Ogoto Onsen

Nine ryokan face the lake at Ogoto, at the foot of Mt. Hiei, and the town says it's the closest hot spring to Kyoto and the mountain. The English page credits Saicho, Enryaku-ji's founder, with opening the spring about 1,200 years ago. The Japanese history page tells it later: a healing pond at the Tendai temple Hoko-ji turned out in the Taisho era to be radium water, and building began. Since the 1990s the inns have added rooftop baths and private open-air tubs looking over the lake.

The water is a strongly alkaline simple spring at pH 9.0, which leaves skin smooth and is the reason the town sells itself as a bath for beautiful skin. It rises at 36°C with no colour or smell. It's hypotonic and gentle, and the association says it suits sensitive skin. The town is one of the few hot springs where you can watch the sun come up over the water from an outdoor bath.

You don't need a room to try it. The Ogoto Onsen Kanko Koen park has a free foot bath for 22 people, open 9:00 to 18:00, and the town lists day-use baths. JR Ogoto-onsen Station is the fifth stop from Kyoto on the Kosei line, on the local train.