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Photo: ぷんすけ · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Shoya Onsen

Nagano · 初谷温泉

Shoya Onsen is a hot spring town in Nagano, Japan. The water leaves the ground at 14°C, cool enough that the baths here are usually reheated. It measures pH 6.4 — close to neutral. Officially the water is classed as chloride spring and bicarbonate spring. 1 inns take visitors here.

Getting there

From Tokyoabout 2 h

CarNot needed

JR PassCovers the train

1. Train to Nakagomi Station (JR)
2. Local bus

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

Chloride spring 塩化物泉

Salty water. The salt leaves a thin film on the skin, so you stay warm well after leaving the bath.

Bicarbonate spring 炭酸水素塩泉

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

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

Water temperature

14°C

pH

6.4 (close to neutral)

Inns

1

Address in Japanese

長野県佐久市内山

Figures from the town's Japanese Wikipedia article.

Where it is

36.2242, 138.6021 — open the map

Read more

Japanese Wikipedia