Echigo-Yuzawa Onsen
越後湯沢温泉36°56′ N 138°49′ EOnsen town¥850, about CAD 7.60 or USD 5.40 (October 2026 rates)
Echigo-Yuzawa Onsen is the spa town around the Joetsu Shinkansen's Echigo-Yuzawa Station, and its five town-run public baths at ¥850 each suit skiers at Gala and Iwappara who want a soak on the way back; three of the five sit outside town, so you need a car or a taxi for the full set.
Photo Syced · Wikimedia Commons · CC0 and others, credited in the gallery
Know before you bathe
These are neighbourhood baths with small tubs, so wash at the taps first and keep towels out of the water.
Getting there
Echigo-Yuzawa Station on the Joetsu Shinkansen sits in the middle of town. Yama no Yu and Komako no Yu are about 20 minutes on foot from the station, and the other three are a drive or taxi ride out along Route 17 and the Tsuchitaru valley.
The town runs five public baths that locals call soto-yu, and a ¥2,500 ticket buys one visit to each against ¥4,250 at the door. Yama no Yu is the oldest and the closest to the old hot-spring quarter where Kawabata Yasunari wrote Snow Country. Komako no Yu takes its name from that novel's heroine and has a small exhibit about the book in its rest room.
Iwa no Yu sits out in the Tsuchitaru valley near the Yuzawa Fishing Park, with a stone tub that looks over a stream. Kaido no Yu in Mitsumata has the only outdoor rock pool of the five and shares its site with a roadside station on Route 17. Shukuba no Yu at the old post town of Futai adds a sauna from 13:00 to 20:00 and a big rest room, and the tourism board says the ski slopes are right beside it.
Station visitors in a hurry have two easier choices. Ponshukan inside the station runs a sake bath, and a free foot bath stands in the west exit plaza.
Worth knowing
- In November 2026 Kaido no Yu opens for the Tuesday 3 November holiday and closes on Wednesday 4 November in its place.
- Kaido no Yu closes from 16 to 18 November 2026 for repairs to its entrance and outdoor-bath fence, and Shukuba no Yu loses three or four days in December 2026 to septic-tank work.
Quick answers about Echigo-Yuzawa Onsenよくある質問
How much are Echigo-Yuzawa's public baths?
Each of Echigo-Yuzawa's five public baths costs ¥850 for adults and ¥350 for children in 2026, and a ¥2,500 ticket covers one visit to all five.
Which Yuzawa public bath has an outdoor bath?
Kaido no Yu in Mitsumata has a rock rotenburo for about ten people and is the only one of Yuzawa's five public baths with an outdoor pool.
Are Yuzawa's public baths open every day?
No. Each Yuzawa public bath closes one weekday, so on any given day at least three of the five are open from 10:00 to 21:00.
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