Japanese Onzen / Hotspring recommendation please!

For some reason, I’m not into travelling no matter how hard I feel like I should be. I’ve been to a few countries in Europe, seen pictures of places in Asia… Yet I can’t get the excitement :/

Though the only place different from other places is Japan (and China maybe). I love the look of temples from anime. It’ll be nice to see them in real life too. But then again I dont think I would enjoy since its just looking at something. I hardly take pictures too.

Maybe I am more into going into festivals and seeing fireworks and enjoying the moment. I wanna wear those traditional Japanese yukata 🙂 Even stuff like cafe and anime stuff doesn’t completely interests me. I’m not a bar/night/food person either. Most likely I will buy a yukata and I’m out. I’m super picky too.

The baths are super interesting tho. This is the one thing for sure I wanna try out. Onzen and going into one is a part of my dream ! So please recommend me some destinations so maybe I could plan to go there in the future. What time of the year would you think would be nice to go there? And also how long do you think I should spend in Japan?

If I go to Japan I think I will be going to each area’s Onzen lol. Also I would like both private and public recommendations. I don’t and likely will never have tattooes. And preferably, I’d like a quiet place. Food doesn’t need to be amazing either! Tysm for reading my rant (I just feel a little lost about what I want) and giving me recommendations.

by untitled_SusHi

4 comments
  1. There are onsen areas everywhere – so many that they publish guides every year about different onsen areas. You should decide where you’re going to end up and how much you’re willing to put up with to get to an onsen town – some are easy to get to whereas others are really in the middle of nowhere.

    >And also how long do you think I should spend in Japan?

    Honestly, based on what you’ve said…I don’t know if you’d enjoy it? It sounds like you don’t enjoy traveling so I don’t know why you’d go to Japan – sounds like many of the reasons to go anywhere aren’t your interests so why would you want to spend all that time/money to do something that sounds mid to you?

    Maybe you should work backward from things you’d be interested in doing? Maybe a hobby that you have that you want to see/experience in Japan. Or maybe you’re really big into hiking. Or whatever.

  2. “I’m super picky“

    A traditionally custom made yukata range from 50K to 100K JPY with made in Japan cotton bolts. More customised higher the cost. 1.5 month to make – two fittings. Fully hand sewn by Japanese kimono makers.
    But there’s china made yukata for a tenth of its price. Comes in sizing too.
    So how picky is picky?

    Onsen comes with a variety including ryokans with private onsen tubs. If picky – then what type of onsen? There‘s upscale going up to a few thousand a night. There’s also budget. Different types of hot springs …sulphur based, calcium based, volcanic mud based…which one?

    Speak Japanese or don’t speak Japanese (or can’t handle more than greetings and thank you) – which level are you? Minimal to zero Japanese – start with golden triangle (Tokyo, Osaka, Nara, Kyoto and sometimes Hiroshima) or make Japanese friends.

  3. My partner and I are both tattooed and tbh have no interest in going to same sex onsen. We are doing the usual Tokyo-Osaka-Kyoto route for our first trip, so I did some searching for a place around there, and the best I found was Solaniwa Onsen, 1 Chome-2-3 Benten, Minato Ward, Osaka, 552-0007, Japan. It seems very modern so might not suit all, and we will need to cover our tattoos visible out of a yukata which is fine. Most importantly we could book a lovely private spa, and still use the rest of the facilities no problem.

    Their website is awesome and details everything you need to know, and there’s a few videos on YouTube (although pretty dull) to familiarise yourself with going there. Ideal for all us overplanners 😉

    Hopefully saving others some time if they’re doing the same research.

    https://solaniwa.com/en-us/

  4. We did the traditional Tokyo – Kyoto – Osaka route but drove from Tokyo to Kyoto as we were staying on the north of Fuji and wanted to make multiple stops in rural Japan along the way. It was roughly $300 more expensive to rent the car + tolls than the multiple trains and buses we had to take, plus an international license each. We were able to access so much more of the ‘authentic’ Japan I feel you may be seeking?

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