Japanese Bath House (booking required) — Attraction in South Bowenfels

Hard to describe the weirdness of this place. To start, you waste at least 15 mins with an induction after receiving some cheap plastic things and paddling thru a foot bath of goodness knows what. This must be the only bath house with no towel provided! Had to buy one for $15. The towel is nasty cheap micro fiber and smelt really stale and dusty. No yukata provided. Thought that would come later, but no. Asked a person wearing one where they got it, they said 'with a package'. Felt a bit 2nd class customer after that. Went to change room, wow how dismal! Just dark, lots of lockers and no cubicles or change benches - very weird!. Provided with a nasty nylon sack to cart anything you want around with like phone or sunglasses, hat etc. told to shower about 30 times, told not to lose locker key about 30 times! Stuffed my stinky nylon towel in my stinky plastic bag and ventured forth! First bath off the plastic decking didn't have a very nice aspect and looked like a fibre glass pond with fake plants around. As you go deeper into the bath area you realize it's all fibre glass and fake. There are even fake plastic trees, plastic hedges, fake caves and lots of fiber glass pots to sit in. It was a hot day, I could smell the PVC hedges melting!! More fake grass, fake cherry blossom, fake koi ponds that look like volcanoes kids build at school. There was a nice row of topiary trees. Seriously just get rid of the plastic fake shit, it looks really bad, and invest in some stone things and real ferns or something or wooden screening!!!! The piece de la resistance is the fake bamboo maze. About 200 plastic bamboo poles mounted in pink cement inside a big hangar with 2 pool beds that are supposed to be relaxation pods. This area is completely useless. It could make an excellent changing area, or put some ice baths or mud baths! Indoor there's actually a nice stone pool and spa and a steam room. Water to drink is around the place in plastic drums with the most stupid paper/plastic lined envelopes to drink from which hold about a teaspoon of water and are totally inadequate. I felt very dehydrated towards the end of our session Honestly they should have stuck to just the indoor area, the rest of the baths are horrible! There's fantastic views but pity you can't meditate on any of the scenery from any of the actual (fake) pools. After sitting on a chair in a summer storm for a while our time was up. We managed to giggle and be astonished by the fakeness for 3 hrs. We got changed and I showered and dried my hair which took 20 mins. When we sat down for some tea after (again the only bathhouse I've ever been to that didn't offer you included water or tea), we were threatened with excess charges as we hadn't rushed to hand over the locker key after exactly 3 hours. Food was ridiculously expensive and very limited and also the teas. Overall, would not recommend at all. It's very dingy and depressing to see so much plastic. I know it's not possible to recreate an authentic onsen, but even given low expectations we left very disappointed with the tiered service levels and felt somewhat scammed out of $100 each plus the cost of 4 hours driving with tolls...

I kinda wish I had read the reviews before attending. It was extremely expensive for what you get. $110, and although I brought my own very nice, expensive Havaianas thongs, I was made to take them off, and instead wear this cheap and nasty set they give you that makes the most HORRENDOUS squeaking and squelching noises when you walk. I have Autism and Mysophonia, and it literally set my teeth off. Even writing this now, remembering it is making my teeth feel funny. It was AWFUL. Then add to that the fact that they make EVERYONE wear them. So it's EVERYWHERE!!! I ended up walking barefoot on the freezing cold concrete most of the time because the sound was so bad. I don't see why we couldn't just sanitize our own thongs. The tour of the facilities took AGES and was highly unnecessary; it's not a big place, we are all adults and could easily work it out ourselves. It was borderline condescending at some points. I think reducing that, which ate into a considerable amount of the EXPENSIVE time of the booking, and instead reminding people to TALK QUIETLY would be far better. Seriously, it was SO HARD to relax with the sheer amount of noise from rude people who couldn't shut up. Not only was there CONSTANT chatter, it was not even in hushed tones. So UNRELAXING. Completely ruined the experience. The lockers are far too small for a big bag; I barely got mine into it, and yes, you do need a big bag for your clothes and towels, etc. It's COLD in the Blue Mountains, and tracksuits take up room in a bag. There's also NOT enough room in the changing area. I had to get changed in the toilet! They expected you to try to change in a cramped room out in the open for all to see. I understand Japanese culture is more open with bodies, but there was always a private option in places I went in Japan, so why not here? Literally would have been bumping bare bums with the lady next to me in that cramped room! Lastly, the food prices are out of control. It cost $22 for a small plate of 6 Takoyaki. A small plate of edamame beans was $18!! Outrageous. I'm talking what usually costs $4 and $8 respectively at a sushi train!! Reading the reviews, it looks like this is a similar set of complaints from many attendees, and it hasn't gotten better for several years. I did enjoy the hot pools, but they overbooked it so I never even got to try some of them, as they were constantly full of people, it was nowhere near as good as Mornington Peninsula Hot Springs in Melbourne, which is also a QUARTER of the price! The fact they have recently increased their pricing from $85 to $110 and this is the experience is downright highway robbery. I absolutely feel like I was ripped off. I made the most of it, but I definitely won't be back unless the price is reduced considerably and these things are...

My husband and I booked in for 3 hours at the hot springs which cost $140 in total. It was so incredibly overpriced, customer service was terrible and it was a waste of money.

There were an excessive amount of rules, a non-welcoming vibe, we were given the impression it was a privilege for us to be there and we were a bother for using the facilities. For the booking I had to pay 50% deposit and the balance on the day. Only after the deposit had successfully come through was the booking confirmed and details were provided, it was a though they didn't trust the customers to pay. Then, a long list of rules came through via email. This set the wrong tone before we arrived. For example, if you exceed 3 hours in the bath house even by the smallest margin, there is an additional charge of $25 per person. If anyone wants to come through to the bath house (without using the facilities) the full entry fee of $70 is applicable. Inside the bathhouse there were too many rules on where you can go, and what can be used. THE MOST RIDICULOUS RULE WAS THIS: my husband was wearing shorts (proper swimwear version) but he was not allowed to wear a tshirt with them. He was self-conscious about his body and didn’t feel comfortable going in a spa with the chest exposed. He was told by the staff he had to get out of the spa and take the tshirt off. Since he was uncomfortable without the tshirt he didn’t use the spa for the rest of the time there (he was only in the spa a few minutes before he was told to get out). I felt bad he wasn’t enjoying himself so I didn’t enjoy myself and we left early. We paid $70 for him to sit around a spa and not even use the facilities. Very unacceptable, staff didn’t care. We were told prior to coming "we require proper swimmers to be wore, ie no T-shirt or shorts to be worn over them for female." It did not state men couldn't wear shirts.

The facilities were also very basic, not enough spas. The staff were so rude and self promotional. The induction took forever, it was 40 minutes into the booking before we were allowed into the spa, which was considerable given guests are required to pay for even 5 minutes exceeding 3 hours. Overrated and...