Gekka-an Jozen no Yu Onsen (月下庵 上善の湯)

Category: Onsen

This is probably my favourite local onsen. Compared to others in area, this is a virtual wonderland. It's located in the mountains halfway between Hiwasa and Mugi on route 55. Follow the signs at the turn-off, and through the narrow roads up to the spring. This onsen has an enormous main hot pool in each side (men & women) with numerous ideally-placed jets for massage, 3 other indoor pools (including a scalding one, a freezing cold one, and a ... tea? one), an outdoor rotemburo, nicely made out of stone, with a view of a small garden and a hillside, a sauna and showers that can spray you from almost any direction. It looks like they had, or will have, the mini-waterfalls that are so nice on the back, but I have yet to see them working. When you're finally ready to get out, there's a room full of free masage chairs (to those who paid to enter, that is) that you can relax in until whoever you went with finally gets out, or until they kick you out at closing. Nan demo ii. It seems that the only thing they don't have is a mixed-gender tub. 600 yen for adults, 400 for kids.