Japanese hot springs, checked properly.
Three things decide whether you can actually bathe in Japan: whether tattoos are allowed, whether there is a bath you can have to yourself, and whether you can go in without staying the night. We read the Japanese source and record what it says, with the date we checked it.
Onsen where tattoos are not a problem
Including places where the shared baths are off-limits but a private bath is not — the option nobody tells you about. See all 116 of them.
Hakusan Onsen
Miya Onsen Hiranoya
Shunkei Roman Ginpaso
Yamato no Yu
Ooedo Onsen Monogatari Kimitsu no Mori
U-Neru Natural Hot Spring
You can bathe without staying the night
Many ryokan open their baths to day visitors for a small fee. It is a normal thing to do in Japan and almost unknown outside it.
Miya Onsen Hiranoya
Hotel Meizanso
Shunkei Roman Ginpaso
Tenku Kaiyu no Yado Suehiro
Hazu Bekkan
Spa & Resort Kujukuri Taiyonosato
Every entry here was read in Japanese, from the facility’s own site or its city’s tourism office, and stamped with the date we checked it. When a place has not published something, we say so.
The editor’s ten
Every onsen on this list was visited in person. 2 places are still open — we have not found a number one yet.
