Editors' Selection — Hokkaido
Photo: Hakodate Yunokawa Onsen Hotel Banso
If you searched because you want to soak in an unforgettable onsen in Hokkaido, you'll find your answer here. From a foot-source spring by a lakeshore to the concentrated salt water filling the upper floors of a port-town hotel, our editorial team, which has researched and visited onsen and saunas across Japan one by one, has narrowed vast Hokkaido down to just 7 properties. Whichever you choose, you won't be disappointed by the quality of the water. All that's left for you to do is decide where to go.
Hokkaido Kushiro City
Lake Akan filling the 9th-floor windows, with a cold plunge of Akan Hyakunen-sui
A rock-style large bath area with big glass windows overlooking Lake Akan. It also features a semi-open-air bath that brings in the outside air, allowing you to soak leisurely in the natural hot spring while feeling the pleasant breeze. The soft, heat-retaining water gently eases travel fatigue and everyday stress.
A graceful marble-style large bath area inspired by ancient Rome. It also includes a semi-open-air bath that brings in the fresh air, letting you enjoy a luxurious bathing experience with the grand nature of Akan spread before you. Wrapped in the smooth natural hot spring water, you can spend a deeply relaxing moment for both body and mind.
Editors' comment
At the Shangri-La wing's 9th-floor main bath, called Unkai, Lake Akan and Mt. O-Akan spread out in a panorama beyond the glass windows. On windless days, the mirror-like lake surface reflects the sky and clouds exactly as they are. In the semi-outdoor section, which draws in outside air, you can soak in a gentle simple spring, while the 90°C dry sauna offers self-löyly with the hotel's original aroma water. Even from inside the sauna room, the lake is visible through the windows beyond the indoor bath. The cold plunge uses Kushiro Akan Hyakunen-sui, water that feels cold without being sharp, wrapping the skin smoothly. Around 2 p.m., when day-use bathing opens, the place was sparsely populated. This is a good choice for the lake portion of a trip across eastern Hokkaido that also takes in the sea and forest.
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Hokkaido Noboribetsu City
Sulfur, chloride, and iron: three springs flowing continuously under one roof
A space featuring a dome-shaped large bath whose radiating ceiling lines preserve the original modern atmosphere of the hotel, along with a garden open-air bath centered on rugged stones. After soaking in the three famed springs in the indoor bath and warming your body to the core, head to the open-air area with hinoki baths and rock baths. While feeling the clear seasonal breeze on your skin, you can fully enjoy a deep relaxation time.
This bathing area combines an expansive dome-shaped Roman-style large bath, where soft sunlight pours in from a skylight at the top, with a garden open-air bath that offers a dramatic close-up view of a powerful waterfall. While touring Noboribetsu's famous springs—its sulfur spring, saline spring, and iron spring—you can enjoy the contrast between a historic modern-style space and the rustic beauty of nature all at once.
A private open-air bath set on the terrace of the guest room. The tub is filled with a mellow artificial hot spring made with radium mineral spring water, allowing you to enjoy a luxurious bath just for yourself and your companions whenever you like and as long as you like, while feeling the pleasant seasonal breeze on your skin.
Editors' comment
The dome-shaped main bathhouse, reminiscent of a Roman temple, is lined with continuously flowing sulfur, chloride, and iron springs along the walls surrounding a central round tub. Start with the chloride spring to warm up from the cold, then move to the iron spring, which turns a reddish-brown once exposed to air and gives off a distinct metallic scent. The sulfur spring sits outdoors, its milky-white water flowing endlessly in front of a waterfall and river. Few bathhouses let you sample three different spring qualities in sequence under one roof. The outdoor area also has a 110°C 'oni' sauna, a cold plunge fed with mountain stream water, and a flow that leads straight to a wooden deck in front of the waterfall for outdoor rest. Because the Hoozuki no Yu bath alternates between men and women by day, check the schedule before your visit if this particular bath is your target.
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Hokkaido Noboribetsu City
Four private springs, separated by quality between the top floor and basement
A beautifully open bath area located on the top floor, blending seamlessly with the sky and forest. Guests can enjoy two springs, saline spring and iron spring. With no edge to the tub, the water surface seems to flow straight into the forest below, creating a design that lets you spend blissful moments as if gazing at a natural painting. The smooth water texture leaves you feeling as though the fatigue of body and mind drifts away into the sky along with the scenery.
A calm bath area located on the basement level, where you can feel up close the refined atmosphere of a beautifully maintained Japanese garden. Here you can enjoy Noboribetsu’s famous sulfur spring, as well as the rare radium spring. The abundant water that bubbles up continuously is highly effective at retaining heat, and the warmth lingers long after you leave the bath. While admiring the graceful trees, you can indulge in the finest relaxation.
An open-air bath with free-flowing natural hot spring water, installed exclusively on the wood decks of certain guest rooms (DW type and D type). This luxurious space lets you enjoy the famed waters whenever you like, as many times as you like, without worrying about anyone’s gaze. Soaking while looking out at Noboribetsu’s rich forest right in front of you, with the melody of the wind as background music, you will be wrapped in an extraordinary sense of ease, completely cut off from the bustle of everyday life.
Editors' comment
There are four private hot springs here: sulfur, iron, chloride, and radium. What sets this inn apart is that instead of mixing them into a single tub, each is kept in its own bathing area. Kumoi no Yu on the top floor holds the chloride and iron springs. The tub has no edge, so the water surface appears to flow straight into the forest below, opening the view to sky and trees. In the basement, Jien no Yu draws sulfur water from Jigokudani along with a rare radium spring. Its heat retention is strong, and the warmth is said to linger long after bathing. Here, the trees of the Japanese garden are close at hand, and a sauna is attached as well. At the same inn, you can go bathe twice, upstairs and downstairs, in two entirely different waters. This suits anyone who wants to compare different spring qualities in a single night.
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Hokkaido Hakodate City
A strong, reddish-brown chloride spring filling an edgeless tub on the top floor
A large bath on the 14th floor. Here you can surrender yourself to the famed hot spring while taking in views of Hakodate's beautiful night scenery and Mount Hakodate, celebrated as a treasure of Asia. The strong salt spring, also certified as a "yunogi peeling hot spring," retains heat exceptionally well, so you stay warm long after bathing. A lounge in the post-bath area is also attached, making it a pleasure to cool down slowly while enjoying the night view.
A sky-high open-air bath spanning the top 15th floor. The absence of a visible edge to the tub and the infinity-style design, where the water seems to blend seamlessly into the sky and sea, is truly impressive. You can enjoy a blissful bath experience that becomes one with the sweeping panorama, which changes its expression depending on the time of day, from a night bay area sparkling with northern constellations to the refreshing morning scenery of the harbor town. In this open, unobstructed setting, you can completely forget everyday life.
A natural hot spring view bath provided exclusively in rooms such as The Royal Floor and Marina Sauna Suite. You can enjoy Hakodate's scenery and the famed hot spring to your heart's content in a private space, without worrying about anyone else’s eyes. The Marina Sauna Suite also comes with an in-room sauna, allowing you to indulge in a full-featured spa experience without ever leaving your room.
Editors' comment
The 15th-floor outdoor bath has no visible edge to its tub, designed so the water surface appears to stretch straight into the sky and sea. It is filled with a strong, reddish-brown chloride spring known for its heat retention, said to keep your body warm long after you leave the water. From the 14th-floor main bath, you get a full view of Mt. Hakodate and the lights of the port town, and you can keep cooling down while watching the night view from the post-bath lounge. The sauna offers medium-temperature löyly for men and an aromatic mist salt sauna for women. Some guest rooms come with natural onsen view baths, and suites with private saunas are also available. This is a good choice for a trip where you want to take in both the night view and rich onsen water in a single stay.
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Hokkaido Kushiro City
A 17°C cold plunge filtered by the forest, and floor-to-ceiling glass overlooking the lake
A spacious panoramic large bath and sky-open-air bath located on the 8th floor of the main building. You can enjoy a grand open-air bathing experience while looking out over the vast panorama of eastern Hokkaido shaped by Lake Akan and the Akan mountain range. High-quality hot spring water with excellent warming effects gently moisturizes the skin, and you can spend a blissful time easing fatigue from both body and mind while feeling the breath of nature.
A vast large bath that extends from the first floor of the main building down to the basement, one of Tsuruga’s prides. It includes a garden open-air bath that lets you feel in harmony with Lake Akan, along with a variety of baths with different atmospheres. Rich, high-quality hot spring water overflows continuously, and you can enjoy bathing around in a refined Japanese-style space. This superb hot spring experience gently invites you into true relaxation as you surrender yourself to the skin-friendly waters.
Editors' comment
Climb the stairs from the 8th-floor observation bath and Lake Akan's surface appears alongside Mt. O-Akan. The rooftop dome sauna is fully glazed up to the ceiling, kept at around 80°C with low humidity, the kind that draws out sweat slowly. The cold plunge uses Akan Hyakunen-sui, water filtered over many years by the Akan forest, measuring around 17°C on the day it was checked, soft yet firm enough to tighten the body. Those seeking quiet will likely prefer the Finnish-style sauna indoors, where steam from an automatic löyly system descends through the dim room. Because grime on the windows blurs the view when seated, it's better to stand for the outdoor bath's scenery. This is well suited to an itinerary of walking the lakeshore and visiting inns.
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Hokkaido Chitose City
A foot-source spring whose depth shifts with the lake's water level
An observation open-air bath in the separate men’s and women’s public baths. Guests can feel the warmth of smooth natural hot spring water throughout the body while gazing at the mystical scenery of untouched forest and grand mountains reflected on the lake surface. The changing beauty of nature throughout the seasons and time of day relaxes both body and mind.
A rare natural open-air spring bath found in only a very small number of places nationwide, located beyond the corridor extending from the public bath. Built in a rustic style, separated from Lake Shikotsu only by rocks, the depth of the water changes according to the lake level. Guests can enjoy a dynamic bathing experience while feeling the pulse of nature on their skin.
Editors' comment
Cross the covered walkway from the main bath and you reach an open-air bath separated from Lake Shikotsu by nothing more than a single rock ledge. The spring water bubbles up right beneath your feet, a deep golden color so concentrated it tinges the tub itself. Because the water level follows the lake, the depth of the bath varies by the day, decided entirely by nature. The outdoor bath sits almost at zero distance from the lake, so the sound of water and the breeze reach you directly. The sauna holds about four people, runs around 90°C, and allows self-löyly. The cold plunge is fed continuously with water drawn straight from Lake Shikotsu, measuring around 10°C even in June. At the drinking fountain, you can scoop up water with a strong iron taste. An hour's drive from New Chitose Airport, this inn is easy to place on the first day of a trip.
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Hokkaido Hakodate City
A chloride spring that keeps you warm, experienced through outdoor, jar, and reclining baths
A natural hot spring drawn from Yunokawa Onsen, which boasts more than 350 years of history. The water is colorless, clear, and smooth to the touch, and is a chloride spring with excellent heat retention that helps keep you warm long after bathing. In addition to the open-air bath with its sense of openness, a variety of tubs such as pot baths and reclining baths let you thoroughly enjoy this traditional famous spring to the fullest.
Editors' comment
Yunokawa Onsen is a chloride spring with a history spanning more than 350 years. The water is clear and colorless with a smooth touch, yet its heat retention is strong enough that your body stays warm well after you step out. At the main bath, called Yugura, you can experience this same water in an outdoor bath, a jar bath, and a reclining bath, each offering a different feel. The sauna area offers three options: a Bona sauna with heaters built into the benches, an aromatic mist sauna, and a steam room, so there is something for those who find dry heat too intense. After bathing, head to the lounge, furnished with sofas set on tatami. This is a good place to spend a night warming up a body chilled by a day of walking around Hakodate.
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Chosen by our editors from facilities that have granted us publication permission. We do not rank them.
Every place visited in person, chosen after soaking in it myself.
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