Hokkaido · NoboribetsuNo.716★★★Open in map →

Noboribetsu Jigokudani

— The steaming crater above Noboribetsu Onsen

onsenThe classic — done right

The explosion crater behind Noboribetsu Onsen, where vents and hot springs supply the entire spa town below. Raised walkways cross the grey rock floor, and the path carries on over the ridge to a second, larger pool.

FromNoboribetsu Station
~20 minDonan Bus, 20+ runs a day
Get off atNoboribetsu Onsen Bus Terminal (Donan Bus Noboribetsu line)
From there
Noboribetsu Jigokudani

Directions ↗

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

Jigokudani Lookoutthe first platform over the crater, reached by ramp from the car park
The crater boardwalksraised walkways over vents and coloured mineral crusts on the valley floor
Tessen Ponda small geyser near the middle of the crater, seen from the end of the boardwalk
Mount Hiyorithe active cone behind the valley, 377 metres, still trailing white steam
Oyunumaa gourd-shaped pool over the ridge, 40 to 50 degrees even at the surface

How to actually get there

Noboribetsu Station → Noboribetsu Onsen (Donan Bus Noboribetsu line, about 20 minutes).
Walk up the onsen street to the valley entrance, or stay on to Daiichi Takimoto-mae and walk about five minutes.
Take the ramp from the car park to the lookout, then the boardwalks out across the crater floor.
Carry on over the ridge to Oyunuma and come back the same way.

Donan Bus Noboribetsu line from Noboribetsu Station: Noboribetsu is a Muroran Main Line station where the Hokuto limited expresses stop. From the station front, take the Donan Bus Noboribetsu line up to the Noboribetsu Onsen terminal — around twenty minutes on the operator's timetable, with more than twenty departures a day. A few runs detour via Noboribetsu Date Jidaimura and reach the town a little faster.
Return from Noboribetsu Onsen: The same line runs back down to the station. Departures thin out through the evening and the last one leaves earlier than a city timetable would lead you to expect, so fix your return before you start walking rather than after.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Jigokudani is not a valley in the ordinary sense. It is the floor of an explosion crater, about 450 metres across and roughly 11 hectares in area, left by the volcanic activity of Mount Hiyori behind it. Vents and springs open all over the grey rock, and the water they push out — on the order of ten thousand tonnes a day — is carried straight down to the baths of the town below. Raised walkways cross the crater floor, so the source of an entire spa town is something you can stand in the middle of.

How to enjoy it

Give the crater an hour, then keep going over the ridge to Oyunuma instead of turning back at the lookout — the second half is where the walk earns itself. In the warmer months the boardwalks are lit after dark as the Oni-bi no Michi, so an evening return is a different place from the afternoon one. Winter closes the upper paths and the Oyunuma car park, so check before you climb.

Background & history

The ground here was made by water rather than lava. Volcanic activity roughly ten thousand years ago blew out the hollow the valley now occupies, and the same system left Oyunuma, the bigger pool over the ridge. The springs have been drawn on for centuries, and the town below exists for no other reason than to use them. The demons carved at its street corners come from the old reading of steaming ground as a hell — hence the name. The valley is listed as a Hokkaido Heritage site.

Before you go

Cash: Two fare systems run on the same line. Some services are flat-fare and paid at the front door as you board — 450 yen for adults and 230 yen for children when checked, with cards accepted; the rest use the ticket-number system and are paid in cash on the way out. Carry coins either way. Parking at the valley is charged, and Hokkaido Tourism Organization notes that paying at either the Jigokudani or the Oyunuma car park makes the other one free.
Good to know: Winter shuts the upper walkways and the Oyunuma car park, and a steel gate on the approach road is marked as closed during snowfall. The boardwalks have no shelter and the steam carries sulphur, so wind and rain change the walk more than the temperature does.
Another way: By car, the valley is about ten minutes from the Noboribetsu-Higashi interchange on the Doo Expressway. Donan Bus also runs reserved express coaches straight to Noboribetsu Onsen — roughly an hour from New Chitose Airport and about an hour and twenty minutes from Sapporo — which skips the railway entirely.
After you get off: The terminal sits at the lower end of the single onsen street. Walk up the street, which climbs the whole way, past the geyser in Sengen Park to the valley entrance at the top. Staying on the bus to Daiichi Takimoto-mae, one stop further up, cuts the climb to about five minutes.