Day-use baths

Shionoe Day-Use Onsen: What’s Open, Prices and How to Get There

Find current Shionoe day baths, prices and routes from Takamatsu, plus updates on closed Gyōki no Yu and the delayed public-bath project.

YUBIYORI Editorial TeamSee article for current details

Shionoe is still a good place for a soak in the hills outside Takamatsu, but old guides can send you to a bath that no longer exists. Gyōki no Yu closed permanently on May 8, 2023. The public bathing facility once pencilled in for the roadside-station redevelopment has not opened either: Takamatsu City’s revised plan, published in August 2026, says the opening will be substantially delayed and that the project’s approach and schedule are being reviewed.

For a day visit, the clearest natural-hot-spring options are Shinkabakawa Kanko Hotel and LiVEMAX RESORT Sanuki Shionoe Onsen. The hotel publishes walk-in bathing hours and a current limited-time rate. LiVEMAX has the longest bathing window, but sits farther into the valley; check whether its outdoor bath will be open before setting out.

Hyper Resort Villa Shionoe has a well-documented spring and bathing facilities, but no dependable everyday walk-in ticket is published. Loop Shionoe is a lower-cost pool and wellness centre, not a confirmed natural hot spring.

For other baths around town, compare the three natural hot springs in Takamatsu. That page covers Busshozan, Pokapoka and Kirara rather than Shionoe’s mountain-side facilities.

At a glance

Facility	Adult price	Day-use hours	Natural spring?	Best to know
Shinkabakawa Kanko Hotel	¥600 limited-time rate; ¥820 listed standard rate	10:30 a.m.–9 p.m.; last reception 8 p.m.	Yes; pH 9.12 published	The hotel says hours can be shortened on some dates.
LiVEMAX RESORT Sanuki Shionoe Onsen	¥700	6–11 a.m. and 3–10 p.m.	Yes; source temperature 20.1°C	The afternoon session ends at 10 p.m.; confirm current bath availability, especially outdoors.
Hyper Resort Villa Shionoe	Depends on a current package	No regular walk-in hours or rate published	Yes; source temperature 16.1°C	Go only with a valid day-use plan or direct confirmation from the hotel.
Loop Shionoe	¥620	10 a.m.–8:30 p.m.; last entry 7:45 p.m.	No natural spring documented	A heated pool and public bathing facilities, with Tuesday closures most of the year.

The prices and hours above are the operators’ listed information checked on September 28, 2026. Temporary offers, maintenance and same-day schedule changes can affect a visit.

Shinkabakawa is the straightforward choice for a first visit

Shinkabakawa Kanko Hotel is the easiest place to recommend when you want a regular public bath without having to hunt for a special package. Its current hot-spring page lists day-use reception from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., with the last entry at 8 p.m. The hotel warns that hours may be shortened on some dates, so check its latest notices before travelling.

The listed adult admission is ¥820, but the hotel is currently advertising a limited-time rate of ¥600 for adults from July 2026, with towel rental included. Those are two different prices: the ¥600 offer is not the standard rate, and neither should be confused with the hotel’s separately sold day-use rooms or meal plans.

The bathing page gives the spring’s pH as 9.12. Every guest room also has a hot-spring bath, according to the hotel, but that does not establish how each public-bath pool is supplied. The public page does not provide a pool-by-pool account of circulation, heating or disinfection, so there is no need to assume that the whole bathing area is flow-through.

Without a car, take the route bus from JR Takamatsu Station to its Shionoe terminus; the hotel estimates the ride at about 70 minutes. A pickup from the Shionoe bus stop can be arranged in advance. This is manageable as a half-day outing, but it is not a quick detour from downtown. The hotel lists Takamatsu Airport as about 15 minutes away by taxi.

LiVEMAX has early and late bathing sessions

LiVEMAX RESORT Sanuki Shionoe Onsen has two day-use sessions and publishes separate admission rates by age.

Session	Hours
Morning	6–11 a.m.
Afternoon and evening	3–10 p.m.

Visitor	Admission
Adult	¥700
Age 65 and over	¥600
Elementary-school child	¥300
Age 2 and over	¥200

Day-use facilities include shampoo, body wash, lockers and hair dryers.

The spring is named Sanuki Onsen No. 3. Its published analysis identifies it as a sodium bicarbonate spring, with a source temperature of 20.1°C. That is the temperature at the source, not the temperature of the bath.

The resort lists an outdoor bath, a large communal bath and a sauna. Its news page carries a May 2026 notice about a mechanical failure affecting the men’s second outdoor bath and the women’s outdoor bath. Check with the resort before travelling if those pools are part of the reason for your visit. The property is deeper into the valley than Shinkabakawa, so a car or a pre-arranged last-mile ride makes the visit simpler.

Villa Shionoe: confirm the day-use ticket first

Villa Shionoe’s spring information is unusually specific: it reports an alkaline, low-mineral spring at 16.1°C, with no added water and a heated circulation system. Each side has an outdoor bath, a large bath, a sauna and a cold-water bath. This is a circulated and heated spring, not a source-fed flow-through bath.

The uncertainty is day-use access, not the bathing facilities. The hotel’s published bathing hours—noon to 11 p.m. and 6–10 a.m.—are for the facility; they do not confirm that day visitors can buy a walk-in ticket. Shionoe’s tourism association announced an open-ended suspension of day-use bathing in 2022.

A 2025 cherry-blossom lunch offer later included an admission ticket and said guests without the ticket could not use the bath. That limited event does not establish a regular service in 2026.

Book a current day-use package or contact the hotel before adding Villa Shionoe to your itinerary. Its access page recommends Route 193; it warns that Routes 30 and 43 become very narrow in places. The hotel lists free parking.

Loop Shionoe is a pool and wellness centre, not an onsen

Loop Shionoe charges ¥620 for adults, ¥370 for junior- and senior-high-school students and guests aged 65 or older, and ¥250 for children from preschool age through elementary school. It opens from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., with last entry at 7:45 p.m.; the pool, bath and showers close at 8:15 p.m. The centre is normally closed on Tuesdays, with a summer operating period when it stays open daily.

The facility has a heated pool, bathing area and showers. Its operator does not publish natural-spring analysis, so treat it as a place to swim or wash after exercise, not as a confirmed Shionoe hot spring. Tattoos are listed among the reasons a visitor may be refused entry. For a clearer explanation of the distinction, see how sentō, onsen and super sentō differ.

Is Shionoe practical without a car?

It is possible, but plan around the bus rather than treating Shionoe as a neighbourhood bath. The route bus from Takamatsu Station takes about 70 minutes to the Shionoe terminus. Shinkabakawa says it can pick guests up from that stop with advance notice; for LiVEMAX or Villa Shionoe, confirm the final leg directly with the property before you go.

If you have a half day, Shinkabakawa is the simplest no-car plan: check the bus timetable, reserve the pickup, bathe, then return on a service that still fits your evening. If you have only a short gap in Takamatsu, stay in town and use the Takamatsu onsen comparison instead. The journey into the hills is part of the outing, not a ten-minute hop from the station.

What happened to Gyōki no Yu?

Gyōki no Yu closed on May 8, 2023, according to both Shionoe’s tourism association and Takamatsu City. It was next to the former roadside-station area and still appears in older travel posts, but it is no longer an option for bathing.

The association’s closure notice pointed readers toward a new bathing facility expected in fiscal 2026. That was an earlier target, not a current opening date. Takamatsu City’s August 2026 revision says repeated unsuccessful bridge-construction tenders and rising construction costs have pushed the opening back substantially; the city is reviewing how the regional development facilities will be delivered and revising the schedule. Do not plan a visit on the assumption that the replacement public bath has opened.

Sources

Checked September 28, 2026. Prices and operating details can change; confirm same-day notices, especially for LiVEMAX’s outdoor baths and Villa Shionoe day-use access.

Topics

Takamatsu Kagawa hot spring Japan travel onsen prices onsen access sauna