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Photo: Soica2001 (talk) · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Shirahone Onsen

Nagano · 白骨温泉

Shirahone Onsen is a hot spring town in Nagano, Japan. Officially the water is classed as bicarbonate spring and sulfur spring. 12 inns take visitors here.

Getting there

From Tokyoabout 4 h

CarNot needed

JR PassNot a JR line

1. Train to Shin-Shimashima Station
2. Local bus, about 60 min

Fly into Haneda or Narita. Times are rough estimates worked out from station locations, not a timetable — check the exact route on Google Maps.

The water here

Bicarbonate spring 炭酸水素塩泉

Smooth, slightly slippery water. Often nicknamed bihada-no-yu, the water for beautiful skin.

Sulfur spring 硫黄泉

The classic rotten-egg smell and milky white water. It can tarnish silver jewellery, so take it off.

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.

More on tattoos and onsen

Where to stay

Opens Rakuten Travel, which lists inns in English. Onsen Guide earns a commission if you book through these links, at no extra cost to you.

Hot spring towns nearby

Similar water elsewhere

Towns further away with the same kind of water — useful if this one is hard to reach or fully booked.

The numbers

Inns

12

Address in Japanese

長野県松本市安曇

Figures from the town's Japanese Wikipedia article.

Where it is

36.1522, 137.6276 — open the map

Read more

Japanese Wikipedia