Hokkaido boasts the biggest number of hot spring facilities in the entire country and takes third place in the list of most spring sources by prefecture. Blessed with vast nature and an abundance of sea and mountain food, the charming Hokkaido is also famous for some of Japan’s leading hot springs. However, if you get carried away with the desire to enjoy many of them, it might become tight on the budget… so in order to prevent that, let’s instead enjoy free hot springs. I will now introduce you to 5 carefully selected free hot springs in East Hokkaido area, which are both fascinating and easy on the budget!
An open air bath resembling a pond. "Ikenoyu" hot spring which flows into Kussharo lake
The shore of Japan’s biggest and the world’s second largest caldera lake Kussharo is a hot springs paradise. There are many scattered around. About 2 kilometers south of “Sunayu” beach where hot water gushes out after you scoop out a hole in the sand you will find “Ikenoyu” - a big gender mixed bath of 15 meters in diameter which looks like a pond as it name implies. Fresh hot water gushes out constantly between the stones on its bottom and flows into Kussharo lake. The temperature is tepid - around 38 degrees Celsius, but you can enjoy the view of the setting sun over Kussharo lake while immersing oneself in the bath. There are gender separated changing rooms and it is okay to enter with a towel or swimsuit, so the place is easy even on first-timers in mixed hot springs. For more details, please check the link below.
Wakoto bath - a large bathtub on a small peninsula
At the sound end of Kussharo lake is the small Wakoto peninsula of 2.5 kilometers circumference. It takes an hour to walk around it and there are many scattered free hot springs where hot water gushes out if you scoop up the sand. About 5 minutes on foot from the parking lot at the root of the peninsula is the nearest Wakoto open air bath. The bathtub is in the shape of a crescent moon and there is a gazebo with changing rooms attached. The water temperature is around a pleasant 40 degrees Celsius. I recommend staying at the nearby Wakoto camping site and entering the bath early in the morning or late in the evening when there are fewer people. Here as well you can use a swimsuit, so if you get too hot, why not cool down in the lake. For more details, please check the link below.
Watch out for the time of entering the bath. Seseki hot spring emerges only at low tide.
Among the hot springs I am introducing, “Seseki” is probably at the highest level of difficulty for bathing. In order to avoid going there and not being able to enter, check first the time of the low tide. “Seseki” is one of those rare Japanese hot springs where you can enter only during low tide. If you immerse yourself in the tiny bathtub surrounded by piled up stones at the very seashore, you will have the illusion of entering a hot sea. “Seseki” hot spring is famous also for being featured in the TV drama “Kita no Kuni kara 2002 Yuigon”, where the characters of Jun and Todo bathed there. Be sure to arrange your travel schedule so that you visit this place. For more details, please check the link below.
"Aidomari" hot spring located at the farthest end of Shiretoko peninsula’s southern side
Aidomari is an open air bath situated in Aidomari cottage at the very end of road 87, the farthest northern point of Shiretoko peninsula’s Rausu side. Every spring heavy machinery is used to dig out the hot spring that is buried for the winter period, and around July a simple hut is built up. The bath is gender separated, but the sea side is open so you can enjoy bathing while watching the sea. The source is a mild saline spring of around 75 degrees Celsius. Fresh hot water gushes out between the duckboards at the bottom. It is too hot to enter like that, so you should use the cold water tap to adjust the temperature. For more details, please check the link below.
A secluded hot spring that was feared for its magical waters... or what used to be "Kamuiwakkayu Falls".
In the past known as the most secluded hot spring, while now an extremely popular tourism desination, “Kamuiwakkayu Falls” is miraculous for emerging halfway up Shiretoko’s Iouzan mountain and turning into a river that flows down the sea. One can bath in it as if playing in the river. In the past it was feared by the indigenous Ainu people as the “magic water” and one would be cautious to enter if they had cuts or scratches. With its highly acid water of pH 1.6-1.8, the hot spring can sting on wounds. Even if you don’t have any, soaking for long time will make your skin mildly irritated. Due to Kamuiwakkayu Falls’ big popularity, private car access had to be restricted a few years ago. For more details, please check the links below.
Gratitude to nature’s blessings and the local people for the free hot springs
You can visit all of the featured free hot springs in East Hokkaido in just two days. There might be some inconveniences, such as occasional waterweeds in the bathtubs, no changing rooms, a ban on soaps and shampoos, but please try to enjoy with a feeling of being embraced by the wild nature. You might unexpectedly get addicted to that!
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