Onsen and baths in Kusatsu

One of Kusatsu's flagship day-use bathhouses, offering strongly acidic kakenagashi spring water in an indoor bath, outdoor bath, sauna, cold plunge, and a famous four-stage graduated 'awase-yu' soaking sequence that climbs to scorching temperatures, plus a restaurant and free parking.

A famous, architecturally striking public bathhouse right beside Kusatsu's Yubatake, offering two distinct source springs in an indoor-only, sauna-free bath with a popular 2F tatami rest area, but plagued by too-few showers/dryers, rising prices, and repeated complaints about rude front-desk staff during peak crowds.

A free historic public bathhouse (kyodo yokujo) in Kusatsu's Ura-Kusatsu district, with strongly acidic, milky-white indoor-only water, no shower area, and an optional reservable private bath.

A free, historic communal bathhouse right at Kusatsu's Yubatake, fed straight from an undiluted 46-52C acidic sulfur spring that is genuinely dangerous to enter without careful acclimation.

One of Kusatsu's three tourist-accessible free communal baths, a small single indoor tub fed by the Yubatake source, generally regarded as the mildest-temperature of the public baths thanks to an adjustable cold-water valve.

A tiny, free, unmanned communal bathhouse in Kusatsu fed straight from the Niekawa source, famous for scalding 46-50C water that most visitors can only enter for seconds at a time.

A small, free, kakenagashi community bath in Kusatsu using the extremely acidic Bandaiko source, tucked away from the town center with no parking of its own; access for non-residents is time-limited and has fluctuated between fully banned (COVID-era through early 2026) and open during set daytime hours.

A free, very hot Yubatake-source kakenagashi communal bath in Kusatsu that has recently (since mid-2025) shown signs of reopening to visitors after years of COVID-era residents-only restrictions.

A free, historic acidic-sulfur community bath in Kusatsu fed by the Yubatake source; access for non-residents has swung repeatedly between fully closed and open over 2020-2026, and as of late 2025/2026 it appears open to day visitors roughly 09:00-16:00 with residents-only hours overnight — reconfirm locally before visiting.

A free, strongly acidic Bandaiko-source communal bath in Kusatsu that has been locked to town residents only since 2020, with tourists consistently turned away.

A tiny, historic free community bath in Kusatsu with a triangular 2-4 person tub and hot acidic sulfur water; CAUTION: since around 2020 (originally a COVID measure) it has mostly been restricted to town residents only, with tourists turned away, though signage on exact hours has been reported as inconsistent.

A tiny, free wooden-tub public bathhouse (kyodo-yokujo) in Kusatsu fed by the Nishinokawara source, famous for scorching, near-unbearable water temperatures, now largely restricted to local residents.

A free Yubatake-source communal bathhouse in Kusatsu that, since the COVID-19 pandemic, has been restricted mainly to town residents rather than open day-use for tourists.

A free, hidden-away Kusatsu public bath fed by the Yubatake source with fully source-fed acidic sulfur water and very hot temperatures, but overwhelmingly reported as restricted to town residents only since a COVID-era policy that has persisted for years.

A free, genuinely flow-through community bathhouse near Kusatsu's Yubatake, with a single hot (42-45C) acidic sulfur-aluminum-sulfate-chloride tub, that has been locked to non-residents since the pandemic (2021 onward), a sharp change from its pre-2020 policy of daytime tourist access with residents-only overnight hours.

A free community bath in Kusatsu fed directly by the Yubatake source; CAUTION: it has been restricted to town residents only since around 2021 (originally a COVID measure) and remains so as of mid-2026, so tourists are turned away at the door.

A free Yubatake-source kakenagashi communal bath in Kusatsu, comfortably milder than most local baths, open to tourists during the day but restricted to residents in the evening.

Not an onsen: all five reviews describe a husband-and-wife leather goods shop (bags, wallets, key cases) in Kusatsu that closed permanently around 2022-2024 due to the owner's age and the pandemic; no bathing-related facts are established.

A scenic spring source near Kusatsu's Sainokawara area (the source itself is fenced off and only viewable from the road, feeding steam and a river downstream), with an adjacent 800-yen outdoor-only bath that has no shower or washing area at all.

One of Kusatsu's roughly 19 free community bathhouses, rebuilt after the old building's age and earthquake-safety issues, fed by the very hot Bandaiko sulfur source and effectively open around the clock - but restricted to town residents only since COVID, with strict no-talking etiquette enforced by locals.

A small community bath, likely in Kusatsu, praised by long-time regulars but currently restricted to town residents only.

Baths that admit you without an overnight stay

Rotenburo, confirmed by visitors

Gensen kakenagashi, not recirculated

Often with a cold plunge