Onsen Ranking 2011 by Biglobe

Yubatake or Onsen Pond of first ranked Kusatsu Onsen, Gunma Pref. It's not for soaking.

The Biglobe's recently released "Forth Onsen Awards", shows popular onsen ranking as well (As for most popular onsen ryokan/hotel ranking, see my previous post).

1. Kusatsu Onsen (Gunma Pref)
2. Yufuin Onsen (Oita Pref)
3. Arima Onsen (Hyogo Pref)
4. Noboribetsu Onsen (Hokkaido)
5. Gero Onsen (Gifu Pref)
6. Hakone-yumoto Onsen (Kanagawa Pref)
7. Kinosaki Onsen (Hyogo Pref)
8. Kurokawa Onsen (Kumamoto Pref)
9. Dogo Onsen (Ehime Pref)
10. Ikaho Onsen (Gunma Pref)
11. Beppu Onsen (Oita Pref)
12. Atami Onsen (Shizuoka Pref)
13. Gora Onsen (Kanagawa Pref)
14. Nozawa Onsen (Nagano Pref)
15. Wakura Onsen (Ishikawa Pref) no English site
16. Ibusuki Onsen (Kagoshima Pref)
17. Shirahama Onsen (Wakayama Pref)
17. Beppu Onsen-kyo (Wider Beppu area, Oita Pref)
19. Nyuto Onsen-kyo (Akita Pref)
20. Jozankei Onsen (Hokkaido)

You can see top 100 ranking on Biglobe Onsen site (in Japanese only)

"Second Onsen Award" released by Biglobe

Another onsen ranking news came in. The Biglobe, a leading portal site in Japan released "The Second Onsen Award" late last month. This is rather new face survey, they started this award last year.The survey is based not only on polls by nearly forty thousand users, but also on access data of their sites and users' reviews.


Although you can't soak yourself in, the Yubatake (Onsen field) is a symbol of first ranked Kusatsu Onsen, Gunma Pref.　(photo: Dec.2003)

Second ranked Yufuin Onsen, Oita Pref. is known for onsen resort. At the same time there are some shabby public baths (My favorites) scattered around. You can see Mt. Yufu from almost everywhere in Yufuin. (photo: Jan. 2008)

Onsen steam rising from the Jigokudani or hell valley in the winter at the third ranked Noboribetsu Onsen, Hokkaido. (Photo: courtesy of Yun-san http://www.yunphoto.net/)

The top10 rankings are as follows:

1. (1) Kusatsu Onsen, Guma Pref. Kanto Region
2. (2) Yufuin Onsen, Oita Pref. Kyushu Region
3. (4) Noboribetsu Onsen, Hokkaido
4. (3) Arima Onsen, Hyogo Pref. Kansai Region
5. (5) Hakone Yumoto Onsen, Kanagawa Pref. Kanto Region
6. (6) Kinosaki Onsen, Hyogo Pref. Kansai Region
7. (8) Gero Onsen, Gifu Pref. Tokai Region
8. (9) Kurokawa Onsen, Kumamoto Pref. Kyushu Region
9. (11)Dogo Onsen, Ehime Pref. Shikoku Region
10. (7) Beppu Onsen, Oita Pref. Kyushu Region

(Last year's rankings)

2009 Ryokan Rankings in five sectors

The Travel Economic News, the weekly newspaper focused in travel business released annual survey of "250 Best Ryokans" (without ranking) and each ranking in five sectors - cuisine, service, bath, establishment, and atmosphere. 250 ryokans are too many for me to make a list, and I made lists of top 10 rankings in each sector in 2009.

Subject of this survey isn't consumers, but professionals like travel agents and travel related organs, and they might have some business relationship with these ryokans and hotels. I feel the following rankings contain more big scale places compared to other ryokan rankings. Linked are Official websites in English.

◆Cuisine

1. Hotel Syusuien, Ibusuki Onsen, Kagoshima Pref.
2. Akan Yukunosato Tsuruga, Akanko Onsen, Hokkaido
3. Ibusuki Hakusuikan, Ibusuki Onsen, Kagoshima Pref.
4. Kagaya, Wakura Onsen, Ishikawa Pref.
5. Yamatoya Honten, Dogo Onsen, Ehime Pref.
6. Yufuin Tamanoyu, Yufuin Onsen, Oita Pref.
7. Otani Sanso, Nagato-yumoto Onsen, Yamaguchi Pref.
8. Suimeikan, Gero Onsen, Gifu Pref.
9. Inatori Ginsuiso, Inatori Onsen, Shizuoka Pref.
10. Nishimuraya Honkan, Kinosaki Onsen, Hyogo Pref.

◆Service

1. Akan Yukunosato Tsuruga, Akanko Onsen, Hokkaido
2. Kagaya, Wakura Onsen, Ishikawa Pref.
3. Ibusuki Hakusuikan, Ibusuki Onsen, Kagoshima Pref.
4. Otani Sanso, Nagatoyumoto Onsen, Yamaguchi Pref.
5. Yamatoya Honten, Dogo Onsen, Ehime Pref.
6. Hotel Syusuien, Ibusuki Onsen, Kagoshima Pref.
7. Unzen Miyazaki Ryokan Unzen Onsen, Nagasaki Pref.
8. Inatori Ginsuiso, Inatori Onsen, Shizuoka Pref.
9. Nishimuraya Honkan, Kinosaki Onsen, Hyogo Pref.
10. Yufuin Tamanoyu, Yufuin Onsen, Oita Pref.

◆Bath

1. Ibusuki Hakusuikan, Ibusuki Onsen, Kagoshima Pref.
2. Akan Yukunosato Tsuruga, Akanko Onsen, Hokkaido
3. Kagaya, Wakura Onsen, Ishikawa Pref.
4. Daiichi Takimotokan, Noboribetsu Onsen, Hokkaido
5. Suimeikan, Gero Onsen Gifu Pref.
6. Otani Sanso, Nagato-yumoto Onsen, Yamaguchi Pref.
7. Yamamizuki, Kurokawa Onsen, Kumamoto Pref.
8. Yamatoya Honten, Dogo Onsen, Ehime Pref.
9. Tsurunoyu Onsen, Nyuto Onsenkyo, Akita Pref.
10. Yukyonohibiki Yusai, Kurokawa Onsen, Kumamoto Pref.
    

◆Establishment

1. Kagaya, Wakura Onsen, Ishikawa Pref.
2. Ibusuki Hakusuikan, Ibusuki Onsen, Kagoshima Pref.
3. Akan Yukunosato Tsuruga, Akanko Onsen, Hokkaido
4. Otani Sanso, Nagato-yumoto Onsen, Yamaguchi Pref.
5. Yamatoya Honten, Dogo Onsen, Ehime Pref.
6. Shiratamanoyu Kahou, Tsukioka Onsen, Niigata Pref.
7. Suimeikan, Gero Onsen, Gifu Pref.
8. Arima Ground Hotel, Arima Onsen, Hyogo Pref.
9. Dogokan, Dogo Onsen, Ehime Pref.
10. Yahataya, Bobata Onsen, Fukushima Pref.
    

◆Atmosphere

1. Ibusuki Hakusuikan, Ibusuki Onsen, Kagoshima Pref.
2. Akan Yukunosato Tsuruga, Akanko Onsen, Hokkaido
3. Yufuin Tamanoyu, Yufuin Onsen, Oita Pref.
4. Nishimuraya Honkan, Kinosaki Onsen, Hyogo Pref.
5. Yamatoya Honten, Dogo Onsen, Ehime Pref.
6. Otani Sanso, Nagato-yumoto Onsen, Yamaguchi Pref.
7. Yamamizuki, Kurokawa Onsen, Kumamoto Pref.
8. Myojinkan, Tobira Onsen, Nagano Pref.
9. Kagaya, Wakura Onsen, Ishikawa Pref.
10. Tsurunoyu Onsen, Nyuto Onsenkyo, Akita Pref.

I can't label each prefecture because "The combined length of all the labels must be at most 200 characters".