Otaru Natural Onsen Yunohana - Asari-den

One of four bathhouses the Otaru company Yunohana runs, each with its own hot-spring source. The building has the plain, well-worn look of a neighborhood sento, but the water is real hot-spring water: clear, faintly salty, and warming enough that you stay flushed long after you've dried off. Bathing splits into a Japanese-style hall and a Western-style one, which trade between men and women daily. Between them they offer a rock-lined rotenburo, a standing-shower bath called utaseyu (打たせ湯), a bubble jet bath, a reclining tub, and a deep cold plunge fed by groundwater. The Japanese side also runs an automatic system that floods the sauna with steam every thirty minutes, popular enough with regulars that it has its own following. Upstairs there's a big lounge serving real food built around Otaru's ankake yakisoba (あんかけ焼きそば), plus free parking for around 180 cars, which makes it an easy stop after a day at the beach or on the nearby ski slopes.