We live in an age where efficiency is prized above all else. With the rise of IT, you can get products delivered without setting foot outside, simulate experiences through video, and even generate virtually anything in an instant with AI. Yet when it comes to hot springs and saunas, there is simply no workaround — you have to bring your own body to the place and experience it firsthand. The reason I am so drawn to sauna travel is precisely because it is an act that makes you feel profoundly alive, a direct and visceral reminder that you are living and breathing. With these thoughts in mind, I arrived at Genki Onsen Banpaku Oyuba in Suita, Osaka. Just thirty minutes earlier, I had been in the sauna at Saido Natural Hot Spring Sumire no Yu. And before that, I had done a morning sauna session in Kyoto. In other words, even though it wasn't yet noon, this was my third bath of the day. Fellow sauna enthusiasts might give me a knowing nod of approval, but to the average person, this probably looks like sheer madness. For me, though, this kind of obsessive intensity is exactly what makes a travel day worth living. Despite it being before noon, the facility was already buzzing with people. I passed through the clean, welcoming lobby, checked in at the front desk, and made sure to scope out the restaurant menu on my way to the baths. Imagining what I would eat after getting out of the water is, after all, one of the small pleasures of the whole ritual. I stripped down in the changing room and stepped into the main bath area. The first thing that caught my eye was the indoor bath — high ceilings, generous space, and a real sense of openness. There were plenty of washing stations and a wide variety of baths lined up. The indoor sauna featured a dual setup of a far-infrared heater and a stone stove, with a cold plunge bath conveniently placed right beside it — a perfectly arranged layout. But what truly captured my heart was the outdoor area. A vast open-air bath fed by a continuous flow of natural hot spring water stretched out before me. To fill a rock bath of this scale with actual hot spring water, you would need an exceptionally rich source. The sheer sense of liberation — soaking while gazing up at an open sky — landed squarely in the center of my personal paradise. In addition to this rock bath, the outdoor area offered three other types of baths and a sauna. And that outdoor sauna would turn out to be the undisputed star of the day. After taking stock of the whole facility, I rinsed off quickly and sank into the natural hot spring in the outdoor rock bath. Soaking in an open-air rock bath is something else entirely. Since this was already my third bath of the day, my body warmed up at an almost alarming speed. For my first set, I started with the indoor far-infrared sauna. The TV inside was showing a highlight reel of great MLB plays, and I let my gaze drift across the screen while slowly heating up my body. Once I had worked up a solid sweat, I stepped out and cooled off in the cold plunge bath right next to it. There was no temperature display, but it felt somewhere around 17 to 18°C — not too intense, and comfortable enough to stay in for a good while. From there I moved to the outdoor area, basking in the sunlight and open sky for a relaxed outdoor cool-down. In the space where you could lie down, a good number of men were already completely out of it. Lying down in a space this open, I could tell it would only be a matter of time before I drifted off too. After enjoying the outdoor air for a while, I finally made my move toward the main event: the outdoor löyly sauna for my second set. This sauna was extraordinary. It could fit about twelve people, arranged in a circular layout around the sauna stove at the front and center. The temperature was probably around 85°C. What really stood out was the darkness — with the door closed, it was nearly pitch black. That atmosphere is perfect for meditation and turning inward. After a while, the automatic löyly cycle started — once every twelve minutes. What surprised me was how long it lasted. Water was poured over the sauna stones for nearly a full minute. And the way it was done was remarkably precise. Rather than dumping a large amount of water all at once, it was applied gradually, like a gentle shower, so the heat in the room built up slowly but steadily, creating a beautifully calibrated progression. Löyly is not simply about pouring as much water as possible. Dumping it all at once creates an aggressive wave of heat that can feel more stressful than pleasant, almost like your skin is burning. Here, the steam was designed to spread gently and gradually, and it felt genuinely wonderful. By the end of the cycle, the perceived temperature had risen quite noticeably, and I felt thoroughly and completely done. I stepped out of the sauna and made my way back to the indoor cold plunge bath. There was one thing I found slightly disappointing: there is no cold plunge bath in the outdoor area. Moving from the outdoor sauna to the indoor cold plunge inevitably introduces a time lag. Right outside the outdoor sauna there is a circular jacuzzi bath, and if that were converted into a cold plunge, the flow from sauna to cold plunge to outdoor cool-down would become seamless — a setup that would give even the most demanding sauna enthusiast absolutely nothing to complain about. During my outdoor cool-down after the second set, I blended in with all the other men who had lost consciousness around me, and sure enough, I too drifted away for a while. I pulled myself together for the third and final set of the day. I headed back to the outdoor löyly sauna once more, let the masterfully long löyly session steam me through thoroughly, then stepped into the indoor cold plunge bath and brought my sauna session for the day to a satisfying close.

We live in an age where efficiency is prized above all else. With the rise of IT, you can get products delivered without setting foot outside, simulate experiences through video, and even generate virtually anything in an instant with AI. Yet when it comes to hot springs and saunas, there is simply no workaround — you have to bring your own body to the place and experience it firsthand. The reason I am so drawn to sauna travel is precisely because it is an act that makes you feel profoundly alive, a direct and visceral reminder that you are living and breathing. With these thoughts in mind, I arrived at Genki Onsen Banpaku Oyuba in Suita, Osaka. Just thirty minutes earlier, I had been in the sauna at Saido Natural Hot Spring Sumire no Yu. And before that, I had done a morning sauna session in Kyoto. In other words, even though it wasn't yet noon, this was my third bath of the day. Fellow sauna enthusiasts might give me a knowing nod of approval, but to the average person, this probably looks like sheer madness. For me, though, this kind of obsessive intensity is exactly what makes a travel day worth living. Despite it being before noon, the facility was already buzzing with people. I passed through the clean, welcoming lobby, checked in at the front desk, and made sure to scope out the restaurant menu on my way to the baths. Imagining what I would eat after getting out of the water is, after all, one of the small pleasures of the whole ritual. I stripped down in the changing room and stepped into the main bath area. The first thing that caught my eye was the indoor bath — high ceilings, generous space, and a real sense of openness. There were plenty of washing stations and a wide variety of baths lined up. The indoor sauna featured a dual setup of a far-infrared heater and a stone stove, with a cold plunge bath conveniently placed right beside it — a perfectly arranged layout. But what truly captured my heart was the outdoor area. A vast open-air bath fed by a continuous flow of natural hot spring water stretched out before me. To fill a rock bath of this scale with actual hot spring water, you would need an exceptionally rich source. The sheer sense of liberation — soaking while gazing up at an open sky — landed squarely in the center of my personal paradise. In addition to this rock bath, the outdoor area offered three other types of baths and a sauna. And that outdoor sauna would turn out to be the undisputed star of the day. After taking stock of the whole facility, I rinsed off quickly and sank into the natural hot spring in the outdoor rock bath. Soaking in an open-air rock bath is something else entirely. Since this was already my third bath of the day, my body warmed up at an almost alarming speed. For my first set, I started with the indoor far-infrared sauna. The TV inside was showing a highlight reel of great MLB plays, and I let my gaze drift across the screen while slowly heating up my body. Once I had worked up a solid sweat, I stepped out and cooled off in the cold plunge bath right next to it. There was no temperature display, but it felt somewhere around 17 to 18°C — not too intense, and comfortable enough to stay in for a good while. From there I moved to the outdoor area, basking in the sunlight and open sky for a relaxed outdoor cool-down. In the space where you could lie down, a good number of men were already completely out of it. Lying down in a space this open, I could tell it would only be a matter of time before I drifted off too. After enjoying the outdoor air for a while, I finally made my move toward the main event: the outdoor löyly sauna for my second set. This sauna was extraordinary. It could fit about twelve people, arranged in a circular layout around the sauna stove at the front and center. The temperature was probably around 85°C. What really stood out was the darkness — with the door closed, it was nearly pitch black. That atmosphere is perfect for meditation and turning inward. After a while, the automatic löyly cycle started — once every twelve minutes. What surprised me was how long it lasted. Water was poured over the sauna stones for nearly a full minute. And the way it was done was remarkably precise. Rather than dumping a large amount of water all at once, it was applied gradually, like a gentle shower, so the heat in the room built up slowly but steadily, creating a beautifully calibrated progression. Löyly is not simply about pouring as much water as possible. Dumping it all at once creates an aggressive wave of heat that can feel more stressful than pleasant, almost like your skin is burning. Here, the steam was designed to spread gently and gradually, and it felt genuinely wonderful. By the end of the cycle, the perceived temperature had risen quite noticeably, and I felt thoroughly and completely done. I stepped out of the sauna and made my way back to the indoor cold plunge bath. There was one thing I found slightly disappointing: there is no cold plunge bath in the outdoor area. Moving from the outdoor sauna to the indoor cold plunge inevitably introduces a time lag. Right outside the outdoor sauna there is a circular jacuzzi bath, and if that were converted into a cold plunge, the flow from sauna to cold plunge to outdoor cool-down would become seamless — a setup that would give even the most demanding sauna enthusiast absolutely nothing to complain about. During my outdoor cool-down after the second set, I blended in with all the other men who had lost consciousness around me, and sure enough, I too drifted away for a while. I pulled myself together for the third and final set of the day. I headed back to the outdoor löyly sauna once more, let the masterfully long löyly session steam me through thoroughly, then stepped into the indoor cold plunge bath and brought my sauna session for the day to a satisfying close.