Hirayu no Mori

What to expect

Hirayu no Mori (“the forest of Hirayu”) is a day-bathing complex and inn at the edge of Hirayu Onsen, one of the spa villages of Okuhida Onsen-gō in the mountains east of Takayama. The name is literal. The baths are spread out through a stand of old forest, linked by paths, and on a quiet weekday you can walk from pool to pool for an hour without seeing much more than trees and steam.

The main draw is the number of outdoor baths. There are 16 in total, with 7 on the men’s side and 9 on the women’s. They are not identical copies. Each has its own temperature, and because two different sources are mixed in different ways, some tubs are a cloudy white while others are close to clear. Locals and repeat visitors tend to have a favourite.

Indoors there is a large bath under a tall, open ceiling, built in a Taishō-era style, deep enough to sink in up to your shoulders and big enough for about 30 people. It connects to the outdoor area. There is a sauna, a washing area with showers, rinse-in shampoo and body soap. The changing room has hair dryers and ¥100 coin lockers.

After bathing, most people sit in the gasshō-style rest room with its high timber roof. A café, Komorebi, sits by the front desk, and the Mominoki restaurant serves Hida beef for lunch and dinner. Short nature paths run through the forest around the buildings if you want to cool down on foot.

The water

The baths draw on two sources: the white, cloudy Hirayu no Mori no Yu and the colourless Mizuishi no Yu. Together they deliver about 600 litres a minute. The operator lists the water as a calcium, sodium and magnesium bicarbonate-chloride spring at pH 6.7, with a source temperature of about 154°F68°C.

That is far too hot to sit in, so the water is cooled with stream water from the valley. It is not heated. The operator states plainly that it does no circulation and no chlorine disinfection, which is unusual for a facility this size. The water runs through the tubs and out.

The private iron-pot baths

Two private baths are made from giant iron cooking pots used as tubs. Each one is half indoors and half open to the air. Day visitors can use them from 12:00 to 15:00, last entry 14:15, at ¥3,000 per room for 45 minutes. They cannot be reserved by phone, so ask at the front desk when you arrive. Overnight guests use them free from 15:00 to 10:00 the next day.

The barrel sauna

A separate wooden barrel sauna stands in the grounds, with a cypress cold-water tub fed by water from the Northern Alps. It is rented privately for 2 hours at ¥10,000 for two people, plus ¥3,000 for each extra person, up to four. The price includes entry to the outdoor baths and the indoor bath. It runs from 11:00 to 15:00, bookings by phone only, and towels cost extra.

Prices and booking

Prices below are from the operator’s site in August 2026.

Item	Price
Day bath, adults	¥700
Day bath, children (3 to 6th grade)	¥500
Private iron-pot bath, 45 min	¥3,000 per room
Barrel sauna, 2 hours, 2 people	¥10,000 (¥3,000 per extra person)
Towel	¥200
Bath towel	¥500
Razor	¥100

Buy your ticket at the machine in the lobby and hand it to the front desk. No booking is needed for the ordinary day bath. The day bath runs from 10:00 to 21:00 with last entry at 20:30.

The facility is open every day but closes for maintenance now and then. In 2026 it shut on June 3 and 4 and again on September 9. Closures are posted under “important notices” on the official site, so check before a long drive.

Onsen etiquette

The rules are those of any Japanese public bath. Wash at the showers before you get in, bathe naked, keep your towel out of the water and tie up long hair. Do not bathe after drinking. The official site says nothing either way about tattoos, so call ahead if that matters to you.

Getting there

Hirayu no Mori is at 763-1 Hirayu, Okuhida Onsen-gō, Takayama, on National Route 158.

• By bus: Nohi Bus runs from the Takayama Nohi Bus Center toward Shin-Hotaka Onsen. The ride to the Hirayu Onsen stop takes about 60 minutes, and the bathhouse is a 2-minute walk from there. Hirayu Bus Terminal is also the stop for express buses from larger cities and, in season, the shuttle buses to Kamikochi and Mount Norikura, so it is easy to soak at the end of a hiking day.
• By car: about 40 minutes from Takayama IC on the Chubu Jukan Expressway, or about 60 minutes from Matsumoto IC on the Nagano Expressway. There are about 100 parking spaces.
• Winter driving: the roads are ploughed, but the operator reminds drivers to fit snow tyres or carry chains.

When to go

It is open year-round. Weekends and holidays are the busy days, and in the mountain season hikers come down from Kamikochi and Norikura in the afternoon, so weekday late mornings soon after the 10:00 opening are calmer. Winter is the other good time. Hirayu has its own ski area, snow settles around the outdoor pools, and soaking in hot water with cold air on your face is the point of the place.

Where to stay nearby

Hirayu no Mori is also an inn. Rooms range from Western twins to Japanese tatami rooms and Japanese-Western rooms, plus private cottages with their own open-air baths. Half-board stays with a Hida beef teppanyaki dinner start at ¥11,000 per person (2026), and room-only or breakfast-only stays are possible. Guests can use the baths at night. Rooms have no air conditioning or fridge; fans are supplied in summer and heaters in winter. Book online through the official site or call 0578-89-3338 (8:00 to 21:00).

Hirayu Camp, in the same village, is the option for tents, and the operator also promotes a sister ryokan, Yūka Sanzōan. Gifu’s other well-known spa town, Gero Onsen, is further south on the way to Nagoya.

Safety notes

• Heat: tubs vary, and some run hot. Test each one before you sink in, keep soaks short, and drink water between baths.
• Footing: stone paths between the outdoor baths get wet and, in winter, icy. Walk slowly.
• Altitude and cold: Hirayu sits high in the Northern Alps foothills. Moving between hot water and freezing air in winter is hard on the heart, so warm up gradually.
• Alcohol: do not bathe after drinking, especially in water this warm.