After a somewhat busy 2 days in Kyoto, we took the Hashidate line (Limited Express Kinosakionsen) train to the Kinosaki Onsen village. From Kyoto station, the trip took roughly 2 hours and 45 minutes. We grabbed some Ekiben bento boxes from the station kiosk before boarding the train for some delicious lunch on the go.

Kinosaki Onsen Village, located in northern part of Hyogo, boasts a serene and traditional Japanese hot spring experience. With picturesque streets, seven public bathhouses (that are tattoo friendly!), and charming ryokans, it’s an ideal location to experience Japanese culture and relaxation. Visitors can soak in the soothing thermal waters, roam around the town wearing yukatas (light kimonos), enjoy delicious local cuisine, and explore the scenic surroundings. 

We stayed at the local ryokan Sennen no Yu Gonzaemon for 2 nights while we were in Kinosaki. This traditional ryokan is at the centre of the town, close to the public onsens, as well as other shops and convenience stores. Another great benefit of booking a local ryokan is that we get a complimentary pass to all seven public onsens during our stay.

One major reason we chose Kinosaki Onsen village, is that all the public onsens allow tourists with tattoos to enter! For private onsens within hotels/ryokans, there may still be restrictions. While we also went to the ryokan’s small onsen, it was very private (just me and my family) because we went late at night.

First Day

Our check-in time wasn’t until later in the afternoon, so we dropped off our luggages at the front desk before exploring the town. First, we headed to the Kinosaki Onsen Ropeway to visit the Onsenji Temple and the observatory, but unfortunately because of the strong wind, it was closed. But they kindly left out some walking sticks for folks interested in hiking lol. Keep in mind that the Ropeway is closed on every second and fourth Thursdays of the month, but hiking is still an option to go up (about a 20 minute hike). Since it was still chilly and frankly our knees were kind of in pain, we decided to revisit the next day.

The Ropeway has 3 stations/stops in total; the Sanroku Station at the base, Onsenji Station in the middle, and finally the Sancho station at the top with the Observatory and cafe. The roundtrip on the ropeway costs ¥1200 for adults (to the top) and ¥750 for adults (to Onsenji – middle station). It runs every 20 minutes, and the last train down is at 5:10pm.

I think we spent roughly 2-3 hours exploring the Onsenji temple, museum, and the summit (plus cafe) at the top. Then we came back down to check if our room is ready at the ryokan, and changed into our Yukatas that were provided. Since it was a bit late, we dropped by 2 public onsens – Ichinoyu and Satono Yu Onsen.

Ichino-Yu

Ichino-yu Onsen, (Ichino-yu meaning “number one bath”) is famous for its hot spring surrounded by a cave with natural boulders. This onsen is closed every Wednesdays. It was very relaxing, mainly because there weren’t too many people (we checked the online crowd status page before entering).

It was already dinner time by the time we left, so we headed back to our ryokan to get some kaiseki dinner. There were some delicious local dishes, as well as Tajima beef and snow crabs.

Satono-Yu

Once we’ve had dinner, we went for a short walk around town to see the nightlife and take some great photos. It was a bit hard to walk in the sandals provided by the ryokan but the sound of the wooden sandals hitting the stone pavement was so soothing to hear. Then, we headed to the final public onsen of the day – Satono Yu Onsen. This onsen is famous for its panoramic view of the lake and surrounding scenery from the outdoor bath on the top floor. Because we went in the evening, I could only faintly make out the river silhouette, but it was still relaxing to be in a hot bath with the crisp air.

Before returning to the ryokan, we dropped by the nearby Family Mart and bought some late night snacks and drinks. There were actually 2 convenience stores near our ryokan, but both had a good assortment of snacks and drinks.

When we came back to our room, our beds (futons) were already made on the tatami mats. For those with back pain like myself, I would strongly recommend grabbing another mat from the cabinet (usually there would be extra pillows and bedding).

Second Day

Because the ropeway was closed yesterday, we went back early in the morning to see if it was open. Thankfully it was operating, although it was slightly crowded. It took around 5 minutes to get to the top station. If you’ve purchased the round-trip ticket, you’d be able to stop in the middle station when going either up or down (just need to let the operator know before boarding).

The night before, we asked the front desk if there was a kimono/yukata rental place in town, because first, the ryokan’s yukata did not fit me properly, and secondly, because it would be a great opportunity to take some cute photos around town. Luckily, there was one place called “Iroha Yukata Store”. We didn’t make any prior reservations, so we went in the store and asked if we can rent some yukatas. With no Japanese skills whatsoever, we relied on body language and Google translate, but somehow worked out well. Although there were different sizes and designs available (priced at different tiers), I could only choose between one or the other because of my size. We chose our yukatas, and the lady guided us to a small room to get changed and get our hair done. She asked us to change into a white inner garment that looked like a thin nightgown dress. While we were changing, the lady called another lady to come to help us with the hair and dressing. They put our hair up in a meticulous bun, and started to dress us in the yukatas.

The lady asked if we would like to add any other accessories (such as the fancy obi, hair clips, bags, or outer garment). We thought it would look cute and agreed to add all, but was very surprised at the final price. I think overall we spent about 10,000-15,000 yen for 2 of us, plus the deposit fee.

If your ryokan already has some nice yukatas (or has the option to upgrade to a more vibrant one), I would strongly recommend it rather than the above rental.

After we were all done, we walked around the town to take some photos and dropped by a cute cafe for some coffee and snacks. After taking photos on the roads, in front of the onsens and the famous stone bridges, we ran out of ideas on where to take photos. We returned to the rental shop, changed back to our clothes and paid the final amount.

We went back to the ryokan, had some tea, before heading out again to visit the other public onsens.

Goshono-Yu

Out of all the public onsens, I personally think Goshono-yu was the most modern and clean one. Although it was very crowded, hearing the waterfall sounds while relaxing in the onsen was very soothing. I found the water in all the onsens a bit too hot, but was able to endure the scalding temperature by cooling off on the outdoor benches. I’m still not sure why there’s a rock divider wall thing in the middle because both sides were equally hot. It was still nice that there were some oddly shaped rocks that we could sit on to only dip half of our body in the water.

Kono-Yu

We spent the least amount of time at Kono-Yu, mainly because it was so crowded that we had to wait around 10 minutes until there was room in the outdoor onsen. Although the garden was nicely decorated, the hot springs were on the smaller side, so we took a short dip, showered and left.

Mandara-Yu

Similar to Kono-Yu, we only stayed briefly at Mandara-Yu, because this onsen was even smaller. In terms of the outside onsen, there were only 2 clay tubs (above) that can only fit 1 person each. So, there were people literally lining up at the door and eyeing the tubs from the indoor onsen, waiting for their chance. Maybe we were too slow, but we never got a chance to try out the clay tubs outside. The indoor onsen was pretty generic and the water was again very hot, so we didn’t stay long.

We took a final shower (we had to shower 3 times for each onsen we visited), and returned to our ryokan to rest. When we returned, our dinner was already set up, which we gobbled up in no time.

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