Kagawa Takamatsu City
Golden Time Takamatsu
Shikoku’s pride: a sauna paradise with radon onsen fed straight from the source
- Scenic View
- Open 24 Hours
- Natural Hot Spring
- Free-flow from source
- Self löyly available
- Auto löyly available
About Golden Time Takamatsu
Golden Time Takamatsu is a men-only sauna and capsule hotel in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture. It has three saunas: the IKI sauna, imported directly from Finland, with automatic löyly; Solo SAUNA, reserved for löyly you pour yourself; and Kukai-no-Yu, a Chinese herbal medicine sauna themed on Kobo Daishi (Kukai). Add a groundwater cold plunge that in summer stays around 8°C (46°F), the lowest temperature in Kagawa Prefecture, and a reddish-brown natural radon onsen fed straight from the source, never recirculated, and this is a place for a serious sauna session in the middle of Takamatsu’s nightlife district.
Hot SpringONSEN
Natural radon onsen fed straight from the source
A reddish-brown natural radon onsen. It is a special onsen classed as a therapeutic spring, and has long been revered as a “bath for all ailments”. Its effects on a wide range of conditions, including neuralgia, joint pain, chronic skin disease, gout and arteriosclerosis, are recognized under the standards of Japan’s Ministry of the Environment, giving it high value from a medical point of view as well.
Bubble bath
A bubble bath that releases masses of bubbles from the floor. Fine bubbles envelop the whole body, boosting circulation while you also enjoy the warming effect of the radon spring. You can enjoy the loosening feel of the bubbles and the slow warmth spreading through your body in the reddish-brown water.
SaunaSAUNA
IKI SAUNA
The main sauna, built around an IKI sauna stove imported directly from Finland. Water drops regularly onto the sauna stones piled high on top, and a rush of steam and rolling waves of humidity fill the room at once. Automatic löyly runs every hour from 7:00, rising to every 30 minutes after 17:00. On top of that, staff hold löyly events on a weekly rotating schedule. In the “Jigoku Löyly” (hell löyly), staff send the room temperature soaring with large amounts of löyly water and swirling towels, and it is known among aufguss masters and sauna devotees as Golden Time’s signature event.
Solo SAUNA
A sauna reserved for löyly you pour yourself, with a ZIEL stove made by the Finnish company METOS. You pour aroma water over a stove built to take plenty of löyly, controlling the scent and steam yourself. Aromas can be bought at the front desk, and the appeal lies in losing yourself as you shape the heat and scent to your liking in a quiet room with healing music. With no TV, it is a space for deep focus, an inward-looking sauna experience in contrast to the IKI sauna.
Kukai-no-Yu (herbal sauna)
A Chinese herbal medicine steam sauna that follows the tradition of the herbal baths Kobo Daishi (Kukai) set up as medicinal baths in the Heian period. The room, kept at 60 to 65% humidity, is filled with the scent of herbal medicine, and although the temperature is low, you sweat slowly while breathing in the steam and the herbal essences. A stone statue of Kukai carved from Aji stone, a specialty of Kagawa, sits in the room and gives it a distinctive spiritual atmosphere.
Cold BathCOLD BATH
The ultimate cold plunge
A groundwater cold plunge with the lowest temperature in Kagawa Prefecture. In summer the 40 to 60 cm (16 to 24 in) deep bath is filled with water at around 8°C (46°F), and a piercing cold spreads through the whole body. The gap with the 100°C (212°F) IKI sauna creates the ultimate totonou, a deep, settled calm. After the cold plunge, you can sink into a chair at the open-air “King’s Cooling-Off” spot and rest in the Takamatsu breeze.
Stay here
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Facility Information
- Address
- 2-1-7 Kawaramachi, Takamatsu, Kagawa
- Business Hours
- Open 24 HoursOpen Year-Round
Closed for cleaning 10:00 to 11:00
- Closed Days
- Open Year-Round
- Gender Access
- Male Only
- Tattoo Policy (Communal Bath)
- No Tattoos
- Official Website
- View official site
Access
By car
- From the Takamatsu-chuo toll gate on the Takamatsu Expressway (head north on Prefectural Route 43 → turn left at Tsumetagawa-nishi → head west on the Shido Kaido → turn left at the Kawaramachi 1-chome intersection)
By train and bus
- About a 2-minute walk from Kawaramachi Station on the Takamatsu-Kotohira Electric Railroad
- About a 15-minute walk from JR Takamatsu Station (about 5 minutes by taxi)
Partner car parks available (Minami-Shinmachi Parking, 5 spaces / Beaver Parking, 100 spaces / Good Parking, 17 spaces)
Visited by the Editor-in-Chief
The Editor-in-Chief visited in person in September 2025
Cooling off in the open air, in full view of the surrounding buildings
Read the full review
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