Ryūkyū Onsen — photo: Kugel~commonswiki · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Onsen in Okinawa: the seven hot springs on record, and which you can actually use
Yes, Okinawa has onsen. It has very few, they are nothing like the mountain towns in the photographs, and some of the places that still appear on "best onsen in Okinawa" lists are closed or open only to certain hotel guests. This guide goes through every Okinawa hot spring in our records with the numbers we hold, says which ones a visitor can walk into, and explains what kind of bath to expect.
What the numbers say
- Our records list seven hot springs in Okinawa: four on the main island, two on Miyako and one on Iriomote. (One more entry filed under Okinawa is a research society, not a bath, so we leave it out.) No prefecture has fewer; Shiga comes closest with 8, while Hokkaido has 165.
- Six of the seven have a temperature on record. Four come out of the ground at 42 °C or more: Miyakojima Onsen 52 °C, Ryūkyū Onsen and Shigira Onsen 50 °C, Chatan Megumi Onsen 42.1 °C. Iriomotejima Onsen is 32.2 °C and Yamada Onsen 23.4 °C, so both need heating.
- The water is mostly chloride (salty), found at five of the seven, with bicarbonate at three. Nowhere in Okinawa is a town of inns built round a spring. Every one is a single hotel spa or bathhouse.
- None of them is well known. The most looked-up, Yamada, is read 92 times in our sample of Wikipedia pages, which puts it 584th of 1,538 nationwide. Kusatsu, for comparison, is read 5,905 times.
Why Okinawa's onsen are different
The famous Japanese onsen towns sit on volcanoes: water heated by magma comes up close to the surface, and a whole village grows round it. Okinawa's inhabited islands are mostly coral limestone, and there is no volcano near Naha, Chatan or Miyako. The hot water here comes from wells drilled deep into the ground. Ryūkyū Onsen draws from about 1,000 m down, Shigira about 1,250 m and Chatan about 1,400 m. Under Japanese law, water that comes out warm enough or with enough minerals counts as an onsen however it is reached, so these are real onsen. They just look like resort spas, not like Kinosaki.
The practical result: you go to one bath, usually in or next to a large hotel, often with an ocean view and a sauna. You do not walk from bathhouse to bathhouse in a yukata. If that is the trip you want, see onsen in Kyushu, a short flight north.
The ones a visitor can use
Ryūkyū Onsen (Senagajima, Tomigusuku). A hotel spa called 龍神の湯 (Ryūjin no Yu) on Senaga Island, which is joined to the main island by a road bridge. Our record gives 50 °C at pH 7.5, chloride water, and "15 minutes by car from Naha Airport". It is the one most often recommended, because it takes day visitors and the outdoor baths look out to sea, with planes landing at Naha Airport just across the water. Hotel guests use it included in their stay. If you have one evening near the airport, this is the obvious choice.
Chatan Megumi Onsen (Mihama, Chatan). The spring feeds a bathhouse called テルメヴィラ ちゅらーゆ (Terme Villa Chura-yu) by the beach in the American Village area. Our record: 42.1 °C, weakly alkaline, bicarbonate water, "19 km from Naha Airport", a short walk from a bus stop. It has separate men's and women's baths and a mixed area where you wear a swimsuit, which makes it the easiest Okinawa onsen for couples and families who want to bathe together. Bring your own swimsuit for that part; the usual baths are still naked.
Nakanoyu (Okinawa City). Not a spa: a small neighbourhood bathhouse that has been running since around 1960, often called the last old-style public bath in Okinawa. It heats mineral water pumped from about 350 m down. Our record has pH 7.6, weakly alkaline, with chloride and bicarbonate water. Opening hours have changed as its elderly owner cut back and new help joined, so check before you go. For how a local bath like this works, see onsen or sentō.
Shigira Onsen (Miyako Island). Known as シギラ黄金温泉 (Shigira Ōgon Onsen), at the Shigira resort on the south coast, about 15 minutes by car from Miyako Airport. Our record: 50 °C, weakly alkaline, chloride water. It takes day visitors, and its large outdoor pool among the trees is a swimsuit area, so again couples and families can share it.
Miyakojima Onsen (Hirara, Miyako Island). Recorded at 52 °C, chloride water, 7 minutes by car from Miyako Airport, which makes it the hottest spring in Okinawa in our records. We could not confirm its current opening, so check locally before planning around it.
The ones you probably cannot use
Yamada Onsen (Onna). The spring is inside the Renaissance Okinawa Resort, and the resort currently limits it to members of its club and guests on certain floors and suites. Our record: 23.4 °C, with chloride, bicarbonate and sulfur listed. If you are not staying on one of those room types, do not drive up for it.
Iriomotejima Onsen (Iriomote). Once sold as Japan's southernmost onsen, at 32.2 °C with sulfate water. The hotel that ran it closed at the end of October 2024 after storm damage to its equipment, and booking sites for the neighbouring hotel say the onsen is shut. Several English lists still include it. Treat it as closed unless you see a current notice that it has reopened.
Tattoos, swimsuits and other questions
Because these are hotel spas and bathhouses, each one sets its own rules on tattoos; there is no island-wide rule. Ask the venue directly, and see going to an onsen with tattoos for what to ask. The swimsuit areas at Chatan and Shigira are the exception to the usual naked bathing, not the rule; the separate baths in the same buildings are naked, as everywhere else in Japan. Our swimsuit guide explains the difference.
Prices, hours and maintenance closures change, and several of these places shut for a day or more each year for inspection. Check the venue's own site on the day.
When to go
Okinawa is warm all year, and a 50 °C spring cooled to a bath at 42 °C is hard work on an August evening. The baths are most pleasant from November to March, when nights are cool. In summer, go early in the morning or late at night, and use the cooler pools. Our seasons guide covers summer bathing elsewhere in Japan.
If the onsen is the point of the trip
Do not plan an Okinawa trip around hot springs. Go for the sea and take a bath as a bonus. If you want a real onsen town as well, the nearest ones are in Kyushu, a direct flight from Naha: Ibusuki in Kagoshima has sand baths by the sea, and Beppu and Kurokawa are the classic volcano towns. Onsen near airports helps if you are only changing planes.
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 salty water most of these share, see chloride springs.