Wakayama Shirahama Town
Along with Arima and Dogo, this premier Kansai onsen resort has a history of over 1300 years as one of the Three Ancient Onsen of Japan. Saki no Yu, a natural open-air bath built on rocks where the rough waves of the vast Pacific crash against the shore, offers an overwhelming sense of openness as if you were becoming one with the sea, and is hugely popular with international visitors as well. It is one of Japan’s most iconic ocean-view onsen destinations, combining resort areas such as the beautiful white-sand Shirarahama beach with a historic, celebrated onsen that even appears in the Nihon Shoki.
4 places to stay
You have tattoos
Stays where guests with tattoos can use the main baths (including with cover stickers)
You'd rather bathe in private
Stays with a private bath or an open-air bath in the room
Availability and rates are shown on each booking site.
A Nanki resort hotel with Shirahama’s superb views and celebrated onsen
A cape-top inn with a mixed-gender open-air bath at the water’s edge and natural onsen fed straight from the source
An ocean-view onsen resort where you soak in water from its own source and watch the sun set over the Pacific
An onsen inn for Nanki-Shirahama’s celebrated water, with a tatami-floored main bathhouse and generous warm-stone rooms
Some of these stays are also in our magazine. See inside, free
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