Yahata Hot Spring

Yahata Onsen is a small day-use bathhouse inside Furusato-mura, a village-run camping and lodging complex in the mountains of Higashiyoshino, Nara. It has two indoor baths, one lined with fragrant hinoki (檜) wood and one built from colorful granite rock, and which one is for men and which for women swaps day to day. The water is a simple, mild onsen: clear, odorless and gentle on the skin, and more than one visitor has noted it keeps you warm long after you step out. Windows along the tub look down onto the clear Shigo River, with sliding shoji (障子) screens you'll want to keep closed for privacy. Downstairs there's a rest room split between tatami seating and a sofa lounge, and the bathhouse sits right by hiking trails, a campground and river-play spots, so it doubles as a stop to rinse off after a day outdoors.