Arima Onsen

有馬温泉 金の湯

One of Japan's oldest spa towns, famous for its rust-brown "gold" water

⚠ Kin no Yu shut 2nd & 4th Tue

Hours

Kin no Yu 8am–10pm (last entry 9:30pm); closed 2nd and 4th Tuesdays (open if a holiday, closed next day) and 1 Jan

Tickets

Kin no Yu adults ¥800 (¥650 weekdays), ages 6–15 ¥350; Kin no Yu + Gin no Yu ticket ¥1,200

Address

833 Arima-cho, Kita-ku (Kin no Yu)

Over the mountain from downtown Kobe sits a small spa town with two kinds of water: the iron-heavy "kinsen" that turns rust-brown when it meets the air, and the clear, carbonated "ginsen". For a day trip, the public bathhouse Kin no Yu is the standard stop. Narrow sloping lanes are lined with tansan senbei (soda cracker) shops and old inns, and plenty of people just soak their feet in the free footbath next to Kin no Yu.