Otawara · JP

Kurobaneonsen Goho Hot Spring

Kurobane Onsen Goho-no-Yu is a bright, easy-going municipal day-spa on the quiet edge of Otawara in northern Tochigi. It takes its name—'Five Peaks Bath'—from the sweep of mountains you can gaze at while you soak: Nasudake, Osabi, Takahara, Nyoho and Nantai, ranges that frame both the Nasu highlands and the Nikko peaks. The draw is the water itself. This is a colourless, odourless alkaline simple spring, the kind the Japanese call a 'beauty water' because its slippery, soap-like feel leaves skin silky-smooth. With an open-air bath, indoor baths, a sauna, a rural restaurant, a free foot bath and a vast tatami rest room, all for around 500 yen for an adult, it is one of the best-value ways to while away an afternoon in Tochigi.