Wakayama Shirahama Town
The 120 cm-deep open-air bath floating on a water basin, a "beauty bath," and the newly added 2024 cold plunge bath and totonoi deck
"Shirahama Koganoi Resort & Spa" is a high-end hot spring resort hotel surrounded by lush gardens in Shirahama Town, Nishimuro District, Wakayama Prefecture. Its large public bath is renowned for an open-air bath that projects out over a broad water basin, creating the dreamlike sensation of floating on the water's surface, and for a 120 cm-deep standing bath where you can enjoy soaking upright. The spring water is a sodium bicarbonate and chloride spring with a silky texture, praised as a "beauty bath" for its skin-loving qualities. In March 2024, the long-awaited cold plunge bath and wood-deck totonoi space were added. With morning sauna use also available, it has evolved into an ideal environment even for sauna enthusiasts.
An exceptional open-air bath built to extend into a vast water basin, creating the feeling of floating on the water's surface. It is set up as a 120 cm-deep standing bath, allowing you to bathe with a sense of weightlessness in a wonderfully open setting. The spring water is a superb source praised as a "beauty bath" for its smooth, cleansing effect.
A spacious indoor bath filled with soft light from large windows. The silky sodium bicarbonate spring water gently softens the skin, and after bathing you can enjoy a noticeably smooth feel. Thanks to the excellent heat-retention effect of the chloride spring, it is less likely that you will cool down afterward, and together with the complimentary drinks service in the post-bath living lounge, you can relax to your heart's content.
A compact, clean dry sauna located inside each gender's large public bath area. The cozy room, arranged with L-shaped benches, circulates rich, steady heat that gently encourages abundant sweating. Another nice touch is the lemon water kept right outside the sauna.
A cold plunge bath inside the large public bath, newly added in March 2024 in response to strong demand from sauna lovers. The water is set to a crisp, pleasantly cold temperature, refreshing and tightening the body after sauna use. You can go straight from there to the adjacent outdoor wood-deck totonoi space, making for a perfect flow.
* Day-use bathing is available only through plan sales such as the "Lunch & Bath Set Plan." Please check the official website in advance. (Sauna operating hours: 07:00-10:00, 14:00-23:00)
Shirahama Onsen
A Nanki resort hotel where you can immerse yourself in Shirahama's spectacular scenery and famous hot spring
Shirahama Onsen
Wakayama
A natural hot spring featuring a hot spring nano-mist sauna and alternating hot and cold bathing
JAPAN'S FINEST ONSEN & SAUNA
The Finest Onsen & Sauna in Japan
64 SELECTIONS
Most of what we surveyed never even made it onto this site. This book is a further cut from what did. Our editor bathed in every onsen and sauna in it, and wrote only what they confirmed on the ground.
