Niigata
3 onsen areas
Senami Onsen
On the Sea of Japan coast at Murakami in northern Niigata, Senami Onsen was discovered in 1904 when oil prospectors struck near-boiling water instead of crude. Its 95 °C sodium-chloride springs face straight out to sea, famous for sunsets sinking into the water beside the open-air baths.
Kiyotsukyo Onsen
Two inns and a foot bath at the mouth of the Kiyotsu gorge, counted among the three great gorges of Japan for the columnar rock walling it in. The sulfur water at Kiyotsukan is said to have been located through a vision of Yakushi Nyorai, and the inn belongs to the association that keeps Japan's hidden hot springs. Most visitors come for the gorge tunnel, whose far chamber holds a shallow pool that mirrors the cliffs.
Echigo-Yuzawa Onsen-kyo
Ski-and-onsen town on the Joetsu Shinkansen, immortalized by Kawabata's 'Snow Country'. Cluster of 10+ onsen along the Uono Valley.