Owari Onsen — photo: Asturio Cantabrio · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Onsen in Nagoya: is there hot spring water inside the city?
Search for an onsen in Nagoya and you get hotel baths, big day spas, a theme-park resort and a few towns an hour or two away, all in one list. The short answer: there is no onsen town inside Nagoya City in our records. But the flat land just west of the city, around the mouths of the Kiso rivers, has some of the hottest water close to any big Japanese city. Four places within 30 km of Nagoya Station come out of the ground at 42 °C or more. This guide goes through them with the numbers.
The short answer, in numbers
Our records hold 1,538 onsen across Japan. Aichi Prefecture, which Nagoya is the capital of, has 16 of them. None is inside Nagoya City. Twelve of the 16 have a recorded source temperature, and three reach 42 °C: Owari (50.3 °C), Tobishima (46.8 °C) and Minami-Chita (45 °C).
Measured in a straight line from Nagoya Station, nine onsen lie within 30 km, across Aichi, Gifu and Mie. Eight have a recorded temperature, and four reach 42 °C, roughly the point at which a bath can run without a boiler. All four are on the low ground to the west and south-west, between the city and the Kiso, Nagara and Ibi rivers. That is a better result than Tokyo or Osaka, where the near springs are mostly cool.
So the useful question is not "is there an onsen in Nagoya" but "how far west am I willing to go". Fifteen minutes on a train gets you to hot water. An hour or two gets you to a real onsen town.
Just west of the city: four hot springs
- Owari Onsen, in the town of Kanie, is the closest: 10.3 km from Nagoya Station, recorded at 27.6 to 50.3 °C, a simple spring. It is a small cluster of inns and a day-bath centre rather than a street of ryokan. Take the Kintetsu Nagoya Line from 近鉄名古屋 (Kintetsu-Nagoya) to 近鉄蟹江 (Kintetsu-Kanie), about 10 minutes, then a short taxi ride or a walk of 15 to 20 minutes.
- Tobishima Onsen, 12.5 km south-west on the reclaimed land by Ise Bay, is recorded at 46.8 °C, also a simple spring. Our record gives directions by car only, off national route 23; without a car, it is a taxi from the nearest station.
- Kuwana, 22.7 km away across the Mie border, is a single day-bath facility recorded at 48.7 °C and 350 L per minute, a chloride spring. The record gives a taxi of about 15 minutes from Kuwana Station, or a free shuttle bus.
- Kaizu Onsen, 20.2 km west in Gifu, is recorded at 9 to 44 °C, pH 7.2 and 1,050 L per minute, chloride. The temperature range means it draws on more than one source. It is about 30 minutes by city bus from Ishizu Station on the Yōrō Railway, so it is the hardest of the four to reach without a car.
The other five within 30 km are cooler. Hashima (20.4 km) is 37 °C, Nannō (26.0 km) 36 °C, Tado (26.6 km) 38.8 °C at pH 8.6, and Anpachi (27.6 km) 7.8 to 30.2 °C. Utsutsu, 24.1 km north-east in Kasugai, is the only one on the hill side of the city; we have no temperature for it, but it is recorded at pH 4.6, mildly acidic.
Inside the city: wells, not springs
Inside Nagoya, a few hotels and spa complexes advertise 天然温泉 (tennen onsen), natural hot spring water, from wells they drilled themselves, some of them in the middle of the city. That is legitimate, and for an evening after a day of sightseeing it may be all you need. But these are single buildings, not onsen towns, and they are not in our records. Look for the spring analysis board near the changing room to see the temperature and whether the water is heated or recirculated; how to read it is in onsen vs sento.
One hour out: Nagashima, Inuyama and Nagaragawa
Three places come up again and again in searches from Nagoya. They are close, but none of them is a classic old onsen town.
- Nagashima Onsen, in Kuwana on the Mie side of the Kiso river mouth, is recorded at 60 °C with simple, chloride and bicarbonate water. It is a large resort of hotels, a big bath complex and an amusement park, and the record gives a direct bus of about 45 minutes from the Meitetsu Bus Center at Nagoya Station. It is the easiest hot water from Nagoya without a car. We have no coordinates for it, so it is not in the distance count above.
- Inuyama Onsen, north of the city on the Kiso river below Inuyama Castle, is recorded at 23.4 °C and pH 8.5 with five inns, about 10 minutes on foot from Inuyama-Yūen Station on the Meitetsu Inuyama Line. Come for the castle and the river; the water is heated.
- Nagaragawa Onsen, in Gifu City 31.4 km from Nagoya Station, is recorded at 16 °C, pH 6.6 and 1,000 L per minute, an iron spring, so the water turns reddish brown as it meets the air. The inns line the Nagara river, where cormorant fishing is held on summer evenings. The record gives about 20 minutes by bus from JR Gifu or Meitetsu Gifu Station, and Gifu is about 20 minutes from Nagoya by JR.
On the coast to the south-east, the Mikawa Bay towns are inn towns by the sea: Nishiura (52.1 km, seven lodgings), Katahara (47.6 km, seven lodgings, by Katahara Station on the Meitetsu Gamagōri Line) and Miya (52.9 km, 35 °C, nine lodgings, near JR Mikawa-Mitani Station). At the tip of the Chita Peninsula, Minami-Chita is recorded at 45 °C, reached by bus from Utsumi Station on the Meitetsu line.
For a real onsen town, go north or west
If you want a town of inns and public baths, with water that is hot at the source, you are going for a night, not an evening. The three best onsen near Nagoya picks Gero (84 °C, about an hour and 40 minutes on the JR Limited Express Hida), Hirugami (by highway bus) and Yunoyama (by Kintetsu and a local bus), with the numbers behind the choice. For the mountains beyond Gero, see Japanese Alps onsen.
Which one, for the time you have
- An evening in the city: a hotel or spa with its own well. Expect heated, often recirculated water.
- Two or three hours, hot water: Owari by Kintetsu to Kanie, or Nagashima by the direct bus.
- Half a day with sightseeing: Inuyama with the castle, or Nagaragawa with the river and, in summer, the cormorant fishing. You are paying for the place, not the water temperature.
- A night or two: leave the city for Gero or Yunoyama.
Things to know before you go
Several of the hot springs near the city are single day-bath facilities, not towns, so check the opening hours and whether they close one day a week. Hotel baths are usually for guests only.
Tattoo rules vary from one place to the next, and large spa complexes are often the strictest. See going to an onsen with tattoos, and check with each place.
The rules are the same in a city spa as in a mountain inn: wash before you get in, keep the towel out of the water, and keep your voice down. Onsen etiquette has the full list.
For the same question in other cities, see onsen in Tokyo and onsen in Kyoto and Osaka. Flying into Chubu Centrair? Onsen near Japan's airports measures from there. For a bath without staying the night, see onsen day trips.