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Glossary

Yumeguri: Bath-Hopping Through an Onsen Town

Going round the baths of an onsen town, one after another: what the word means, how the passes work, and how to pace a day of it.

湯めぐりゆめぐりyumeguri

What yumeguri means

Yumeguri (湯めぐり) is going round the baths: visiting several in one trip, usually in one onsen town, one after another. Yu (湯) is hot water, and also a bath or a hot spring. Meguri (めぐり) comes from the verb meguru, which dictionaries give as going round, or walking from one place to the next.

Many onsen towns make it easy. A pass, a wooden tag or a stamp book gets you into several baths, usually the town's shared public baths, the sotoyu (外湯), or the outdoor baths of its inns. Some take an afternoon's walk. Others, like the stamp rallies of Beppu and Kyushu, run to 88 baths and are walked over many trips. The catalog keeps the ones it knows as programs, with their baths on a map.

The word, piece by piece

  1. 湯ゆhot water; also a bath, or a hot spring
  2. めぐりめぐりgoing round, from one place to the next (from the verb meguru, 巡る)

A whole town as one inn

In many of the old spa towns where people came to take the waters (toji), the baths were shared and stood outside the inns. Kinosaki in Hyogo kept it that way. Its tourism association says that even as new ways of drawing hot water came in, the town held on to sharing and looked after its guests as if the whole town were one inn. The city of Toyooka spells it out: the station is the entrance, the streets are the corridors, the inns are the guest rooms, the sotoyu are the big baths and the shops are the gift shop.

So in Kinosaki you walk from bath to bath in the yukata and wooden geta your inn lends you. Guests get a pass to the sotoyu from their inn, and day visitors buy a one-day pass, Yumepa, at any sotoyu counter: 1,500 yen for adults in 2026. Six sotoyu are open. The seventh, Satonoyu by the station, closed at the end of March 2024, and the city plans to rebuild it.

Kurokawa in Kumamoto says the same of itself: its inns and the countryside around them are one inn, the roads are its corridors and the trees and flowers are its garden. Shibu in Nagano keeps nine public baths that people who live there use every day, and the inns lend their guests a key that opens all nine.

Passes, tags and stamp books

Every town runs its own. These are the kinds you will meet.

  • The town's public baths

    In a town built around its sotoyu, the yumeguri is simply walking between them: Kinosaki's six, or Shibu's nine. Dogo Onsen in Ehime runs a stamp rally across its three public baths. Collect the stamps of the Honkan and Asuka-no-yu, or of all three, within a month, and trade the card for a small prize.

  • A wooden pass (tegata)

    Kurokawa's nyuto tegata (入湯手形), a wooden tag first sold in 1986, takes you into any three of the 25 inn outdoor baths that accept it, between 8:30 and 21:00. It costs 1,500 yen for adults and lasts six months, and each inn stamps it with a seal of its own design. One of the three can go on a snack or a souvenir in town instead, and afterwards you can keep it or leave it at the village's Jizo hall. In Okuhida Onsen-go in Gifu, the Yukemuri Tatsujin tegata costs 1,200 yen and takes you into the baths of two or three member inns across the area's five onsen villages. Kusatsu's Choina Sanyu Meguri tegata is a card that doubles as a picture postcard: it covers the town's three day baths for 2,100 yen, against 2,900 yen paid one by one, and never expires.

  • Stamp rallies

    Beppu Hatto Onsen-do counts about 150 baths across Beppu. You stamp a booklet, the Spa Port, at each one you bathe in, and 88 different stamps make you an Onsen-do Meijin. The Kyushu 88 (九州八十八湯めぐり) was modelled on it: you choose 88 from baths picked by a selection committee across all seven prefectures of Kyushu, in a 100-yen stamp book, for the title of Sennin (泉人). Each bath counts once, and you stamp after you bathe, not as you pass.

  • A towel to stamp

    In Shibu you stamp a prayer towel (kigan tenugui) at each of the nine baths, then climb to the temple hall of Shibu Takayakushi above the town for the last seal. Nine, ku (九), can also be read as ku (苦), hardship, so going round all nine is said to wash your troubles away.

  • On your phone

    Some rallies now run on a phone. Beppu's Onsen Hunter is a free game in the browser that uses GPS: open it after you bathe, wait about fifteen seconds, and the bath's stamp appears. A bath stamped in the app is not stamped in the paper Spa Port as well.

How to plan a day

A yumeguri needs a little more planning than a single bath, mostly about times and passes.

  • Find out how the town does it

    Check which pass the town has, where it is sold and how long it lasts. Kurokawa's tegata is sold at its inns and at the inns' association office, Kaze no Ya. Kinosaki's day pass is sold at every sotoyu counter. Dogo's stamp card is at the baths' ticket counters.

  • Check the hours and closed days

    Baths keep their own hours. In Kinosaki most sotoyu open from 7:00 to 23:00, Mandara-yu and Yanagi-yu only from 15:00, each closes one day a week, and the last entry is 30 minutes before closing. Shibu's nine are open to guests from 6:00 to 22:00 but close for cleaning, and Kurokawa may limit numbers during maintenance.

  • Two or three is plenty

    The bathing notes every onsen posts suggest one or two baths a day at first, and two or three once you are used to it. Kurokawa's pass, for one, is three baths. A long rally is meant to be spread over many trips, and the Kyushu 88 organisers ask you to go at a pace that still feels good.

  • Bathe first, then stamp

    A stamp records a bath you took. Ask at the front desk or look for the stamp by the entrance, and at an unstaffed bath on the Kyushu 88 you may stamp the book yourself.

  • Staying, or on a day trip

    Some routes are for the town's own guests. In Shibu, anyone not staying the night can use only the ninth bath, Oyu. In Kinosaki and Kurokawa day visitors buy the same passes as everyone else, so a higaeri visit works.

  • Pack for the walk as well as the bath

    A small towel, a bag for it when it is wet, and the pass or stamp book. A yukata is thin, so in cold weather wear something over it for the walk.

Between baths

A yumeguri is more bathing than most people do in a day. The bathing notes every onsen has to post, from the Environment Ministry's standard, cover most of what follows.

  • Drink water before and after

    The notes say to drink about a cup of water before you bathe and another after, against dehydration. On a day of several baths, that is a cup at every stop.

  • Rest after each bath

    After a bath, dry off, keep warm and rest for about half an hour. Sit down, cool off and let your body settle before the next one.

  • Keep each soak short

    The water in many sotoyu is hot. The Tourism Agency's note on Kinosaki puts it at about 42°C and suggests no more than five minutes in each bath. Get out slowly so you don't feel faint, and if you are older, have high blood pressure or heart disease, or have had a stroke, the notes say to avoid baths of 42°C or more.

  • Mind meals and drinks

    Avoid bathing right before or after a meal, and after drinking. Kurokawa's pass can be spent on a beer at some stops, so keep that for the last one.

  • Start fresh at every bath

    Each bath is a new bath: wash before you get in, or at least pour hot water over yourself (kakeyu), from your feet and hands up. Beppu's bather's code asks for it too, not least because some of its baths are very hot.

  • You are a guest in someone's bath

    Many sotoyu are the neighbourhood's own bath. Beppu's code asks you to remember you are a guest, be friendly with the people in it, and ask before you run cold water into a bath that feels too hot. In Kurokawa, photos are not allowed in the outdoor baths, and food and drink stay out.

  • Stop when you have had enough

    The Kyushu 88 organisers warn that bathing many times in one day can leave you drained. If you feel dizzy or worn out, skip the next bath. A pass that lasts lets you come back: Kurokawa's for six months, Kusatsu's with no end date.

Keeping a record

Onsen Oni keeps the yumeguri it knows as programs: each one's baths on a map, how its pass or stamp book works, and where to buy it.

Mark the baths you visit in your Onsen Passport. When you finish a real yumeguri, apply for its badge with a photo of your stamp book, pass or towel, and a person checks it and adds the badge to your passport.

Where to try it

One bath on a yumeguri route in each region, from Niseko in Hokkaido to Beppu in Oita.

See all 4,368 places that take day visitors on the map

Yumeguri in the catalog

Each program lists its baths on a map, with how its pass or stamp book works.

See every program

Questions people ask

How many baths can I visit in a day?
Two or three is plenty for most people. The bathing notes onsen post suggest one or two a day at first and two or three once you are used to it. Keep each soak short in hot water, drink a cup of water before and after each bath, and rest in between.
Do I have to wash again at every bath?
Yes, at each new bathhouse. Wash before you get in, or at least pour hot water from the bath over yourself, from your feet and hands up. Soap and towels stay out of the bath, as always.
Can I go bath-hopping on a day trip?
In many towns, yes. Kinosaki sells a one-day pass to its sotoyu at every counter, and anyone can buy Kurokawa's wooden pass. Some routes are for overnight guests: in Shibu, day visitors can use only the ninth bath, Oyu.
Do yumeguri passes expire?
It depends on the town. Kurokawa's tegata lasts six months from the day you buy it, Kusatsu's three-bath tegata has no end date, Dogo's stamp rally must be finished within a month, and Kinosaki's day pass is for that day.
Do I have to visit the baths in a set order?
Usually not. With Kurokawa's pass you choose any three of its outdoor baths, and on the Kyushu 88 you choose your 88 from the list and go at your own pace. Shibu's route traditionally ends with a visit to the temple hall above the town.

Related words

Where to go next

Find a yumeguri

The programs pages list each pass and stamp rally the catalog knows, with every bath on a map.

See the programs

Sources

  1. コトバンク「巡る」（デジタル大辞泉）
  2. コトバンク「湯」（デジタル大辞泉・精選版 日本国語大辞典）
  3. 城崎温泉観光協会「外湯」official
  4. 城崎温泉観光協会 パンフレット 2025（外湯めぐりと散策）official
  5. 豊岡市「城崎温泉交流センター（愛称：さとの湯）整備基本計画［概要版］」official
  6. 観光庁 地域観光資源の多言語解説文データベース「Kinosaki Onsen: The Soto-Yu」official
  7. 黒川温泉観光旅館協同組合「黒川温泉の入湯手形」official
  8. 信州 渋温泉 公式サイト「九湯めぐり」（渋温泉旅館組合）official
  9. 草津温泉 草津三湯「ちょいな三湯めぐり手形」official
  10. 奥飛騨温泉郷観光協会「奥飛騨湯けむり達人」official
  11. 松山市「道後温泉湯めぐりスタンプラリー」official
  12. 別府八湯温泉道「温泉道とは」official
  13. 別府八湯温泉道「スパポートと温泉ハンター」official
  14. 別府八湯温泉道「温泉道表泉家の心得」official
  15. 九州八十八湯めぐり〜九州温泉道〜「参加方法」official
  16. 九州八十八湯めぐり〜九州温泉道〜「九州温泉道とは」official
  17. 北海道「温泉入浴施設において安全に入浴するための注意事項」（環境省の掲示基準より）official