Greater Tokyo · Yamanashi City, YamanashiNo.368★★Open in map →
Hottarakashi Onsen
— an open-air bath that opens before sunrise
A day-use hot spring at about 700 metres on a ridge above the Kofu basin in Yamanashi. Two separate baths, Acchi-no-Yu and Kotchi-no-Yu, look out over the whole basin toward Mount Fuji, and the larger one opens an hour before sunrise.
The name means, roughly, 'the hot spring left alone', and it started as exactly that: a spring on a hillside above the vineyards of Yamanashi with no resort attached to it. What it has instead is the view. The ridge sits at around seven hundred metres, high enough that the whole Kofu basin lies below you and Mount Fuji stands clear on the far rim, and the baths were built facing outward with almost nothing between the water and the drop. There are two of them. Kotchi-no-Yu, the original, is a clear alkaline simple spring at about pH 9.7; Acchi-no-Yu, added later and much larger, runs a faintly amber water at about pH 10.1. Both feel slippery on the skin, which is what high-alkaline water does. The reason people plan whole trips around it is the opening time: the baths open one hour before sunrise, so in midsummer that means around four in the morning, and in midwinter around six. You sit in hot water in the dark, the basin below fills with the lights of Kofu, and then the sky goes grey, then orange, and Fuji appears on the other side of the valley. In the evening the same view runs in reverse and the basin becomes a field of city lights until closing at ten.
Why it stays quiet
Foreign visitors to Yamanashi cluster around the Fuji Five Lakes on the south side of the prefecture and rarely cross to the Kofu basin, so this stays a domestic-famous spot. It also solves a problem specific to onsen travel: most hot springs are an evening activity attached to an expensive ryokan stay, while this is a day-use bath you can do at dawn on the way to somewhere else, and the Fuji view is the reason to bother.
Background & history
The spring sits above Yamanashi City on the northern rim of the Kofu basin, an area better known for grapes and peaches than for onsen — the fruit orchards and the Fuefukigawa Fruit Park lie on the slope just below. Unlike the historic cure-towns of the region, this is a modern day-use facility rather than an inherited hot spring village, and it built its reputation on the sunrise view rather than on the water's medicinal reputation. Both baths are alkaline simple springs, the kind traditionally described in Japan as bijin-no-yu for the smooth feel they leave on the skin. There is no lodging attached, and the site has kept a deliberately plain, unpolished character.
What to look for — in walking order
- Acchi-no-Yu at sunrise
- the larger of the two baths and the one that opens an hour before sunrise, with the widest view across the basin toward Fuji
- Kotchi-no-Yu
- the original bath, smaller and quieter, clear water at about pH 9.7 and a more enclosed feel
- The night view of the Kofu basin
- from dusk to closing the same panorama becomes a bowl of city lights — a completely different visit from the morning one
- The onsen-tamago stand
- a small counter outside selling deep-fried hot spring eggs, the standard thing to eat before you go back down the hill
How to enjoy it
Decide first whether you are coming for sunrise or for the night view, because they need opposite logistics. For sunrise you need a car or a taxi booked the night before — there is no early bus and no train that early — so most people stay in Yamanashi City or Isawa Onsen and taxi up in the dark. For the night view you can arrive by taxi from Yamanashi-shi Station in the late afternoon and ask the driver to come back. Bring a towel or buy one at the counter, and bring a layer: at seven hundred metres the air outside the water is cold even in summer. Tattoos are generally treated more openly here than at traditional ryokan, but confirm on the day.
How to actually get there
- Shinjuku Station → Yamanashi-shi Station (JR Chuo Line Limited Express 'Kaiji', ~1 hr 30 min).
- Yamanashi-shi Station → Hottarakashi Onsen (taxi, ~10 min; book ahead for a pre-dawn trip).
- Pay at Acchi-no-Yu for the widest view, or Kotchi-no-Yu for the quieter original bath.
- Limited express to Yamanashi-shi, then taxi
- Shinjuku Station →(JR Chuo Line Limited Express 'Kaiji', ~1 hr 30 min)→ Yamanashi-shi Station. From the station it is about 10 minutes by taxi up the hill; there is no regular bus route to the baths. If you are coming for sunrise, book the taxi the previous evening — the rank is empty before dawn.
- Taxi down and the same line back
- Taxi from the baths back down to Yamanashi-shi Station (~10 min) →(JR Chuo Line Limited Express toward Shinjuku, ~1 hr 30 min)→ Shinjuku Station. Ask the counter to call a taxi before you finish bathing; they do not queue outside. Local Chuo Line trains also run if the express times do not fit, but take considerably longer.
Before you go
- Cash
- Admission is charged per bath — the two baths are separate facilities with separate entry, so you pay again if you want to try both. Bring cash: this is a plain day-use facility and card acceptance is limited. Towels and small items are sold at the counter.
- Closing days
- Opening time moves with the sunrise through the year — around 4:00 in midsummer and around 6:00 in midwinter — and closing is 22:00 with last entry at 21:30. The pre-dawn opening applies to Acchi-no-Yu; the other bath opens later in the morning. Check the official site for the current month's opening time before making an early plan.
- Another way
- Isawa-Onsen Station, one stop further west on the Chuo Line, is another practical base and a similar taxi ride away. By car the site is about 15 minutes from the Ichinomiya-Misaka or Katsunuma interchange on the Chuo Expressway, and there is a large free car park — most Japanese visitors drive.
- After you get off
- From Yamanashi-shi Station the road climbs past the Fuefukigawa Fruit Park; the baths are at the top, with the two entrances signed separately as Acchi and Kotchi. Everything is outdoors — plan for weather.