaving your luggage at a hotel in Sapporo, a day trip with a small bag is easy; with large cases, a night is less tiring than two transfers.
Noboribetsu, Jozankei or Lake Toya?
These are the three onsen towns most people weigh up in south-west Hokkaido.
- Noboribetsu: six water types, sources up to 90 °C, and a crater on the doorstep. Train plus bus from Sapporo. Choose it if the water itself is the point.
- Jozankei: inside Sapporo city, about an hour by bus, with one type on record (chloride) and a very large flow. Choose it for an easy afternoon from the city. See our Jozankei guide, which compares the two in more detail.
- Lake Toya: 27.8 km from Noboribetsu in a straight line, on the shore of a caldera lake. Chloride water recorded at 50.3 °C and pH 6.7. Choose it for the lake and the views, and pair it with Noboribetsu if you have two nights.
Do not try to do Jozankei and Noboribetsu in one day. They are on different sides of Sapporo. Our Hokkaido guide shows how they fit into a longer route with Hakodate.
Nearby
- Karurusu is a small onsen in the hills above Noboribetsu, within the same city. It is recorded as simple and sulfate water at 48 to 68 °C, pH 7.2, with six inns. It is quieter, and the bus service is thinner.
- Kitayuzawa, 17.2 km north-west, is sulfur water recorded at 70 to 93 °C. It is easier with a car.
- Shiraoi, 19.8 km east on the coast, has chloride water recorded at 51 °C, and is on the railway toward New Chitose.
Things not to do
Do not assume every bath in Noboribetsu is milky white. Check which source a hotel uses.
Do not wear silver jewellery into a sulfur bath, or dry yourself with a towel you care about after an iron bath.
Do not leave the boardwalk at Jigokudani or Oyunuma.
Do not assume your JR Pass gets you all the way. The last leg is a bus.
Do not try to fit Noboribetsu and Jozankei into the same day.
New to this? Start with how an onsen stay actually works and onsen etiquette. For the rest of the island, see our guide to onsen in Hokkaido.