An Easy Guide to Gero Onsen: What to Do & See at One of Japan’s Top Three Hot Springs
There's no better way to (literally) immerse yourself in Japanese culture than to soak in the steaming waters of a natural onsen, or hot spring. Among Japan's "Three Famed Hot Springs" - the other two being Arima Onsen in Hyogo and Kusatsu Onsen in Gunma - Gero Onsen in Gifu boasts a storied history of popularity that has earned it honorable mention in one of Japan's oldest historical documents (the "Shoku Nihongi"). The Gero Onsen area is known to this day for the luscious hot waters that flow from underground, said to leave your skin soft and your complexion bright. What's more, the surrounding area is full of historic sites and beautiful natural features, making it an especially popular destination for domestic vacationers.
Travel to Gero Onsen
in to Nagoya. It's about an hour and a half from Tokyo or just under an hour from Osaka. From Nagoya, the Hida Limited Express will take you directly to Gero Station in under two hours. Once you arrive, you'll find that the station is situated right in the middle of things, so you can explore the quaint streets of this hot spring village (and start sampling its tasty food) as soon as you get there. Long soaks in the hot springs at ryokans (traditional inns) are a must, but to help you get the most out of your trip, we've written up a quick guide to Gero Onsen's best sightseeing, food, and places to stay!
Try Classic Street Food & Gourmet Dining
Busy hot spring villages like this one in Gifu Prefecture are usually known for good food; the scenic streets are lined with shops selling street food to snack on throughout the day, and accommodations offer gourmet meals to indulge in for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The shops around Gero Onsen offer all kinds of delicious options made with local ingredients, so in between visits to the baths, make sure you re-energize with scrumptious cuisine you won't find anywhere else.
Hida Beef
Japanese beef, or wagyu, is known around the world for its marbled melt-in-your-mouth texture, and visitors often aim to try Kobe beef while in Japan. But locals will tell you Kobe isn't the only place that produces mind-blowing meat! The very same domestic black cattle are also raised in Gifu, and the best beef from the prefecture is called Hida beef - named after Gifu's historical moniker.
For lunch in Gero Onsen, we recommend visiting Kita no Ryo, a restaurant inside Suimeikan Ryokan, to try their Hida Beef Hitsumabushi Set. The mouth-watering beef is served sliced on a bed of white rice and topped with a sweet-and-spicy sauce, and once you savor the flavor of Hida beef in this simple style, you can add condiments and pour savory dashi stock into your bowl to turn it into a brothy ochazuke mixture.
Address
1268 Koda, Gero City, Gifu
Or, for a more convenient bite of Hida beef, stop by Yushimaan and order their marbled beef sushi from the counter outside, which will give you a taste of decadent beef flavor that you can eat on the go.
Address
845 Yunoshima, Gero City, Gifu
Hot Spring Egg Ice Cream
Hot spring eggs are a simple staple of hot spring villages around Japan, naturally cooked to creamy perfection in the gentle heat of the thermal waters. But Yuamiya in Gero Onsen does things a little differently, serving their eggs on top of a heaping helping of soft-serve ice cream! Their Ontama Soft is a hit with customers; the unique mixture of rich soft-boiled egg, cold soft-serve ice cream, and crunchy brown rice flakes is a surprisingly addictive combination.
Take some pictures of your egg and ice cream in front of the colorful wall of wooden barrels out front, then soak your feet in the shop's footbath while you dig in!
Address
801-2 Yunoshima, Gero City, Gifu
Daiginjo Sake
Regional varieties of sake are as plentiful in Japan as wine is in France, and if you visit Tenryo Brewery, you can try sake made with Hida's own water and the finest polished rice. Although you might not know Gifu's local sake by name, the region has some great breweries.
Tenryo Brewery's sake has taken gold at the Annual Japan Sake Awards hosted by the National Research Institute of Brewing and has been served to guests at Japanese embassies as well as passengers on Japan Airlines flights. Pay a visit to their brewery near Gero Onsen and you can tour the facility to see exactly how it's made. Don't forget to fit in a sake tasting session to sample varieties like the popular Tenroku Hairyo, their finest daiginjo sake made with just the core of each grain of rice.
Address
1289-1 Hagiwaracho Hagiwara, Gero City, Gifu
Immerse Yourself in Gero Onsen's History & Culture
Thatched Roofs at Gassho-mura
Gero Onsen Gassho-mura is an open-air museum that reveals what life might have looked like for locals living on the mountainside in centuries past. This quaint village area is made up of 10 original thatched-roof houses, all genuine constructions brought to the museum from around the region. The museum's Saijiki no Mori area showcases some other facilities that shaped life in the Gero Onsen area once upon a time, including storehouses, an old-fashioned water wheel, and even terraced rice paddies.
Entering the village feels like taking a step back in time as you walk along the dirt paths and explore beautiful buildings such as the Odo House (a nationally designated Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property). Tucked away in the mountains, the village takes on different appearances from season to season, but the beauty of the thatched roofs is just as eye-catching whether they're blanketed in crimson fall foliage or fluffy white snow.
Handicraft Workshops
Gassho-mura is also home to Hida Workshop, a space set aside for classes and events, and visitors can book a spot to try out a variety of ancestral Japanese crafts. Pottery wheels have been used in Japan to shape common dishware for over a thousand years, and you can learn to use one to make your own little cup. You can also try sewing up a cute sarubobo stuffed doll that doubles as a lucky amulet, promising the owner protection from misfortune. When you're done, refuel with a serving of gohei-mochi, a local specialty consisting of a firm rice cake slathered in a sweet-and-savory miso sauce.
Address
2369 Mori, Gero City, Gifu
Watch the Night Sky for Gero Onsen's Famous Winter Fireworks
Fireworks in Japan are more commonly set off in summer, but Gero Onsen has made fireworks displays a winter celebration! On weekends from December through March, fireworks light up the night sky and shine bright in the crisp winter air, their reflections glittering on the snow-covered ground. These weekend fireworks come in two different forms.
Gero Onsen Fireworks Musical
Plan your trip for December to catch the Gero Onsen Fireworks Musical, a show weaving together thousands of fireworks and a musical soundtrack that echoes off the walls of Gero Onsen's many accommodations. The result is an extravaganza of music and lights that fills the entire town.
Gero Onsen Hanabi Monogatari
Visit on a weekend between January and March to catch Hanabi Monogatari - "A Tale of Fireworks". This series of Saturday displays is smaller in scale than December's musical version, but the fireworks shine just as bright, and the location in the heart of the village makes the scenic surroundings a part of the experience. Every week is a new theme, from winter constellations to Valentine's Day romances!
Admire the Beauty of the Snow-covered Mountains
Frozen Waterfall Trekking
As quaint and convenient as Gero Onsen might be, you're never far from the beautiful natural landscape of the surrounding mountains, which means it's not hard to get out there and experience the area's most breathtaking winter hikes. At an elevation of nearly six thousand feet, the mountainsides are crisscrossed by little streams and the waterfalls they create as they run downhill, and once the weather starts to cool each year, those waterfalls freeze solid. The resulting natural ice sculptures form majestic fringes of sharp pointed icicles that look almost otherworldly, and the snowy landscape creates a quiet space in which to appreciate them. Join a small guided hiking group during your winter trip to find the most spectacular frozen waterfalls in the area.
Relax Like a Local at a Ryokan
A visit to Gero Onsen isn't complete until you've soaked in the mineral-filled hot spring baths! Gero Onsen's water has such a glowing reputation for leaving bathers' skin feeling soft and looking bright that it's referred to as bijin-no-yu, or "beautifying water". To soak up all the benefits of the water, fully relax, and enjoy a classic Japanese onsen experience, you'll want to make the most of your visit by spending a night or two at a ryokan. In addition to hot spring baths, these traditional inns often feature rooms with tatami-mat flooring, as well as luxurious dinners and breakfasts replete with authentic cuisine made using seasonal ingredients. Book a room at one of these popular ryokans to see how locals like to relax.
Suimeikan
Established almost 100 years ago, soon after the nearby railway line connected Gero Onsen to the rest of Japan, Suimeikan is a local landmark with multiple buildings spread along the Hida River. The ryokan has three grand baths for guests to try during their stay: the largest bath with its fragrant cypress wood interior, the open-air bath with a wall of large boulders, and the view bath looking out across Gero Onsen. There are also two private baths available for rent and even a hot stone sauna! Suimeikan has four restaurants on site, including French and Chinese cuisine, but they also serve Japanese food either at their restaurant Kita no Ryo (mentioned above) or in your room.
Yunoshimakan
Yunoshimakan first opened its doors at the beginning of Japan's Showa era (around the same time as Suimeikan), and this historic ryokan still looks much the same as it did back then - although guests now enjoy many modern amenities as well. Perched on a mountainside overlooking the rest of Gero Onsen, the elegant three-story wooden main building is officially registered as a Tangible Cultural Property, and the rooms have an irresistible old-fashioned air to them. Yunoshimakan has both indoor and open-air baths, and if you book a stay in the property's modern additions, you can even choose a room with its own private bath. The meals consist of Japanese kaiseki cuisine and include seasonal ingredients from the historic Hida region, as well as a selection of famous local sake options to pair.
Start Planning Your Trip Now!
With more than a thousand years of history as a beloved hot spring village, there's no denying the appeal of this destination, with all of its bubbling hot water providing luxurious baths (and perhaps some all-natural skin care) for generations upon generations of visitors. It's no surprise that lavishly long baths are one of the most popular ways to pass the time in Gero Onsen; but of course, that's not all there is to do in this picturesque riverside resort town. From delicious Gifu-style food to time-honored handicrafts (and even outdoor activities), you can fill your days here with unique local culture. With so much of what you'd want to see in Japan all in one place, you can't go wrong making your trip to Gero Onsen a little longer!
Find more accommodations in Gero Onsen
Get 10,000 JPY off accommodations in Gero Onsen with this Rakuten Travel Coupon!
Campaign Terms & Conditions
Campaign Terms & ConditionsThese Terms and Conditions ("T&C") apply to all participants of the Gero Onsen Campaign ("Campaign") as a supplement to other terms and conditions for Rakuten Travel ("Rakuten Travel"). The participants are deemed to have agreed to these T&C and other terms and conditions provided by Rakuten Travel when using Rakuten Travel's website, apps, and/or services.
1. This Campaign offers Gero Onsen Exclusive Coupon, a 10,000 JPY off coupon discount ("Coupon") that is applicable to Gero Onsen accommodations on Rakuten Travel.
2. This Coupon's value is fixed at 10,000 JPY and subject to change in your local currency based on exchange rates fluctuations
3. This Coupon may be used from 00:00 a.m. JST, September 3, 2024 to 11:59 p.m. JST, February 27, 2025 ("Campaign Period").
4. This Coupon is applicable to bookings whose check-out date falls on or before February 27, 2025.
5. This Coupon is available on a limited, first-come, first-served basis, and will end once the 300 coupons are consumed.
6. This Coupon is applicable for users with a minimum spending requirement of 50,000 JPY and can be used for multiple bookings.
7. This Coupon cannot be combined with direct discounts from hotels.
8. This Coupon can be combined with the Welcome 10% off coupon.
9. Price will vary by date, length of stay, accommodations selected, availabilities of rooms, etc., and the displayed price is subject to change at any time. Please confirm the latest price when making a booking.
10. This Campaign may be terminated or amended without notice.
11. The Campaign Period may be shortened or extended without notice.
12. In case of any dispute, Rakuten Travel reserves the sole binding right of final decision.
13. To the extent permitted by law, Rakuten Travel will not be liable for any consequences that occur, directly or indirectly, in connection with said termination or amendment of this Campaign and/or said shortening or extension of the Campaign Period.
14. All information, including personal information, submitted or known to Rakuten Travel and/or its affiliates and partners in connection with this Campaign will only be used in accordance with Rakuten Travel's Privacy Policy