Every Friday afternoon, I face the same dilemma: do I kick off this weekend's sauna trip tonight, or wait until tomorrow morning? I already have a list of places I want to visit, so I narrow it down by destination, travel time from home, and hotel prices before making my final call. This week, I'm heading to Hiroshima Prefecture, where I have four facilities on my wish list. Four spots would normally be doable with a Saturday morning departure — but the weather forecast is giving me pause. Apparently, a major cold snap is rolling in on Sunday, with potential disruptions to transportation. In that case, the smart move is to start enjoying the sauna trip from Friday and head home early on Sunday. The moment I thought that, I'd already wrapped up work and was out the door. I drove from home to Utazu Station in Sakaide City, Kagawa Prefecture, then took the train to Okayama Station, and from there caught the Shinkansen toward Hiroshima Station. I hadn't even booked a hotel yet, so I did it on the Shinkansen, reserving a two-night, three-day stay at Hiroshima Pacific Hotel. Why that hotel? Simple — it has a great sauna. Hiroshima Pacific Hotel houses Kamenoya, a men-only sauna facility. Tonight, I'm going to enjoy it to the fullest. I arrived at the hotel at 9:00 PM and headed straight for the sauna. I changed in a clean, well-kept locker room and stepped into the main bath area. Moving through the space, I found a straightforward setup: a sauna room, a cold plunge bath, and a hot water bath. It doesn't have the elaborate amenities of a super sento, but having more options doesn't automatically mean a better sauna experience. Sometimes, simplicity is what creates something truly exceptional. The sauna room itself pushes close to 100°C, delivering powerful heat. Yet there's enough humidity to make it genuinely comfortable — thanks to the auto-löyly that runs every 15 minutes. The atmosphere inside is excellent too: a dark, dimly lit space that naturally makes you want to close your eyes. The bench seats are wide, giving you room to sit and fully relax — another big plus. After warming up thoroughly and feeling my limit approaching, I slipped into the cold plunge bath. The cold plunge sits at around 13°C — brutally cold. After cooking in a near-100°C sauna, it cools you down in an instant. Afterward, I settled into the chair beside the cold plunge and let myself drown in that overwhelming rush of bliss. I live a life with no business trips, but if I had a job that took me across the country and brought me to Hiroshima, I'd stay at Hiroshima Pacific Hotel without a second thought. A sauna this good would blow away any work fatigue in no time. I kept going — second set, third set, fourth set — cycling through sauna, cold plunge, and rest. The space is simple and compact, which makes it easy to focus entirely on the sauna experience, and the fact that it's a hotel sauna means fewer people around, which is fantastic. By the end of the fourth set, the words "This is the best!" came out of me naturally. Now it was time to head back to my room and see if a wonderful dream was waiting for me.

Every Friday afternoon, I face the same dilemma: do I kick off this weekend's sauna trip tonight, or wait until tomorrow morning? I already have a list of places I want to visit, so I narrow it down by destination, travel time from home, and hotel prices before making my final call. This week, I'm heading to Hiroshima Prefecture, where I have four facilities on my wish list. Four spots would normally be doable with a Saturday morning departure — but the weather forecast is giving me pause. Apparently, a major cold snap is rolling in on Sunday, with potential disruptions to transportation. In that case, the smart move is to start enjoying the sauna trip from Friday and head home early on Sunday. The moment I thought that, I'd already wrapped up work and was out the door. I drove from home to Utazu Station in Sakaide City, Kagawa Prefecture, then took the train to Okayama Station, and from there caught the Shinkansen toward Hiroshima Station. I hadn't even booked a hotel yet, so I did it on the Shinkansen, reserving a two-night, three-day stay at Hiroshima Pacific Hotel. Why that hotel? Simple — it has a great sauna. Hiroshima Pacific Hotel houses Kamenoya, a men-only sauna facility. Tonight, I'm going to enjoy it to the fullest. I arrived at the hotel at 9:00 PM and headed straight for the sauna. I changed in a clean, well-kept locker room and stepped into the main bath area. Moving through the space, I found a straightforward setup: a sauna room, a cold plunge bath, and a hot water bath. It doesn't have the elaborate amenities of a super sento, but having more options doesn't automatically mean a better sauna experience. Sometimes, simplicity is what creates something truly exceptional. The sauna room itself pushes close to 100°C, delivering powerful heat. Yet there's enough humidity to make it genuinely comfortable — thanks to the auto-löyly that runs every 15 minutes. The atmosphere inside is excellent too: a dark, dimly lit space that naturally makes you want to close your eyes. The bench seats are wide, giving you room to sit and fully relax — another big plus. After warming up thoroughly and feeling my limit approaching, I slipped into the cold plunge bath. The cold plunge sits at around 13°C — brutally cold. After cooking in a near-100°C sauna, it cools you down in an instant. Afterward, I settled into the chair beside the cold plunge and let myself drown in that overwhelming rush of bliss. I live a life with no business trips, but if I had a job that took me across the country and brought me to Hiroshima, I'd stay at Hiroshima Pacific Hotel without a second thought. A sauna this good would blow away any work fatigue in no time. I kept going — second set, third set, fourth set — cycling through sauna, cold plunge, and rest. The space is simple and compact, which makes it easy to focus entirely on the sauna experience, and the fact that it's a hotel sauna means fewer people around, which is fantastic. By the end of the fourth set, the words "This is the best!" came out of me naturally. Now it was time to head back to my room and see if a wonderful dream was waiting for me.