Shizuoka

Shizuoka has 118 onsen areas and 2,185 springs (Ministry of the Environment, FY2024). Only Oita, Kagoshima and Hokkaido have more springs, and with more than 10.5 million overnight stays a year it is second only to Hokkaido. Most of the springs are on the Izu Peninsula, where Atami, Ito, Shuzenji, Izu Nagaoka, Atagawa and Shimoda cover almost the whole peninsula between the sea and the mountains. Over 30 percent of its springs emerge at 42 °C or hotter.

Main onsen areas

The east Izu coast runs through Atami, Izusan, Ajiro, Ito, Atagawa and Inatori. Central Izu holds Shuzenji, Izu Nagaoka and Yugashima; the west coast has Toi and Dogashima; and the south has Shimoda, Kawazu Nanadaru and Yugano. Beyond the peninsula, Sumatakyo and Kawane lie up the Oi River, Umegashima in the hills behind Shizuoka City, and Kanzanji on Lake Hamana.

Characteristic spring types

Chloride springs are the most common in our records, followed by sulfate and simple springs. Atami has seaside chloride and sulfate water, and Ito, with the largest flow in the prefecture, offers simple and chloride springs. Shuzenji is an alkaline simple spring, Sumatakyo is a sulfur spring with a silky feel, and Umegashima is also sulfur water.

Reachable by public transport

Atami's spa town starts right outside Atami Station on the Tokaido Shinkansen, and Ito is a walk from Ito Station on the JR Ito Line. For Shuzenji, take the Izuhakone Railway Sunzu Line from Mishima to Shuzenji Station, then a bus for about 10 minutes. The Izukyu Line serves Atagawa, Inatori and Shimoda, with Odoriko limited expresses running through from Tokyo. Sumatakyo is about 40 minutes by bus from Senzu on the Oigawa Railway (six buses a day).

For solo travellers

Atami has a footbath at the station, with public baths and sights all within walking distance of the Shinkansen, ideal for a solo day trip. Ito has several neighbourhood bathhouses on foot from the station, and Shuzenji keeps its public bath and footbaths within easy walking distance.

Food & culture

Golden-eye snapper from Inatori and Shimoda, Shizuoka's water-grown wasabi, Suruga Bay sakura shrimp and Lake Hamana eel make this a rich land for food with your soak. Shuzenji is known as the scene of Kamakura-era Minamoto family tragedies. In Kawabata Yasunari's 'The Izu Dancer', the Fukudaya inn at Yugano is a setting, and the Yumotokan at Yugashima is where he wrote. Ito keeps the Tokaikan, a three-storey wooden inn built in 1928, and Atami is known as a setting of Ozaki Koyo's novel 'The Golden Demon'.