Nara

Nara has 34 onsen areas and 77 springs (Ministry of the Environment, FY2024), with about 760,000 overnight stays a year. Most of its spas lie deep in the Yoshino mountains of the Kii range in the southern half of the prefecture: the Totsukawa district, where every spa in the village pledged to use only free-flowing source water, and Dorogawa at the foot of Mt Omine in Tenkawa village.

Main onsen areas

Totsukawa village holds three spas, Totsukawa, Tosenji and Kamiyu, which together form the Totsukawa onsen district. Tenkawa has Dorogawa at about 820 m, and Kawakami has Shionoha. Around the Nara basin are Hasedera in Sakurai and Shigisan in Sango.

Characteristic spring types

Bicarbonate springs are the most common in our records, followed by chloride, sulfur and simple springs. Totsukawa is a sodium bicarbonate-chloride spring, Tosenji a simple sulfur spring and Dorogawa a simple spring. In 2004 representatives of the three Totsukawa spas pledged that every facility would use free-flowing source water with no recirculation, dilution, reheating or chlorination.

Reachable by public transport

For Totsukawa, take Nara Kotsu's Yagi–Shingu bus line from Kintetsu Yamato-Yagi (or JR Gojo) or from JR Shingu to the Totsukawa Onsen stop. From Yamato-Yagi it takes four to nearly five hours, and buses are few, so plan to stay the night. Dorogawa is about 70 minutes by bus from Kintetsu Shimoichiguchi Station.

Food & culture

Dorogawa is young as a hot spring but old as a lodging town for pilgrims climbing Mt Omine. Its streets feel like a step back into the mid-20th century, with twenty-odd inns and guesthouses and thirteen shops making and selling Darani-suke pills. On the Yagi–Shingu bus route to Totsukawa you pass the 297 m Tanize Suspension Bridge.