Japan's Onsen Made for
International Travelers

2016. I had been living in Japan for three years and I had a full-back piece. Not a small tattoo — a real, visible, committed piece that I had gotten in Auckland before I moved. I walked up to a sento in Nagoya, was turned away at the door, and stood on the street trying to work out what to do with the rest of my afternoon.

It was not the first time. But it was the time I decided to do something about it.

What I found, over the next two years, was that the information simply did not exist in English. There were Japanese-language lists, community forums, scattered blog posts from 2009. Nothing coherent. Nothing updated. Nothing from someone who had actually been to these places. The venues existed — many more than I expected — but finding them required a level of local knowledge that a visitor on a two-week trip did not have.

OnsenExperiences started as a spreadsheet. Then a Google Doc. Then a Notion page I shared with friends who were planning trips to Japan. The feedback was consistent: the information was useful, the English-language alternatives were not. So in 2019, I turned it into a site.

I have visited over 200 onsen across Japan since then. Every venue on this site has either been visited by me personally or verified by a local contact I trust. I am not affiliated with any tour operator. I do not receive placement fees. The commission from Viator bookings is what keeps this site running — it costs you nothing extra and helps me keep the information current.

If you have a question about a venue I have not covered, send me a message. I check them regularly and I will do my best to answer.

You walk in. You pay at the counter — most urban sento charge between ¥460 and ¥1,500 depending on time of day. You are given a locker key and a number. You undress in the changing room (locker rooms are gender-separated, mixed facilities are rare and explicitly marked). You bring your small towel to the washing area. You do not take it into the bath.

You wash at the taps before entering the bath. Every sento has a row of showerheads and stools. You sit, you wash thoroughly — hair included if you have long hair and it will touch the water — you rinse off. Only then do you step into the bath. The water temperature in a Japanese onsen typically ranges from 38°C to 46°C. The sensation is immediate. Most people find they adjust within 2-3 minutes.

You do not wear swimwear. Swimwear is not worn in traditional sento. If a venue allows swimwear, it will say so explicitly — this is not the default. You bathe nude. This is the cultural norm, not a statement. Locals do it, elderly guests do it, everyone does it.

You keep your head above water. Japanese onsen etiquette generally discourages submerging your head — the water is for soaking, not swimming. Some outdoor rotemburo have deeper sections where floating on your back is acceptable. When in doubt, watch what others do for 30 seconds before getting in.

You rest after. The protocol is: bath, short rest, bath again, rest. Most people spend 20-30 minutes in the water in total, broken into two or three sessions with cooling-off breaks. Sitting on the edge of the bath in the fresh air between soaks is not just socially acceptable — it is expected.

The post-bath ritual is as important as the bath itself. Most sento have resting areas — sometimes with cold drinks, sometimes just benches. Take 10-15 minutes after your last soak. Your body temperature is elevated and needs time to normalise before getting dressed and going outside, especially in winter.