Izu · AtamiNo.737★★★Open in map →

Atami Onsen

— A hot-spring town stacked above its own bay

onsenThe classic — done right

A chloride hot-spring town on the Izu peninsula, an hour from Tokyo by Shinkansen. Its historic sources are marked as seven monuments through the back streets above the station, free to walk and nothing like the hotel bath.

FromTokyo Station
~1 hrShinkansen, frequent
Get off atAtami Station (JR Tokaido Shinkansen / Tokaido Line)
On foot
Atami Onsen

Directions ↗

Where it is

16 more notes in Shizuoka · open the map →

What to look for — in walking order

Oyu geyser, Atami663highland / CC BY-SA 4.0

Oyu geyserthe largest of the seven, at the top of the route, now made to spout artificially
Yuzen Shrinethe shrine of the hot-spring deity, standing directly beside the source
Ozawa-no-yua steam vent in Ginza-cho where visitors cook eggs in the rising steam
Kawarayu and Sajiro-no-yutwo more of the seven, set into the pavement by the chamber of commerce and a bank
Atami Ginzathe shopping street the route runs out onto, a short walk from the seafront

How to actually get there

Tokyo Station → Atami Station (JR Tokaido Shinkansen, about an hour).
Atami Station → Oyu and Yuzen Shrine (walk ~15 min, uphill to the south-west).
Follow the seven-spring markers downhill through Ginza-cho to Atami Ginza (walk downhill, stopping at each marker).
Continue to the seafront, or loop back along the Itokawa promenade toward the station.

Tokaido Shinkansen from Tokyo: Tokyo Station →(JR Tokaido Shinkansen, Kodama and some Hikari services)→ Atami Station, about an hour and among the most frequent runs on the line. The JR Tokaido Line also reaches Atami directly without a Shinkansen fare, though it takes considerably longer.
Return from Atami Station: The same platforms serve trains back toward Tokyo through the evening, and the Tokaido Line runs later than the Shinkansen. The spring route ends near the seafront, so allow for the climb back up to the station, which is steeper than the walk down was.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Atami occupies a bowl of land at the north-east corner of the Izu peninsula, where the hills drop straight into Sagami Bay and the streets climb in terraces behind the shore. Its water is chloride spring, which leaves a faint salt film on the skin and holds heat well after bathing. That water is not confined to the hotel district. It surfaces through the old town above the station, and the city has strung the historic sources together as a walking route, the Atami Shichiyu, the seven springs. They are monuments rather than baths, set beside a shrine, a bank and ordinary shopfronts.

How to enjoy it

Walk it downhill. The station sits high above the shopping streets, Oyu is higher still, and the rest of the seven fall away toward the sea, so start at the top and let the route drop you at Atami Ginza rather than climbing back through it. The markers are outdoors and unstaffed, which means the walk works at any hour, including after the day-trip crowd has gone back to the platform.

Background & history

Atami's water was known long before the resort was. Tokugawa Ieyasu came here to bathe in 1604, and the town's standing followed him: hot water was afterwards carried to Edo Castle in barrels, a tribute delivery known as okumiyu. The original seven sources then fell out of use as the modern town was built over them. In 1997 the city rebuilt them as monuments marking where each once ran. Oyu, the largest, was a geyser that stopped erupting of its own accord and is now made to spout artificially.

Before you go

Cash: The spring monuments are outdoors and free to visit. Day-use bathing is a separate matter: the city lists public and hotel baths that admit non-staying visitors, and those charge admission, so check on the day since opening days shift.
Good to know: The route is outdoors on paved streets with steep gradients and steps in places. The markers have no lighting of their own beyond the ordinary street lamps, and Oyu spouts to a schedule the city sets rather than continuously.
Another way: From the seafront end, Atami Sun Beach and the Itokawa promenade run back toward Ginza-cho, giving a flat loop that rejoins the spring route without the hill.
After you get off: From Atami Station, take the road climbing south-west away from the station square rather than the arcade dropping toward the sea. Oyu stands beside Yuzen Shrine, about 15 minutes up.