Kaede no Yu, Yudanaka Onsen, Nagano Pref.

This is a very convenient onsen for those traveling by train. This Kaede no Yu（楓の湯） in Yudanaka Onsen（湯田中温泉）, Nagano Pref. sits next to the Yudanaka Station. Actually, it utilizes formar station building.

It's a typical Japanese day-visit onsen. There are gender separated indoor and open-air baths. The open-air baths are small and surrounded by walls with hardly any view except sky.

Yudanaka is the entrance point to Jigokudani, and the Kaede no Yu is usually desparately crowded in the winter especially on the weekends with tourists after vising Jigokudani to see famous snow monkeys.


The hot spring is water added, so it isn't that hot compared with small public baths in Yudanaka Onsen. Recommandable for first timers.

◆Kaede no Yu, Yudanaka Onsen （湯田中温泉　楓の湯）

Type: Gender separated. Indoor and open-air baths. Day visit only.

Address: Yudanaka Onsen, Ymanouchi-machi, Simotakai-gun, Nagano Pref.

Location: 36.741859,138.414862

Business hour: 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM (last entry 8:30 PM)

Holiday: First Tuesday every month (If national holiday falls on, following day)

Admission fee: ¥300

Equipment: Rockers, complementary soap and shampoo. A foot bath outside (see picture below) is free of charge.


Access: Fom Nagano Station, take Nagano Dentetsu to Yudanaka Station. Yudanaka is the terminal station, taking about 45 minutes from Nagano by express train. Nagano Dentetsu is a private company different from JR, they don't accept Japan Rail Pass, and the Nagano station is separated at the underground level.

Tips: If you make a day trip to Yudanaka, juts buy "Kaede no Yu coupon" at the station. At the Nagano Station, it costs ¥1500. You can make round trip between Nagano and Yudanaka and also enter the Kaede no Yu with this ticket. If you buy the train ticket each time, it costs ¥1,130 oneway adding ¥100 if you take an express train.

My rating (out of five): 3

A local train at Yudanaka Station.


An express train at Yudanaka Station. The leftside building is Kaede no Yu.