OnsenQuest

Prefectures / Ibaraki

Tsukubasan Onsen Tsukuba no Yu

筑波山温泉 つくばの湯 · Tsukubasan Onsen

OK if covered (day visit)

Can you bathe here with a tattoo?

This is the question we built the site around, so we answer it per situation.

Visiting for the day

Yes, if you cover it up

Tattoos must be covered with a patch in the main baths. A private (kashikiri) bath is also available.

Source: official website · checked 2026-09-09

How it scores

Every onsen on this site is scored on the same five things.

ViewWaterComfortSettingAccess

Verified by the editor

View3
Water3
Comfort4
Setting4
Access3
△Somewhere to sit — A small rest area
○Anything else nearby — In the middle of things

The obvious bath to take after climbing Mt. Tsukuba: an alkaline simple spring drawn under the name Tsukubasan Onsen, with an indoor bath, an open-air bath, a self-service loyly sauna and a cold plunge, plus a private open-air bath you can book by the 45-minute slot. It sits inside the Mt. Tsukuba sightseeing area, so the shrine, the cable car and the ropeway are all close. Tattoos are handled strictly: large work is refused, small work must be sticker-covered for the whole visit, and the private bath is no way around it.

Every onsen on this site is scored against the same written rubric, and every score has been reviewed by the editor. The ones marked Visited were also bathed in personally.

The baths

Indoor bath

Indoor bath, plus a self-service loyly sauna and a cold plunge.

Open to day visitors

Open-air bath

Open-air bath on the southern slope of Mt. Tsukuba, with a wooden cool-down deck beside it.

Open to day visitors

Private (kashikiri) bath

Private open-air bath rented by the 45-minute slot for 2,000 yen; each bather also pays the normal admission.

Open to day visitors

A private bath means nobody else is in the water with you — often the practical answer if the shared baths are closed to tattooed guests.

Practical details

Day visits
Yes — you can bathe without staying overnight.
Weekdays 12:00-19:00, weekends and public holidays 10:00-19:00 (last entry 18:00)
Day visit price
¥1,100
Adults (junior-high age and up) 1,100 yen on weekdays and 1,300 yen at weekends and on public holidays. Primary-school children 800 / 1,000 yen, pre-school children 500 yen. The private open-air bath is a separate 2,000 yen for 45 minutes on top of the admission fee for each bather.
Staying overnight
No
Getting there
On the southern foot of Mt. Tsukuba at 64-9 Tsukuba, Tsukuba City, a short distance below the Tsukuba-san Shrine approach. Reached by the Tsukubasan Shuttle bus from Tsukuba Station on the Tsukuba Express, or in about 40 minutes by car from the Tsuchiura-Kita IC. Popular as a bath after climbing Mt. Tsukuba.
Official website
tsukubanoyu.com

Visit the official website ↗

Staying nearby

The links below are affiliate links — we may earn a commission if you book through them, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what we list or how we score it.

Where to stay in Tsukubasan OnsenBooking.com ↗Day-pass tickets and coupons for IbarakiAsoview (Japanese-language site) ↗

About the day-pass link: Asoview is the main place day-use onsen in Japan sell entry tickets and discount coupons in advance. It is a Japanese-only site, so use your browser’s translation — you show the ticket on your phone at the door.