Hirayu Onsen

The bus from Takayama Station follows the Miyagawa River north and then climbs through a series of switchbacks into the Hida Mountains, arriving at Hirayu Bus Terminal at 1,250 meters above sea level after about an hour. Hirayu is the transport hub of the Okuhida Onsen region, which means buses to Norikura, Shin-Hotaka, and the other mountain villages all pass through here, and the terminal itself sits at the center of a small village surrounded by peaks. The Yakedake and Norikura volcanoes both rise to the east and west, and it is their ongoing geothermal activity that heats the forty separate spring sources flowing beneath the village floor.

The sulfur content at Hirayu is high enough to color some of the water white. The milky-white sulfur springs here are uncommon even within Gifu Prefecture, and the sodium bicarbonate and chloride compounds that mix with the sulfur give the water a slightly alkaline quality despite the volcanic origin. In the bath, the water feels light and just slightly slippery, not in the way of an alkaline simple spring but from the fine sulfur particles suspended in it. The smell is mild, the kind of sulfur you notice when you first lower yourself in and then stop noticing within a few minutes. It leaves a faint warmth on the skin that persists well after you dress.

The flagship day-bath facility here is Hirayu no Mori, which operates sixteen separate outdoor rotenburo fed directly from the Norikura source. The pools vary in temperature, and the arrangement allows you to move between them across a wide area of outdoor space shaded by tall conifers. In winter, snow accumulates on the surrounding trees while the pools stay hot, and steam covers the entire bathing area in a low moving cloud. Beside the bus terminal, the small folk-history museum Hirayu Minzokukan runs its own outdoor bath called Hirayu no Yu, open from early morning until late evening for a suggested donation of 300 yen.

From Hirayu, a bus line runs directly to the Norikura Skyline during summer and autumn, reaching the second-highest paved road in Japan at 2,702 meters. You can soak at altitude in the morning and be standing at the edge of a snowfield by afternoon. The Shin-Hotaka Ropeway, Japan's only double-decker gondola, is forty minutes further along the valley road and lifts passengers to an observation platform at 2,156 meters. Most visitors base themselves at Hirayu for two nights to cover both, using the outdoor baths as the anchor point between longer excursions into the mountains.