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Shizuoka Onsen Guide: 9 Hot Spring Inns You Can Stay At

Shizuoka's hot springs split into two mountain regions with almost nothing in common. The Izu Peninsula (伊豆半島), jutting into the Pacific, is dotted with small, single-inn hot springs. Follow the Abe or Oi rivers inland instead, and the road climbs into the southern foot of the Southern Alps, where the narrower it gets, the quieter the bath.

This guide lists 9 inns where you can stay overnight, each linked to a data page showing whether you can stay, the water type, pH, and whether the bath is fed by free-flowing spring water. The prefecture has 18 registered hot spring entries in total; the 10 hardest to reach are covered in a separate guide to Shizuoka's hidden hot springs, and this guide keeps overlap with that list to a minimum.

What this guide covers:

  • Why the water in Izu and the Southern Alps foothills comes from two different sources
  • What separates Shuzenji, Yugashima, Umegashima and Sumatakyo
  • 9 inns with overnight stays, each linked to its full data page
  • Why Atami and Ito, Shizuoka's biggest hot spring towns, are not on this list
  • Practical answers on tattoos, mixed bathing, reservations, payment and trains

Two Kinds of Hot Water

Shizuoka's springs come from two different sources.

The first is the Izu Peninsula. Izu is generally understood to have formed as a separate chain of undersea volcanoes riding the Philippine Sea Plate northward, colliding with the main island of Honshu several hundred thousand years ago. It remains one of Shizuoka's most volcanically active areas, and small sources are scattered through valleys across the peninsula as a result. The source at Kouchi Onsen Kanaya Ryokan, covered below, is a hypotonic simple thermal spring at 49.8°C and pH 7.7. Izu Hatake Onsen Seizan, near the base of the peninsula, is an alkaline simple spring at pH 8.7. Neither contains sulfur, and both are colorless and clear.

The second kind rises in the valleys at the southern foot of the Southern Alps, reached by following the Abe or Oi rivers upstream. Umegashima, Sumatakyo and Sessokyo onsen belong to this group. Rather than volcanic heat, the water here is thought to have circulated deep underground for a long period before reaching the surface. Even within this group, water types are not uniform. Umegashima Onsen Omoide no Yado Yunoshimakan is pH 9.2 and Sumatakyo Onsen Tekarisanso is pH 9.1, both strongly alkaline simple sulfur springs. Sessokyo Onsen Tabunoie, by contrast, is a sulfur-free sodium bicarbonate spring at pH 8.4, with a source that emerges at only 21°C and is heated before use.

The Izu side runs pH 7.6 to 8.7 and contains no sulfur; the Southern Alps foothills run pH 9-plus, and even there sulfur content varies from inn to inn. Both exist within the same prefecture, and that contrast is the point of travelling here.

The Main Onsen Towns

Shuzenji Onsen (修善寺温泉), Izu City

Grew up around Shuzenji Temple, associated with the Buddhist monk Kobo Daishi, and Tokko-no-Yu, a source that wells up in the middle of the river. Walking paths, including a well-known bamboo grove path, run through town, and inns founded in the Meiji era are still open today. As the usual entry point for Izu Peninsula sightseeing, this is often the first name that comes up for a first visit to Shizuoka's hot springs.

Yugashima Onsen (湯ヶ島温泉), Izu City

Stretches along the Kano River at the foot of Mount Amagi. Known as the setting of Yasunari Kawabata's novel The Izu Dancer, it sits on the road between Shuzenji and the Amagi Pass. Inns here draw on calcium-sulfate springs, and the pace along the river is unhurried.

Yoshina, Funabara and Kouchi Onsen (吉奈・船原・河内温泉), Izu and Shimoda Cities

Funabara and Kouchi are each the single inn of their hot spring, relatively little known even within the Izu Peninsula. Yoshina is a small hot spring town on the Yoshina River, at the foot of the Amagi mountains, and Oyado Sakaya stands at its center. Funabara sits on Route 136 between Shuzenji and Toi, and Kouchi lies in the hills a short way inland from central Shimoda. What they share is that visitors come for the water itself rather than for sightseeing.

Umegashima Onsen (梅ヶ島温泉), Aoi Ward, Shizuoka City

Sits near the end of the road that follows the Abe River upstream, in the mountains at the southern tip of the Southern Alps. Said to have opened roughly 1,700 years ago, it is also remembered in local accounts as a hidden bath used by the warlord Takeda Shingen. The simple sulfur spring here runs strongly alkaline and is known as a water that leaves the skin smooth.

Sumatakyo and Sessokyo Onsen (寸又峡・接岨峡温泉), Kawanehoncho

Two hot springs along the Oi River valley in the Southern Alps, reached by different parts of the Oigawa Railway network. Sumatakyo is also known as a sightseeing spot for its suspension bridge, the Yume-no-Tsuribashi; it is not on the rail line itself, and is reached by a roughly 40-minute bus ride from Senzu, the terminus of the railway's main line. Sessokyo lies further into the mountains, about 70 minutes from Senzu on the railway's Ikawa Line, an 8-minute walk from Sessokyo-Onsen Station. Part of the main line has been closed since 2022 typhoon damage, so some rail connections require a bus transfer. Public transport to both runs infrequently — check the Oigawa Railway's official site before travelling.

Izu Hatake Onsen (伊豆畑毛温泉), Kannami Town, Tagata District

An alkaline simple spring at the base of the Izu Peninsula, in Kannami Town. Its location near the entrance to Izu makes it relatively easy to reach from the Tokyo direction.

The Izu Peninsula also holds several large, well-known hot spring towns not covered above: Atami, Ito, Inatori, Izunagaoka and Atagawa. Atami Onsen alone has more than 500 sources, with total flow approaching 20,000 liters per minute and an average source temperature of about 63°C, according to the City of Atami's official site. None of the inns in these five towns currently have a data page on this site, so they are not covered individually in this guide.

How These 9 Were Chosen

Selection was based on water data, not on the size of the property. Three conditions:

  1. Overnight stays are possible (day-use-only bath houses are not included here)
  2. Water type, free-flowing status, and any dilution or reheating are documented on the site's own data page
  3. Overlap with the inns already covered in our guide to Shizuoka's hidden hot springs (linked below) is kept to a minimum

Of the 9, seven are free-flowing spring water (some with reheating). Shuzenji Onsen Arai Ryokan is only partly free-flowing, with every bath using circulation and filtration and some seasonal dilution. Sessokyo Onsen Tabunoie heats its 21°C source before bathing, and whether the water is free-flowing or recirculated is not published. The pH range runs from 7.6 at Yoshina Onsen Oyado Sakaya to 9.2 at Umegashima Onsen Omoide no Yado Yunoshimakan; Yugashima Onsen Yumotokan has no pH on record, so it is excluded from that range.

1. Kouchi Onsen Kanaya Ryokan (河内温泉 金谷旅館), Shimoda City

Tucked into the quiet Kouchi hamlet a little inland from central Shimoda, near the southern tip of the Izu Peninsula, stands Kanaya Ryokan, a single inn founded in 1867. It raised its curtain the year before the Tokugawa shogunate fell and has guarded the spring water welling from the foot of Mount Kanaya ever since. Although its history runs almost parallel to that of Shimoda, the port town opened to the world after Perry's arrival, the inn itself sits among quiet wooded hills, far from any tourist bustle. It is only a four-minute walk from Rendaiji Station on the Izukyu Line, an unusually easy approach for an inn that otherwise has every claim to the title of hidden hot spring. The baths here are fed by two private sources on the slopes of Mount Kanaya. The analysis certificates posted inside record one blend of the Kouchi No. 5 and Shimoyuhara sources at 49.8 degrees Celsius with a pH of 7.7, and a blend of the Kouchi No. 5 and Kanaya sources at 36.2 degrees Celsius with a pH of 7.6. Both are hypotonic, weakly alkaline, mild simple thermal springs: colorless, clear, and soft against the skin. What sets the inn apart is that nothing whatsoever is done to the water. There is no heating, no dilution, no recirculation, and no chlorination in any tub, which is possible precisely because the inn holds both a hot source and a cool one. Temperatures vary across the bath, from comfortably warm to a section that hovers around 35 degrees, ideal for a long, unhurried soak. What made the inn nationally famous is Senninburo, its great bath built entirely of hinoki cypress. Roughly 20 meters long and 5 meters wide according to the inn, it reaches about a meter at its deepest point, enough to stand waist- to chest-deep in the water. Walls and ceiling alike are clad in cypress, giving the room the airy scale of a swimming pool, and it ranks among the largest all-wooden bathhouses in Japan. The concept dates to the Taisho era, and in 2002 the hall was fully rebuilt in cypress. The bath is mixed-gender, but a separate women's entrance is provided and women may bathe wearing a bathing garment or towel. For women there is also Manyo no Yu, built of hiba cypress with four separate tubs, itself one of the largest wooden women's baths in the country. Rounding out the offering are Issenyu, a private bath housed in the inn's oldest bathhouse from the late Meiji period, and separate open-air baths for men and women with a cascading water jet and a bubble bath. Day-use bathing is available from 9:00 to 22:00, with last reception at 21:00, priced at 1,000 yen for adults, 500 yen for elementary school children, and 300 yen for younger children, with a two-hour limit. The inn is open year-round, though weekday mornings are sometimes given over to cleaning, so a quick phone call ahead is worthwhile. Free parking accommodates roughly 40 to 50 cars. Guests who stay overnight may use every one of these baths at any hour. The inn is about 10 minutes by taxi from Izukyu Shimoda Station, or about 1 hour 50 minutes by car from Numazu IC via the Amagi Pass. Pair a day among Shimoda's beaches and its late-Edo historical sites with a long evening soak in the cypress hall, and the shape of a perfect Izu itinerary comes into focus.
Quality
Simple Hot Spring
Temp
36.2℃ to 49.8℃
Supply
Natural Source Flow
Heat
Not Heated
pH
pH 7.7
pH
0714
AcidicNeutralAlkaline
Use
Stay OK/Day Trip OK
Fee
Adult 1000JPY/Child 500JPY
Hours
MonTueWedThuFriSatSunHol
09:00 - 22:00◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
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2. Yoshina Onsen Oyado Sakaya (吉奈温泉 御宿 さか屋), Izu City

Turn off Route 414 between Shuzenji and the Amagi Pass, follow a side valley into the hills, and you arrive at Yoshina Onsen: a handful of inns strung along the Yoshina River and very little else. The founding records of Zenmyoji temple, built here in 724, already mention the hot spring, which is why Yoshina is known as the oldest onsen in Izu. Oyado Sakaya sits at its centre. The house began as a sake brewery, and in the late sixteenth century it received Lady Oman, a consort of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who came to take the waters. She bore two sons after her stay, and those sons went on to found the Kii and Mito branches of the Tokugawa family. From the Edo period onward the spring was famous across Japan as the sacred water that grants children. Sakaya itself became an inn during those same years; counting back to the brewing days, the family has been here more than five hundred years, and the current owner is the twenty-fifth generation. What sets Sakaya apart is how little it does to the water. No heating, no dilution, no recirculation and no chlorine, all four at once, which is rare enough that only a handful of inns in Shizuoka Prefecture can claim it. The trick lies in the sources. Yoshina's water is naturally on the cool side, but Sakaya draws on three separate springs named Oyu, Hanazawa and Susugaki, emerging at 45.3, 47.0 and 65.5 degrees Celsius, and blends them purely by adjusting the flow from each until the tubs sit at a comfortable temperature. Together they deliver 425 litres a minute through a ring of pipes that loops from the scattered sources around the old public bath and the inn, an arrangement with few parallels anywhere in Japan. The water is a simple hot spring, described by the inn as weakly alkaline at pH 7.6, clear and without taste or smell. It does not look mineral-heavy, but the softness the moment it touches skin is unmistakable, and the owner drains and refills every tub daily in his role as yumori, keeper of the spring. Six baths await, and no two are alike. Oman-san-buro pairs a hinoki tub with a floor of heavy Izu stone, cut deep enough to submerge to the shoulders, with the green ridgelines in view. Its counterpart, Taro-san-buro, was designed by the artist Taro Okamoto, who used Sakaya as his regular retreat for fifty years; the curving basin came out of an offhand offer to make the family something, and it fits the body oddly well. Outdoors there is Orionza-buro, half-roofed and open to the Amagi range so you can soak through rain, and Shirafuji-no-yu, a boxwood tub beneath a 200-year-old white wisteria. Two more open-air baths can be taken privately: Sakadaru-no-yu, shaped like the sake casks the family once made, and the hinoki Kodakara-no-yu. Both are free, need no reservation and stay open all night. The large baths swap between men and women morning and evening, so a guest staying one night can work through all six. The grounds run to 3.6 hectares and hold a tea house, an Okamoto gallery and a formal Enshu-style garden. One caveat matters: Sakaya does not offer day bathing. A few directory sites still print day-use hours, but the official site says nothing of the kind and callers have been turned away, so the only way into this water is to stay the night. There are 23 rooms, four of them suites with private open-air baths, starting around 17,990 yen per person with two meals. Getting there is easy enough: the Odoriko limited express runs from Tokyo to Shuzenji in about two hours without a change, then a Tokai bus from platform 5 reaches the Yoshina Onsen Iriguchi stop in 20 minutes. The inn is a kilometre further on and will collect you if you call, though on a clear day the riverside walk takes a pleasant quarter of an hour. Aim for May, when the white wisteria flowers, or November, when the hillsides colour up around the open-air tubs; free-flowing autumn baths are scarce in Izu, and Shirafuji-no-yu fills quickly then. Combine the trip with Joren Falls, the Amagi Pass or the old streets of Shuzenji for a route through the oldest layer of the peninsula.
Quality
Simple Hot Spring
Temp
45.3℃ to 65.5℃
Supply
Natural Source Flow
Heat
Not Heated
pH
pH 7.6
pH
0714
AcidicNeutralAlkaline
Use
Stay OK/Day Trip N/A
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3. Yugashima Onsen Yumotokan (湯ヶ島温泉 湯本館), Izu City

Yugashima Onsen lies at the heart of the Izu Peninsula, on the banks of the Kano River at the northern foot of the Amagi mountains. Along that mountain stream stands Yumotokan, an inn so quiet it seems to have stopped in time, known as the Kawabata Inn. Its name was made immortal by a young Yasunari Kawabata. In 1922, in his early twenties, Kawabata shut himself away in a small four-and-a-half-mat room here and, drawing on his student travels through Izu, completed his celebrated novella The Izu Dancer. The room where he stayed is preserved to this day as the Kawabata Room, drawing literary pilgrims from across Japan. The waters of Yumotokan are a calcium-sodium sulfate spring. The source emerges at about 45 degrees Celsius, a temperature well suited to bathing, and the water is colorless, transparent, and gentle to the touch. Served as pure free-flowing spring with no added water and no reheating, it carries the calm, mild character typical of sulfate springs, warming the body from its core. There is nothing flashy about it; rather, it holds the quiet richness of a true mountain hot spring. The baths include a large hall that alternates between men and women, an open-air bath on a rotating basis, and a private open-air bath. The open-air bath in particular is built almost level with the surface of the Kano River, and to sink into the water amid the murmur of the stream and the green of the surrounding trees is a rare pleasure. The wooden interior retains a strong Showa-era atmosphere, and simply walking its corridors evokes the presence of the writers of old. Dinner features dishes made from the mountain and river bounty of Amagi, gracing a quiet evening. Day-trip bathing is available from 12:00 to 14:30 for 1,000 yen for adults and 500 yen for children, and a private bath may be used for 1,000 yen per 30 minutes. Overnight stays with two meals start from around 18,850 yen. Access is easy for a secluded inn: about 50 minutes by car from the Numazu IC, or about 35 minutes by bus from Shuzenji Station on the Izuhakone Railway. In the fresh green of early summer and again in the fiery foliage of autumn, this is an inn where one can savor a literary hot spring alongside the four seasons of the Kano River.
Quality
Calcium - Sulfate Spring
Supply
Natural Source Flow
Heat
Not Heated
Use
Stay OK/Day Trip OK
Fee
Adult 1000JPY/Child 500JPY
Hours
MonTueWedThuFriSatSunHol
12:00 - 14:30◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
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4. Shuzenji Onsen Arai Ryokan (修善寺温泉 新井旅館), Izu City

Arai Ryokan is a distinguished inn representing the Izu hot spring town of Shuzenji, founded in 1872 (Meiji 5). It sits in the heart of the hot spring quarter near Shuzenji Temple, associated with the monk Kobo Daishi, and the riverside Tokko-no-Yu spring, and has marked more than 150 years alongside the murmur of the Shuzenji River. Fifteen of the wooden buildings scattered across its grounds were designated National Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 1998, and the entire inn is preserved as a whole. From the Taisho into the Showa era the novelist Ryunosuke Akutagawa stayed here, and the playwright Kido Okamoto completed his masterpiece Shuzenji Monogatari within these rooms. With painters such as the master Yasuda Yukihiko among its guests, the inn carries a rich history as a gathering place for writers and artists. The water is an alkaline simple spring, common in Izu, with a pH of 8.5. It is colorless, clear, and gentle on the skin, mild and easy to enjoy. The bathing setup, however, deserves an accurate understanding: the official bath guide clearly states that every bath uses a circulation-and-filtration system. Free-flowing source water can be enjoyed only in certain tubs, and because the source is very hot, the water is diluted in some seasons to keep it at a comfortable temperature. This is not an inn that advertises 100 percent free-flowing source water; it is better appreciated as a place to quietly savor cultural-property architecture and hot spring heritage. The symbol of Arai Ryokan is the all-cypress grand bath, the Tenpyo Daiyokudo. Designed by the painter Yasuda Yukihiko and completed in 1934 (Showa 9), it is a striking space wrapped in the scent of cypress beneath a coffered ceiling evoking the Nara Tenpyo period. The touch of soaking while watching carp swim in the pond outside the window conveys the inn's distinctive aesthetic. There are also an open-air bath dappled with sunlight and private baths for quiet relaxation. Overnight guests can join a guided tour of the cultural-property buildings (500 yen), enjoying the architecture and art during their stay. Day-trip bathing is roughly 2,500 yen (plus tax) for adults from 11:30 to 14:00, though it may not be offered in every season, so checking in advance is advisable. Overnight stays with two meals begin at around 35,000 yen per person, featuring seasonal kaiseki cuisine. Access is about 10 minutes by bus or 7 minutes by taxi from Shuzenji Station on the Izuhakone Railway; because local rules prohibit inn pickup, guests use the route bus or a taxi. The fresh green and autumn foliage seasons are especially beautiful, and a visit pairs well with a stroll through the Bamboo Path and Shuzenji Temple in this atmospheric hot spring town.
Quality
Alkaline Simple Hot Spring
Supply
Partial Natural Flow
pH
pH 8.5
pH
0714
AcidicNeutralAlkaline
Use
Stay OK/Day Trip OK
Fee
Adult 2500JPY/Child ---JPY
Hours
MonTueWedThuFriSatSunHol
11:30 - 14:00◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
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5. Funabara Onsen Funabarakan (船原温泉 船原館), Izu City

Route 136 runs west from Shuzenji toward Toi, threading the folds of the Amagi mountains. Partway along it, tucked against the Funabara River, stands a single old inn: Funabarakan. The spring itself is ancient. Edo-period records describe two baths here, Ko-no-yu and Otsu-no-yu, and local tradition places the shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo among the bathers. The present inn dates to 1958, when the previous owner opened it as a ryokan, and the same family has kept it going for more than sixty years. They call it Monowasure-no-yu, roughly the bath of forgetting, which is a fair statement of what they expect you to come for. What makes the place worth the drive is how the water is handled. The inn's own source yields 150 litres a minute at 45.6 degrees Celsius, and that temperature is the whole point: it arrives already at a comfortable soaking heat, so nothing has to be warmed and nothing has to be diluted. There is no recirculation and no chlorination anywhere in the building. The water is a simple hot spring, hypotonic and weakly alkaline at pH 8.0. It has no dramatic colour or smell, but it carries the slippery softness typical of alkaline water and leaves the skin taut and smooth afterwards. Funabarakan also pipes the spring without exposing it to air and feeds each tub from the bottom, delivering the water before oxidation can flatten it. That extra care is why the Japan Pure Onsen Association gives the inn its top Pure Onsen A rating. There are three bathing areas. Yama-no-yu pairs an indoor tub with an open-air section; Kawa-no-yu is a smaller indoor bath facing the gorge; and then there is the standing bath the inn is known for. It is 1.2 metres deep, enough for an adult to stand shoulder-deep, and it is kept close to body temperature so you can stay in for as long as you like. Feet planted, body faintly buoyant, it feels like nothing else in Japanese bathing. Watsu, the American aquatic bodywork technique, is offered here in combination with the local Amagi-style water therapy. The standing bath is booked in private 45-minute slots, free for overnight guests. The inn has 14 rooms starting at 10,500 yen per person with two meals. Dinner is Okariba-yaki, charcoal grilling around a sunken hearth, with wild boar hotpot and river fish. A ping-pong table and a small gallery of local literary material survive inside, preserving the atmosphere of a Showa-era spa inn intact. Day visitors are welcome from 12:00 to 15:00 for 800 yen, or 1,500 yen with the standing bath, though closing days are irregular and a phone call ahead is essential. The bus from Shuzenji Station takes 20 minutes and stops directly outside, yet the only sound is the river. Pair it with Joren Falls or the Amagi Pass, and aim for a weekday afternoon to have the water to yourself.
Quality
Simple Hot Spring
Temp
35℃ to 45℃
Supply
Natural Source Flow
Heat
Not Heated
pH
pH 8
pH
0714
AcidicNeutralAlkaline
Use
Stay OK/Day Trip OK
Fee
Adult 800JPY/Child 400JPY
Hours
MonTueWedThuFriSatSunHol
12:00 - 15:00◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
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6. Izu Hatake Onsen Seizan (伊豆畑毛温泉 誠山), Kannami Town

Hatake Onsen rises quietly among the rice fields of Kannami Town, at the southwestern foot of the Hakone caldera rim and the northern gateway to the Izu Peninsula. Records of therapeutic bathing here go back more than 400 years, and Edo-period documents describe injured people convalescing in simple bathing huts. Local tradition says Minamoto no Yoritomo rested his warhorses in these waters, and the poet Wakayama Bokusui left verses about the spring. In 1962, Hatake Onsen was designated a National Health Resort Spa alongside neighbouring Nagoya Onsen. Fewer than a hundred of Japan's roughly 3,000 hot spring areas hold that status, a measure of how long this modest spa has been taken seriously as a place of cure. Seizan is one of its inns, descended from Kinkeisha of 1888, run through the generations as Takahashi-kan and then Takahashi Bekkan, and reborn under its current name after a full renovation in 2018. The water is an alkaline simple hot spring, pH 8.7, emerging at roughly 30 degrees Celsius. It is colourless, clear and odourless, and unusually soft against the skin. Thirty degrees only just clears the legal threshold for a hot spring in Japan, and the first moment in the tub feels less lukewarm than cold. That coolness is precisely why Hatake has long been called the lukewarm sacred spring: it lets a bather soak for a very long time without driving up core temperature, easing the body without straining the heart or blood pressure. Seizan's indoor bathhouse divides the water into three tubs, all from the same source. The broad tub on the left holds the spring exactly as it emerges at about 30 degrees, free-flowing with no heating and no added water; the middle sits near body temperature at 35 degrees, and the right is warmed to about 42. There is a method to bathing here. Warm up first in the 42-degree tub, move across to the 30-degree source water, and return to the warm bath when the chill sets in. Repeating this alternation warms only the core, and the flush lingers long after leaving the water. Regulars who soak for one or two hours at a stretch are entirely ordinary here. Beyond the indoor tubs, an open-air bath sits enclosed by bamboo, its temperature adjusted with the seasons: reports put it near 41 degrees in spring and around 35 in summer. A private room bath is available by reservation at 3,000 yen per hour, useful for families with small children and for anyone who wants complete quiet. Day visitors are received from 9:00 with last admission at 20:00, at 700 yen for two hours on weekdays, 870 yen for three hours and 1,000 yen for the day, each including the 150 yen bathing tax charged to everyone aged 12 and over; weekends and public holidays add 100 yen. Lukewarm water rewards patience, so first-time visitors should buy at least the three-hour ticket. The in-house cafe restaurant Kuon is known for its Pairon gyoza and takes 100 yen off the bathing fee for diners. Rooms start at 11,000 yen per person with two meals, and therapeutic plans run to 30,000 yen for four days and three nights or 45,000 yen for six days and five nights. Overnight guests have priority and admission is sometimes capped in peak season, so a phone call ahead is worthwhile. The inn lies about 10 minutes from the Daiba/Kannami interchange on the toll-free Izu Jukan Expressway, and about 26 minutes by Izuhakone bus from JR Kannami Station, making it an easy stop at either end of an Izu journey.
Quality
Alkaline Simple Hot Spring
Temp
30℃ to 42℃
Supply
Natural Source Flow
Heat
Heated
pH
pH 8.7
pH
0714
AcidicNeutralAlkaline
Use
Stay OK/Day Trip OK
Fee
Adult 700JPY/Child ---JPY
Hours
MonTueWedThuFriSatSunHol
09:00 - 20:00◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
View detail page

7. Umegashima Onsen Omoide no Yado Yunoshimakan (梅ヶ島温泉 おもいでの宿 湯の島館), Aoi Ward, Shizuoka City

Follow the Abe River upstream far enough and the valley closes in, the road narrows, and eventually it simply ends. Near that end lies Umegashima Onsen in Aoi Ward, Shizuoka City, a spring said to have been opened some 1,700 years ago in the era of Emperor Ojin. Because it welled up in a hamlet that grew rich on gold mining, it was long called the Golden Spring. Takeda Shingen is said to have controlled both the mine and the water, using the baths to heal his wounded soldiers, and in the Edo period the spring enjoyed the patronage of Tokugawa Ieyasu and the shogunate. At the very deepest point of this hot spring hamlet, tucked into the southern foothills of the Southern Alps, stands the six-room inn Omoide no Yado Yunoshimakan. The water is a simple sulfur spring with a strongly alkaline pH of 9.2, and the slipperiness is obvious the moment you lower yourself in. It is clear and colorless, carries a faint sulfur note, and leaves the skin unusually soft afterwards. Umegashima's water was voted the top beauty spring in Japan's Chubu region in the 2024 national hot spring poll, and the description of it as a natural skin lotion is not marketing hyperbole. Because the source emerges at only about 39 degrees Celsius, water piped from the shared source managed by Shizuoka City is warmed just enough for comfortable bathing, with no dilution and no recirculation. Temperature is the only thing the inn adjusts. The centerpiece is a set of four private baths named Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan after Shingen's battle standard. Fu no Yu pairs a tatami floor with a cast-iron goemon tub; Rin no Yu is wrapped in the scent of hinoki cypress; Ka no Yu sits beside a sunken hearth; and Yama no Yu is a cave bath of piled stone lit by a soft, wavering glow. Overnight guests may reserve any of them at no extra charge, one hour at a time, between 6:00 and 10:00 in the morning and 14:00 and 23:00 in the afternoon and evening. With only six rooms, there is no queue and no stranger's gaze. The guest rooms were renovated in a modern Japanese style in 2023, and dinner is built around mountain ingredients from the surrounding valley, including Suruga shamo chicken and Abe wasabi, with a wild boar hotpot plan offered through the winter. Rates run roughly 12,000 to 19,000 yen per person per night with two meals, plus a 150 yen bathing tax. Check-in is 14:00 to 18:00 and check-out 10:30. By car it is about 50 minutes north from the Shin-Shizuoka IC along prefectural route 29, the old Abe Kaido; by bus it is about 1 hour 50 minutes from JR Shizuoka Station on the Shizutetsu Just Line to the Umegashima Onsen-iriguchi stop, though departures are few and the timetable should be checked first. The inn will collect guests by prior arrangement. Early summer, when the new foliage frames the nearby Abe Great Falls, and late October into November, when the whole valley turns, are the finest times to come; in winter be ready for icy roads. Day-trip bathing is accepted, but no rate or hours are published, so anyone hoping to stop in should phone ahead before making the drive.
Quality
Simple Sulfur Spring
Temp
38℃ to 40℃
Supply
Natural Source Flow
Heat
Heated
pH
pH 9.2
pH
0714
AcidicNeutralAlkaline
Use
Stay OK/Day Trip OK
Fee
Adult ---JPY/Child ---JPY
Hours
Open 24 hours
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8. Sessokyo Onsen Tabunoie (接岨峡温泉 たぶの家), Kawanehoncho

Sessokyo is the gorge carved into the northern edge of Kawanehon Town, along the uppermost reaches of the Oi River. Steep mountainsides press in from both banks, the river runs far below, and the only thread stitching the scattered houses together is the narrow track of the Oigawa Railway Ikawa Line. It is one of the most genuinely remote corners of Shizuoka Prefecture. The hot spring here is surprisingly young: surveying began in 1976, drilling started in March 1978, and at 1,300 metres down the drillers struck a pure sodium bicarbonate spring flowing at roughly 100 litres per minute. Distribution pipes were laid in 1980, and ever since, a handful of inns and one municipal day-use bathhouse have shared the water. Tabunoie is one of those inns, with just five guest rooms. The spring is classified as a sodium bicarbonate cold mineral spring, completely free of sulphur, which makes it genuinely uncommon in Japan. It is weakly alkaline at pH 8.4 and emerges at only about 21 degrees Celsius, so the baths are heated. The water is clear and odourless, yet the instant it touches the skin it turns slippery, almost soapy, and leaves the skin noticeably smoother afterwards. Bicarbonate softens and lifts away dead skin and impurities, and for that reason local people have long called this the Spring of Youth. It is recommended for neuralgia, muscle and joint pain, poor circulation, chronic digestive complaints and dry skin. Bathing at Tabunoie takes place in two small family baths fed by the Sessokyo source. You hang a sign on the door and the bath is yours, an unhurried arrangement with none of the bustle of a large communal bathhouse. The inn has three twin rooms and two Japanese-style rooms, sleeping twelve guests in all. A sunken hearth anchors the dining room, and dinner is built around what the Okuoi mountains provide: wild vegetables, river fish slow-grilled over charcoal, and in season venison sashimi and wild boar hotpot. Guest reviews rate the dinner 4.8 and the breakfast 4.7 out of five, which says a great deal about where this inn puts its energy. Getting here deserves careful planning. The Oigawa Main Line has been severed between Kawane-Onsen-Sasamado and Senzu since typhoon damage in 2022, so rail travellers must change to a Kawanehon town bus at Ieyama to reach Senzu. From July 2026 the Ikawa Line was reborn as a tourist railway: almost every train now requires advance booking at a flat 3,500 yen for adults regardless of distance. Only one round trip still carries ordinary-fare cars without reservation, the 14:35 from Senzu and the 10:45 from Sessokyo-Onsen. By car it is about 100 minutes from Shimada-Kanaya IC on the Shin-Tomei Expressway via Route 473 and Prefectural Road 388, and parking at the inn is free and needs no reservation. Fresh green in late spring and the autumn foliage are the finest seasons, but book well ahead at any time of year. There is no day-use bathing, so the only way to try this water is to stay the night.
Quality
Sodium - Bicarbonate Spring
Temp
21℃ to 21℃
Emerge
Pumped
Heat
Heated
pH
pH 8.4
pH
0714
AcidicNeutralAlkaline
Use
Stay OK/Day Trip N/A
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9. Sumatakyo Onsen Tekarisanso (寸又峡温泉 光山荘), Kawanehoncho

Sumatakyo Onsen lies deep in the gorge that the Sumata River has carved through the southern foothills of the Southern Alps. It is a young hot spring village by Japanese standards: the source was struck only in 1957, and before that the valley served mainly as a forestry railway route for hauling timber. Midway along that short onsen street, Tekarisanso has kept its lights on since 1963. The name comes from Mount Tekari, the 2,592-metre Southern Alps peak that rises behind the valley. With just ten rooms and a family running the whole operation, the inn has never chased tour groups, and it shows in how carefully it receives the guests who do come. The water is a simple sulfur spring, emerging at 43.0 degrees Celsius with a pH of 9.1 and a total mineral content of 635.6 mg/kg. Those are not dramatic numbers, but lean toward the spout and the sulfur is unmistakable. Water throughout Sumatakyo is nicknamed the Beauty-Making Spring for the silkiness it leaves behind, and among the village inns Tekarisanso is widely reckoned to have the strongest of them all. The reason is how the water arrives: the inn draws its water from a source about four kilometres upstream in the mountains. That long pipe run means the water must be reheated, but nothing is diluted, nothing is recirculated through a filter, and no chlorine is added. Grey, cottony mineral flakes drift through the tub in quantity and settle on the floor of it. On the skin the water is distinctly slippery, and hands feel different for hours afterwards. Bathing is in one gender-separated indoor bath each, and there is no open-air bath. The indoor bath is the point, though: a lofty, almost hall-like room with a single tub wide enough that a swimmer would not feel cramped. There is almost no ornament, only water, timber and steam. Stay the night and there will certainly be a stretch of the evening or early morning when the whole thing is effectively yours. Meals are home-cooked kaiseki built on mountain vegetables and river fish, sometimes with wild boar or venison. The inn is also the only lodging in Sumatakyo that actively welcomes motorcycle travellers, and it offers rider-specific plans. Getting there needs planning. Typhoon damage in 2022 closed the Oigawa Railway between Kawane Onsen Sasamado and Senzu, and the line is still cut. By public transport the trip runs JR Kanaya to Ieyama by train, Ieyama to Senzu on the Kawanehon town substitute bus (six services a day), then roughly 40 minutes more on the Daitetsu Bus Sumatakyo line. Full restoration is targeted for around 2029, so check the railway's current notices before setting out. By car it is about 1 hour 40 minutes from Shimada-Kanaya IC on the Shin-Tomei Expressway, and the inn's free lot holds 60 vehicles. Day-trip bathing is 500 yen for adults and 400 yen for children between 14:00 and 17:00, from 11:00 in summer, but overnight guests take priority and some days are closed to visitors, so phone ahead. Mid to late November, when the gorge turns red, and May, when the new leaves come in, are the finest times to visit. Note also that the inn takes cash only.
Quality
Simple Sulfur Spring
Temp
40℃ to 43℃
Supply
Natural Source Flow
Heat
Heated
pH
pH 9.1
pH
0714
AcidicNeutralAlkaline
Use
Stay OK/Day Trip OK
Fee
Adult 500JPY/Child 400JPY
Hours
MonTueWedThuFriSatSunHol
14:00 - 17:00◯◯◯◯◯◯◯◯
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Practical Notes Before You Book

Tattoos. There is no single national rule, and policies differ from one inn to the next. Small ryokan with private or family baths are usually the easiest option, because you bathe alone or with your own party. Ask when you reserve rather than on arrival — many places will answer by email, and some allow covering a small tattoo with a patch.

Mixed bathing and swimwear. Most baths in Shizuoka are separated by gender, and you bathe without clothing. Swimwear is generally not allowed in indoor baths. One exception is Kouchi Onsen Kanaya Ryokan's Senninburo, a large mixed-gender (konyoku) bath; women may bathe there wearing a bathing garment or towel and have a separate entrance. The individual data page for each inn notes the bath layout.

Reservations. Overnight stays at small ryokan should be booked in advance; several of the inns above are single-property hot springs with limited rooms. Day-use bathing normally does not require a reservation, but hours are short, and Yoshina Onsen Oyado Sakaya and Sessokyo Onsen Tabunoie have no day-use bathing at all.

Payment. Assume cash. Larger inns accept credit cards, but small mountain ryokan and vending machines for bath tickets often do not, and ATMs accepting foreign cards are scarce once you leave central Izu. Carry enough Japanese yen for the trip.

Getting there by train and bus. Southern and central Izu are the easiest areas to reach without a car. Take the Izukyu Line to Izukyu-Shimoda for the southern coast, or the Izuhakone Railway to Shuzenji for central Izu. Kouchi Onsen Kanaya Ryokan is within walking distance of Rendaiji Station. Sumatakyo is reached by bus and Sessokyo by the Oigawa Railway's Ikawa Line, both infrequent. Umegashima has bus service from JR Shizuoka Station, about 1 hour 50 minutes with infrequent departures; check the timetable in advance, and the inn can arrange a pickup with notice.

Looking for Something Wilder

This guide required that you can sleep there, and that overlap with our hidden hot springs list stays small, which leaves out most of the Southern Alps' deepest inns and many of the quieter finds around Shimoda and southern Izu. Our guide to Shizuoka's hidden hot springs covers those, along with two inns also featured here — Shuzenji Onsen Arai Ryokan and Yugashima Onsen Yumotokan — plus places like Kannon Onsen, Sawada Koen Rotenburo, and Minami Alps Akaishi Onsen Shirakabaso.

10 Hidden Hot Springs in Shizuoka: From the Izu Peninsula to the Southern Alps

Across the Border

Shizuoka borders Kanagawa, Yamanashi and Nagano prefectures. Cross the mountains from the Izu Peninsula and you reach Hakone in Kanagawa; head further north from the Southern Alps foothills and you reach the mountains of Yamanashi and Nagano. For a trip that crosses the prefectural border, these guides cover the other side.

8 Best Hidden & Notable Hot Springs in Kanagawa Prefecture — From Hakone's Ancient Baths to Tanzawa's Beauty Waters

Yamanashi's 10 Secret Hot Springs: From Southern Alps Hideaways to Shingen's Hidden Baths

Nagano Onsen Guide: 20 Hot Springs and the Village Bathhouse Circuit

Planning a Route

The Izu Peninsula and the Southern Alps foothills are far apart, and trying to see both on one trip means spending most of it in transit. Pick one area.

Southern Izu and Shimoda. Izukyu-Shimoda Station is the starting point. Kouchi Onsen Kanaya Ryokan is about 10 minutes away by taxi, or reachable on foot from Rendaiji Station on the Izukyu Line. Pairs well with Shimoda's beaches and its late-Edo historical sites.

Central Izu: Shuzenji to Yugashima. Shuzenji Station on the Izuhakone Railway is the gateway. Shuzenji Onsen Arai Ryokan is about 10 minutes away by bus or taxi; Yugashima Onsen Yumotokan, Yoshina Onsen Oyado Sakaya and Funabara Onsen Funabarakan are all further into the mountains from there, and moving between inns means driving.

Izu's gateway: Kannami. Izu Hatake Onsen Seizan sits in Kannami Town, at the base of the peninsula, with relatively easy access from Tokyo. Works well as a first or last night on a wider Izu trip.

Deep in Shizuoka City: Umegashima. About 50 minutes by car from the Shin-Shizuoka IC on the Shin-Tomei Expressway via prefectural Routes 27 and 29, the old Abe Kaido. A bus runs from JR Shizuoka Station, but departures are limited, so check the timetable first.

Southern Alps foothills: Sumatakyo to Sessokyo. Senzu Station is the starting point, though part of the Oigawa Railway's main line to Senzu has been closed since 2022 typhoon damage, so some rail connections require a bus transfer. Sumatakyo Onsen Tekarisanso is about 40 minutes from Senzu by bus. Sessokyo Onsen Tabunoie is further on, about 70 minutes from Senzu on the railway's Ikawa Line and an 8-minute walk from the station. Both routes run infrequently — check the Oigawa Railway's official site before you go.

Late autumn through winter is when the open-air baths in the mountains are best, with visible steam in the cold air. Roads and rail lines around the Southern Alps foothills can be affected by winter conditions, so check before travelling. Izu stays comparatively mild year-round and pairs well with a trip to the coast.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I visit these inns just for a bath, without staying?

It depends on the inn. Kouchi Onsen Kanaya Ryokan and Izu Hatake Onsen Seizan both accept day visitors. Yoshina Onsen Oyado Sakaya and Sessokyo Onsen Tabunoie, by contrast, are overnight guests only and have no day-use bathing (day visitors to the Sessokyo area can instead use the municipal Sessokyo Onsen Kaikan). Hours change, so check the data page and the official site.

Which of these are free-flowing spring water?

Seven of the 9, including some with reheating. Shuzenji Onsen Arai Ryokan is only partly free-flowing, with circulation and filtration used in every bath and some seasonal dilution. Sessokyo Onsen Tabunoie heats its source, and its free-flowing status is not published. Tubs within one inn can differ, so check the individual data page.

Are Atami and Ito inns included?

Not in this list of 9. The list is limited to properties whose water type, pH and free-flowing status are documented on our own data pages, and none of Atami, Ito, Inatori, Izunagaoka or Atagawa currently have a listing on this site.

How much Japanese do I need?

Enough to reserve by email or through a booking site. Staff at small inns often speak little English, but written communication and translation apps work well, and bath etiquette is signposted with pictograms in most places.

When should I come?

Late autumn through winter for the open-air baths, when the steam is most visible in the cold air. The Southern Alps foothills can see icy roads in winter. Izu stays milder year-round.

Notice

The information in this article (admission fees, operating hours, water quality data, etc.) is based on research conducted at the time of writing. Details may have changed or contain errors. Please verify the latest information on each facility's official website or through the local tourism association.

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