Tsubame Onsen, Myoko, Niigata Prefecture
Kogan-no-Yu, Tsubame Onsen
The easiest of the free outdoor baths to plan around on a spring-to-autumn visit to Myoko, with separate men's and women's pools and autumn foliage. It is not a fit for winter, nighttime visits, Monday or Friday mornings, rough weather or itineraries that require fully accessible facilities.
Facility photos
Check before bathing
- Opening hours
- Open from sunrise to sunset during the season. Closed for cleaning on Monday and Friday mornings. The 2026 season opened on 27 March; the bath closes during the snowy winter period.
- Access
- About a 10-minute walk from the car park. Boots may be needed during the snowmelt season.
- Tattoo policy
- The current official listing reviewed does not state a tattoo policy. Ask the local operator before visiting.
Spring & water temperature
- Spring-source temperature
- Not republished as a current 2026 value. Existing Ministry of the Environment records list 60.0°C for Kogan-no-Yu, but this is not presented as a new 2026 analysis.
- Bathing temperature
- Not published. Older field reports are not used as a fixed 2026 pool temperature, and no pool temperature is inferred from the source figure.
- Spring source
- Kogan-no-Yu spring. Existing national environmental records list it as a separate spring, but the current 2026 Myoko tourism page does not republish its analysis figures.
- Spring classification
- The current Niigata tourism listing describes Tsubame Onsen as a sulfur, bicarbonate and sulfate spring. Existing Ministry of the Environment records classify it as a sulfur-bearing sodium-calcium bicarbonate-sulfate-chloride spring.
- pH
- Not republished in the current 2026 listing.
- Flow rate
- Not republished in the current 2026 listing.
- Water handling
- The current Niigata Tourism Association page explicitly describes Kogan-no-Yu as a free, source-flowing outdoor bath. It does not publish complete 2026 details for water addition, heating or disinfection, so no conditions beyond source flow are inferred.
Bathing indications
The current Niigata tourism page lists general bathing information for Tsubame Onsen, including cuts, sensitivity to cold and atopic dermatitis. These are not treatment or cosmetic guarantees.
The bath is described as source-flowing; other treatment details are not published in the current 2026 listing.
Free admission; a donation box supports maintenance. At the 2026 opening, more than 2 m of snow remained between the parking area and bath, and the operator recommended boots. The walking route is about 10 minutes from the car park.
How to read a bath profile
Spring-source temperature and actual bathing temperature are kept separate. Each score is shown independently for comparison rather than collapsed into one overall score.
