JAPAN'S FINEST ONSEN & SAUNA
Japan's Finest Onsen & Sauna
64 SELECTIONS
Most of what we surveyed never made it onto this site. This is a further cut from what did — places the editor bathed in himself, and places chosen through our own reporting.
Jul 11–13, 2026 ／ 2 nights, 3 days
It was time for a reboot. That voice rose from somewhere deep inside me. For me, a reboot means going somewhere I have never been before, spending the entire day from morning to night in saunas, and stripping both body and mind down to a state of pure emptiness. This time, I boarded the Shinkansen with absolutely no plan. Standing at Shin-Osaka Station in the early morning, I decided on the spot whether to head west toward Kyushu or east toward Kanto, then mapped out my itinerary on the train itself. Even a trip as unplanned and impulsive as that somehow works out just fine — and not merely fine, but wonderfully so. The reason is simple: wherever I was headed, there were hot springs and saunas waiting for me. Join me on a journey that begins in Maihama, Chiba, and winds through Makuhari, the satoyama countryside, Yokohama, and Tokyo.
Every stop on this itinerary was visited in person by the Editor-in-Chief.
Read it in the order we travelled.
Chiba
A Front-Row Seat with an Unobstructed View of Tokyo Bay
Kanagawa
Amber-Colored Natural Cold Mineral Spring and a Shocking Single-Digit Plunge
