Ureshino Onsen (Siebold no Yu)

What to expect

Ureshino Onsen is a hot spring town in the hills of southwestern Saga Prefecture, strung along both banks of the Ureshino (Shiota) River. It is one of the bigger spa towns in western Kyushu, with dozens of ryokan and hotels; the inn union counts 25 member inns. Tea fields cover the slopes around it, and Ureshino green tea is the other thing the town is known for.

The water is the draw. The city lists it as a sodium bicarbonate-chloride spring, and it leaves your skin feeling slippery and smooth. The town markets itself as one of Japan’s “three great skin-beautifying hot springs”, a ranking it shares with two springs on Honshu. That same water is used to simmer the local tofu, which breaks down into a creamy, milky broth. Ureshino onsen yudōfu is the town dish.

The name comes from a legend. The tourism association tells how Empress Jingū, passing through on her way back from battle, saw a tired white crane bathing in the river and flying off refreshed. She had her wounded soldiers bathe there, they recovered, and she exclaimed “ana, ureshii no” (“oh, how happy”). In the Edo period Ureshino was a post town on the Nagasaki Kaidō highway, and the surveyor Inō Tadataka and the German doctor Philipp Franz von Siebold both passed through. Siebold’s name is now on the public bath and one of the foot baths.

Siebold no Yu (シーボルトの湯)

The public bathhouse is easy to spot: a two-storey wooden building in a Taishō-romantic Gothic style with an orange pointed roof, across the river from Ureshino Onsen Park. The original bathhouse on the site dated from 1924. The present building opened on April 1, 2010, recreating that look, and the city reports it passed 250,000 visitors within three years. Since 2013 the tourism association has run it for the city.

Inside are men’s and women’s large baths, five private baths (kashikiri-yu), a citizens’ gallery, a large rest room and massage chairs. The building was designed to be barrier-free, with few steps, a multi-purpose bathroom and private baths usable from a wheelchair. Water is the town spring, a sodium bicarbonate-chloride type. The operators do not say whether it is heated, circulated or chlorinated.

Building work: the city has posted a notice of roof and exterior wall renovation, and the association says painting work was expected to run until mid-December. The bath stays open as normal during the work, apart from the usual monthly closing day.

Prices and booking

Prices set by city ordinance, revised April 1, 2023 (October 2026).

Ticket	Price
Adults (junior high to 69)	¥450
Age 70 and over	¥340
Elementary pupils	¥220
Under school age, with a parent	Free
12-visit ticket, adults / children	¥4,500 / ¥2,200
Private bath, 50 minutes, up to 5 adults	¥2,500 plus ¥100 bath tax per adult
Rest room	Free with a bath (¥110 otherwise)

Discounts apply for holders of disability certificates and groups of 10 or more, and annual and seasonal passes are sold. Entry is free every April 1, the opening anniversary (private baths excluded).

Hours: 6:00 to 22:00, last entry 21:30. Closed: the 3rd Wednesday of each month, moving to the next day when it falls on a holiday.

No towels are lent, but towels and toiletries are on sale.

Free foot baths

The city runs three foot baths in the town centre, all free:

• Siebold no Ashiyu, Yūyū Hiroba: opened in October 2000. Open 24 hours; the lights go off at 3:00.
• Yushuku Hiroba: a foot bath, partly usable from a wheelchair, plus a foot steam bath that the city calls rare in Japan. You sit with both feet in a hole and a box over your knees for 10 to 15 minutes. Foot bath 8:00 to 23:00, steam bath 9:00 to 20:00. Opened April 2012.
• Yuttsura Hiroba: opened January 2021, with a foot bath with tables, a hand bath and a shallow paddling bath for children. 7:00 to 23:00.

None has its own parking; use the Siebold no Yu car park.

Onsen etiquette

Wash at the seated showers before getting in, bathe naked with your small towel out of the water, and keep your hair up and your phone in the locker. The water is slippery, so take care on the tiles. No tattoo policy is published; call ahead if yours are visible.

Getting there

By Shinkansen: Ureshino-Onsen Station opened on the Nishi-Kyushu Shinkansen on September 23, 2022. From there a JR Kyushu bus reaches the town in about 13 minutes. Alternatively, take a JR limited express from Hakata to Takeo-Onsen and a JR bus from there, about 30 minutes.

By highway bus: the Kyushu-gō express from Fukuoka (Hakata, Tenjin and Fukuoka Airport) stops at Ureshino; it is about 1 hour 20 minutes from Fukuoka Airport.

By car: the Ureshino IC on the Nagasaki Expressway is about 5 minutes from the town, and about an hour from Fukuoka or Nagasaki.

Parking: the Siebold no Yu car park is run by a private operator. The first 90 minutes are free, then ¥100 per 30 minutes up to ¥500 for 24 hours. The tourism association also lists the Ureshino Central and Ureshino Interchange lots at ¥300 for 24 hours.

When to go

The baths are open all year. Spring brings tea-picking season on the hills and cherry blossom along the river; autumn is mild and good for walking between the foot baths. Weekday mornings are quietest at Siebold no Yu. Avoid the 3rd Wednesday of the month.

Where to stay nearby

Many ryokan and hotels sell day bathing as well as overnight stays. The tourism association’s day-bath list includes Wataya Bessō, which runs spring water straight through to its guest-room baths, Taishōya, Warakuen (with a tea-infused open-air bath), Shōen on the riverbank, Hotel Sakura, Ōedo Onsen Monogatari Ureshinokan, Hyakunen no Yu and Kodachi no Yu, which has eight private open-air baths.

Ureshino pairs well with Unzen Onsen in Nagasaki, reached via Isahaya on the same Shinkansen line. Other Kyushu towns on this site include Beppu and Ibusuki.

Safety notes

• Slippery water: the smooth, slippery water makes tiles and steps slick. Walk, do not hurry.
• Heat: keep soaks short, cool down in the rest room and drink water.
• Foot steam bath: check the temperature with your hand first, and keep children’s feet under watch.