Hokuriku & Koshinetsu
長野県
Official statistics
Ministry of the Environment, FY2024 onsen usage survey (as of 31 March 2025)
In this atlas
Onsen areas in this atlas (excluding districts) as a share of the official count (areas with lodging). Definitions differ, so this is a rough guide.
Nagano has 193 onsen areas and 955 springs (Ministry of the Environment, FY2024). It has more onsen areas than anywhere but Hokkaido, and with over 7 million overnight stays a year it ranks third in Japan. Every valley among the 'Roof of Japan' mountains seems to have a spring: bath-hopping at Nozawa and Shibu, monkeys bathing at Jigokudani, milky water at Shirahone, and the cure village of Kakeyu show how many ways there are to enjoy onsen here.
In the north, Yamanouchi town gathers Yudanaka, Shibu, Jigokudani and Kanbayashi, with Nozawa and Togari further north. Togura-Kamiyamada lies on the Chikuma River, and Ueda has Bessho and Kakeyu. Near Matsumoto are Asama and Utsukushigahara; deep in the Northern Alps are Shirahone, Kamikochi, Nakabusa and Hakuba-Happo. Kami-Suwa and Shimosuwa sit by Lake Suwa, and Hirugami is in the south.
Simple springs are the most common in our records, followed by chloride, sulfur and bicarbonate. Nozawa, Shirahone and Bessho are sulfur springs, and Shirahone's water turns milky white on contact with air. There are iron-rich springs such as Yokoya and Meiji near Chino, and alkaline sulfur water at Hirugami in the south. Spring temperatures range widely, and many sources are cool mineral springs below 25 °C.
Nozawa is about 25 minutes by bus from Iiyama on the Hokuriku Shinkansen. For Shibu and Yudanaka, take the Nagano Electric Railway from Nagano to Yudanaka; Jigokudani is a bus ride and a forest walk beyond. Bessho is at the end of the Ueda Dentetsu Bessho Line from Ueda. Kami-Suwa is a 5 to 10 minute walk from Kami-Suwa Station on the JR Chuo Line, Togura-Kamiyamada is served by Togura Station on the Shinano Railway, where the inns run free shuttle buses, and Shirahone about 60 minutes by bus from Shin-Shimashima, which you reach from Matsumoto on the Alpico Kamikochi Line.
Kakeyu has inns that state 'solo travellers welcome all year' or 'room-only welcome', and some cure inns with self-catering. Korakukan at Jigokudani offers single-occupancy plans. Bessho and Nozawa keep their public baths within walking distance of each other, easy to tour alone.
Shinshu soba, nozawana pickles and oyaki dumplings are the flavours of Nagano. Nozawa's public baths are looked after by villagers' bath associations, and at Ogama locals still boil vegetables in the spring water. Bessho is a temple town called the 'Kamakura of Shinshu'. Suwa Taisha holds its Onbashira festival once every six years (in the years of the tiger and monkey), and Shimosuwa grew as the shrine town of Suwa Taisha's Lower Shrine and as a post town with hot springs where the Nakasendo and Koshu Kaido highways met.
Photo information
鹿教湯温泉
上田市 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 52
A 475-bed rehabilitation hospital stands in the middle of the village, and the inns advertise solo travellers welcome all year and self-catering wings. Here toji, the long therapeutic stay, is still a living practice.
Photo information
地獄谷温泉
下高井郡山ノ内町 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 49
In 1961 a young monkey followed a dropped apple into the inn's open-air bath, the first monkey anywhere known to bathe in a hot spring. There is still only one inn.
Photo information
渋温泉
下高井郡山ノ内町 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 48
Borrow a key from your inn, take a towel, walk the stone-paved street and stamp it at nine public baths in turn. In Shibu Onsen, staying the night is the ticket to the baths.
Photo information
白骨温泉
松本市 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 50
Clear as it emerges, white once it meets the air. Shirahone's milkiness comes not just from sulfur but from calcium carbonate that solidifies, even building the 'funto-kyu' spring mounds.
Photo information
野沢温泉
下高井郡野沢温泉村 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 47
All 13 public baths are kept by village 'yu-nakama' bath guilds; you drop a donation in the box and go in. At the Ogama source, villagers still boil vegetables in 90 °C water.
Photo information
別所温泉
上田市 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 51
Step off a one-line country railway and three 300-yen public baths and Japan's only surviving octagonal pagoda are all within walking distance.
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鹿教湯温泉
上田市 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 52
A 475-bed rehabilitation hospital stands in the middle of the village, and the inns advertise solo travellers welcome all year and self-catering wings. Here toji, the long therapeutic stay, is still a living practice.
Photo information
地獄谷温泉
下高井郡山ノ内町 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 49
In 1961 a young monkey followed a dropped apple into the inn's open-air bath, the first monkey anywhere known to bathe in a hot spring. There is still only one inn.
Photo information
渋温泉
下高井郡山ノ内町 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 48
Borrow a key from your inn, take a towel, walk the stone-paved street and stamp it at nine public baths in turn. In Shibu Onsen, staying the night is the ticket to the baths.
Photo information
白骨温泉
松本市 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 50
Clear as it emerges, white once it meets the air. Shirahone's milkiness comes not just from sulfur but from calcium carbonate that solidifies, even building the 'funto-kyu' spring mounds.
Photo information
野沢温泉
下高井郡野沢温泉村 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 47
All 13 public baths are kept by village 'yu-nakama' bath guilds; you drop a donation in the box and go in. At the Ogama source, villagers still boil vegetables in 90 °C water.
Photo information
別所温泉
上田市 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 51
Step off a one-line country railway and three 300-yen public baths and Japan's only surviving octagonal pagoda are all within walking distance.
Photo information
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鹿教湯温泉
上田市 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 52
A 475-bed rehabilitation hospital stands in the middle of the village, and the inns advertise solo travellers welcome all year and self-catering wings. Here toji, the long therapeutic stay, is still a living practice.
Photo information
地獄谷温泉
下高井郡山ノ内町 · 100 Onsen to Know Japan — No. 49
In 1961 a young monkey followed a dropped apple into the inn's open-air bath, the first monkey anywhere known to bathe in a hot spring. There is still only one inn.
