Toyama

Toyama has 61 onsen areas and 169 springs (Ministry of the Environment, FY2024), with about 1.07 million overnight stays a year. Here the 3,000-metre Tateyama range drops to Toyama Bay in a short distance, and the springs follow that drop: remote baths deep in the Kurobe Gorge, mountain-hut baths on Tateyama, and seaside baths at Himi with views of the peaks across the bay. The largest resort is Unazuki on the Kurobe River.

Main onsen areas

In the east, the Kurobe River gorge holds Unazuki and, further upstream, Kuronagi, Kanetsuri, Babadani and Meiken. On Tateyama there are mountain baths at Mikurigaike near Murodo and around Raichozawa. Kintaro in Uozu, Yamada and Kasuga in Toyama City, the Shogawa group in the west with Omaki, reachable only by boat, and Gokayama follow. On the coast, Himi has Himinadaura and Amaharashi.

Characteristic spring types

Chloride springs are the most common in our records, followed by simple and sulfur springs. Unazuki is a clear simple spring piped from Kuronagi 7 km upstream. Mikurigaike on Tateyama is milky sulfur water, and the seaside springs at Himi are mostly chloride.

Reachable by public transport

For Unazuki, change at Kurobe-Unazuki-Onsen on the Hokuriku Shinkansen to the Toyama Chiho Railway and ride to Unazuki-Onsen at the end of the line. Kuronagi and Kanetsuri are reached from Unazuki on the Kurobe Gorge Railway's trolley trains (no winter service). Mikurigaike is about 15 minutes' walk from Murodo Terminal on the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route. The Shogawa group is about 30 minutes by Kaetsuno bus from Tonami on the JR Johana Line, and Omaki is about 30 minutes by sightseeing boat from Komaki port.

For solo travellers

Unazuki has a footbath outside the station and its public bath is a short walk away, good for a solo day trip. The inn at Kuronagi states officially that it accepts solo guests (open May to November).

Food & culture

Toyama Bay's winter yellowtail and its spring firefly squid and white shrimp are part of the pleasure of an onsen trip here. Gokayama, home to Gokayama Onsen, has the World Heritage gassho-zukuri villages of Ainokura and Suganuma and is the home of Kokiriko, said to be Japan's oldest folk song. In Yatsuo, Toyama City, the Owara Kaze-no-Bon festival is held every year from 1 to 3 September, with dancers moving through the sloping streets to the sound of shamisen and kokyu fiddle.