Photo: イーゴス108 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Ogoto Onsen
Ogoto Onsen is a hot spring town in Shiga, Japan. The water leaves the ground at 30°C, cool enough that the baths here are usually reheated. It measures pH 8.58 — mildly alkaline, the slippery kind. Officially the water is classed as simple spring. 9 inns take visitors here. About 489,487 people a year come to bathe.
Getting there
- Train to Ogoto-onsen Station (JR)
- A short walk
The water here
Simple spring
Mild and low in dissolved minerals. Usually clear and gentle on the skin, which is why these baths are often recommended for first-timers.
More photographs
From Wikimedia Commons. Tap a photo for the photographer and licence.
Things to see nearby
Places from Wikidata, photographs from Wikimedia Commons. Distances are in a straight line from the town.
With tattoos
Many public baths still turn away visible tattoos, and the rule is set by each bath, not by the town. The reliable way round it is to bathe privately: a room with its own open-air bath, or an inn with a private bath you can book for yourselves.
Where to stay
Hot spring towns nearby
Similar water elsewhere
The numbers
- Water temperature
- 30°C
- pH
- 8.58 (mildly alkaline)
- Inns
- 9
- Visitors a year
- 489,487
- Address in Japanese
- 滋賀県大津市苗鹿・雄琴
Figures from the town's Japanese Wikipedia article.
Where it is
35.0888, 135.8941 — open the map
Read more
Planning a first soak? Read how an onsen stay works, and what to do if you have tattoos.