Noto · Nanao WakuraNo.502★★Open in map →

Wakura Onsen

onsenOff the trail — and worth it

A hot spring town on Nanao Bay whose source rises out of the seabed, giving it clear brine instead of the usual mountain mineral water. Ishikawa's official guide calls it the only sea hot spring in Hokuriku.

FromKanazawa Station
~1 hr 30 minJR limited express, then a short ride
Get off atWakura Onsen Station (JR Nanao Line)
From there
Wakura Onsen

Directions ↗

The sweet spot

Nothing about Wakura is hidden. It is one of the best-known hot spring towns on the Japan Sea coast, with a big-name ryokan roster. What has changed is the state of the place: the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake closed the whole resort, and the association still publishes an open-and-closed list rather than a simple directory. Several long-established inns remain shut while others have reopened or rebuilt.

Where it is

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What to look for

Wakura Onsen Soyuthe shared bathhouse used by residents and visitors alike, running undiluted source water
Yumoto no Hirobathe source square, with a bronze white heron and boiling spring water people cook eggs in
Bentenzaki Spring Parka small park in the centre of town with a hand bath, drinking spring and benches warmed from below
Yuttari Park, Tsumakoibune no Yua free foot bath at the water's edge looking straight out over Nanao Bay

How to actually get there

Kanazawa Station → Wakura Onsen Station (JR Nanao Line limited express, about 70 min).
Wakura Onsen Station → the hot spring town (walk 20-25 min, or taxi or local bus).
Start at the Soyu bathhouse and the source square immediately behind it.
Finish at the free foot bath on the bay before heading back to the station.

JR limited express from Kanazawa: Kanazawa Station →(JR Nanao Line limited express, about 70 min)→ Wakura Onsen Station. Only a handful of limited expresses run each day, so pick your train rather than turning up. From the station the hot spring town is about 1.5 km north-east: a 20 to 25 minute walk, or five or six minutes by taxi or local bus.
Return from Wakura Onsen Station: Come back to Wakura Onsen Station the same way. Limited expresses to Kanazawa are few and stop well before the end of the evening, so fix the return train before you set out for the day. Local trains on the Noto Railway side also run to Nanao if you are staying on the peninsula.

Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Wakura sits on a low shore of Nanao Bay, on the neck of the Noto peninsula. The spring does not surface in a valley here. It rises out of the seabed offshore, and the water that reaches the baths is a sodium-calcium chloride brine, clear and strongly salt. That single fact shaped the town: land was filled in around the source so the bathing could happen on dry ground, and the resort grew outward from that made ground along the water. The bay itself is the view from almost every bath, flat and island-screened.

How to enjoy it

Treat the free water as the main event and the ryokan as optional. The foot bath on the bay, the hand bath in the centre and the source square can be walked in an hour, and the source square is where you see what makes this spring odd — the water comes out hot enough to cook a raw egg. Come with a towel in your bag. If you do want to stay, read the association's open-and-closed list first; the roster changes month to month as rebuilding finishes.

Background & history

Local record puts the first bathing here about 1,200 years ago, in a valley on the western side of Mount Yakushi. In the eleventh century the ground shifted and the outlet moved offshore, into the sea itself; a fisherman and his wife are said to have found it again by watching an injured white heron settle in the bubbling water, and the name Wakura comes from that welling inlet. In 1641 Maeda Toshitsune ordered the outlet enclosed and the surrounding water filled in, which produced the island of made ground the resort still stands on.

Before you go

Cash: The Soyu, the shared bathhouse, charges an entry fee at the door. The foot baths at Yuttari Park and the hand bath at Bentenzaki Spring Park are free, and the source square is open to walk through. Bring cash: this is a small town and card acceptance is uneven.
Good to know: Recovery from the 2024 earthquake is not finished. The tourism association keeps a current list of which ryokan are open, which are running on a limited basis and which are still closed, and the Soyu has changed its regular closing day since the quake. Check both before you commit to a date.
Another way: By car it is about five minutes from the Wakura interchange on the Noto Satoyama Kaido. Arriving from Noto Satoyama Airport, the tourism association recommends reserving a taxi in advance rather than counting on a connection.
After you get off: From Wakura Onsen Station, head north-east toward the water. It is a flat 20 to 25 minute walk on pavement into the hot spring town, or five or six minutes by taxi or the local bus that meets the station.

Nearby notes

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