Kyoto

Kyoto Prefecture has 37 onsen areas and 146 springs (Ministry of the Environment, FY2024), with more than 1.75 million overnight stays a year. In Kyoto city, Arashiyama lets you soak between sightseeing stops, while far to the north the Tango peninsula on the Sea of Japan holds a cluster of spas, among them Kitsu, said to be the oldest in the prefecture, and Yuhigaura.

Main onsen areas

The spas fall into two groups. One is in and around Kyoto city: Arashiyama, Kurama, Ohara, and Yunohana in Kameoka. The other is on the Sea of Japan coast, where Kyotango has Kitsu, Yuhigaura and Kumihama, and Miyazu has Amanohashidate.

Characteristic spring types

Simple springs are the most common in our records, followed by sulfate, radon, chloride and bicarbonate springs. Arashiyama is a faintly milky simple spring pumped from 1,200 m underground, and Kitsu an alkaline simple spring that rises at 41°C. Yunohana is a radon (radium) spring, and Amanohashidate a chloride spring.

Reachable by public transport

Arashiyama is about 5 minutes' walk from the Hankyu and Randen Arashiyama stations, or about 15 minutes from Saga-Arashiyama on the JR Sagano Line. Yunohana is about 15 minutes by shuttle bus from Kameoka Station on the JR Sagano Line. Kitsu is a one-minute walk from Yuhigaura-Kitsu-onsen Station on the Kyoto Tango Railway, with Yuhigaura about 5 minutes by car from the same station, and Amanohashidate is a minute's walk from Amanohashidate Station.

For solo travellers

Arashiyama has a day-use bathhouse, so adding a soak to a solo Kyoto trip is easy. Kitsu is a small spa you can walk around from the station, simple to navigate on your own.

Food & culture

Arashiyama is a young spa, opened in 2004, and its charm is walking from Tenryu-ji, the bamboo grove and Togetsukyo straight into a hot bath without a train ride. Kitsu is said to have been found by the Nara-period monk Gyoki after he saw a white heron healing its wounds, and in 1965 the novelist Matsumoto Seicho spent about two months at an inn here writing 'The D Compound', a mystery set in Tango. Yunohana keeps a legend that warriors of the warring-states era healed their sword wounds in its water.