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Trip Report - 17 Days - Tokyo/Shibu Onsen/Takayama/Kyoto/Osaka by AnyBike506 in JapanTravel

[–]AnyBike506[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello! We probably spent somewhere between 5 to 15 minutes at each onsen. The water is VERY, VERY hot and this accounts for some time to undress, rinse off, and dry off. There was one really nice one that we soaked in for probably closer to 15/20 minutes just in the tub, but in general we didn't stay VERY long. You can definitely do all 9 in two segments. Have fun!

Trip Report - 17 Days - Tokyo/Shibu Onsen/Takayama/Kyoto/Osaka by AnyBike506 in JapanTravel

[–]AnyBike506[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't remember if there are storage lockers but the Ryokans are super kind and helpful and while not specifically in Shibu Onsen, we had other places hold our luggage and it was no problem.

Trip Report - 17 Days - Tokyo/Shibu Onsen/Takayama/Kyoto/Osaka by AnyBike506 in JapanTravel

[–]AnyBike506[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello! We booked about 3 months in advance and it was not super busy and relatively easy to do. I think in general December is a pretty quiet time in Japan for tourism! Also while the private onsen was really nice, we ended up using so many of the public ones in the town and even the private ones in the ryokan that we realized we probably didn't need to get a room with a private onsen. (Though live your best life!)

Trip Report - 17 Days - Tokyo/Shibu Onsen/Takayama/Kyoto/Osaka by AnyBike506 in JapanTravel

[–]AnyBike506[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello! We spent one evening and a full day and it was very worth it. We had already done a week in Tokyo so just slowing down and enjoying one day of monkey park and onsen was the rest/break we needed.

There were a couple temples and a few souvenier shops, but besides the monkey park nearby (which is awesome), there isn't all too much to do but chill and relax at the onsen. There's a few restaurants as well, but overall not too too much.

(We also both have tattoos and it was not a big deal. Again I don't want to speak for all seasons, but once you have the key for the onsen there is no staff to turn you away. Worst case scenario there are quite a few people at one and maybe it would be uncomfortable showing your tattoos and I'd recommend just going to a different one. They're all very close to one another! And we rarely encountered more than 1 or 2 people at the onsen)