Arima Onsen Gin no Yu — Local services in Kobe

Gin no Yu (Silver Spring) is one of the two famous hot springs available for day visitors to Arima Onsen (the other being its golden counterpart). We wanted to avoid the crowds and decided to venture uphill to the silver way instead.

Super easy and tourist friendly to access the onsen. You first place your shoes in a mini shoe locker at the front before using some cash at the vending machine to order your bathing experience and toiletries such as towels. We opted for a regular bath entry with a towel ourselves.

The bathing area was very nice inside. Plenty of space to quickly clean yourself before diving into the hot baths. They had two large baths along with standing shower stalls and a sauna. You're free to stay as long as you want to enjoy the baths.

Although we enjoyed the indoor bathing experience, we were bummed that there were no outdoor seating/lounging areas both in and out of the onsen. Everything was done indoors which didn't quite meet our expectations but it was still a lovely...

My wife and I I were there on a weekday in Feb 2025. It was cold and we decided on Gin-no-Yu as Jin-no-Yu was closed for renovations. The bath is rather small and can become a little crowded at times. But the place is clean and well managed. There are many warning notices to remind users to be mindful of theft. This actually made us felt unsafe. With such big potential in Arima Onsen area, the operators and local government should enhance safety standards for public amenities. There is free Kobe WIFI in the area for visitors. It is also pretty decent in uploading to social platforms. F&B is limited but with time, the variety should be improved. Buses and trains ply the route from and to the destination to nearby cities and towns. Especially the direct bus from...

I hiked up Mount Rokka from Ashiya came back down the other side to visit Arima. I came around 2pm on a Sunday. Not very crowded and the staff was familiar enough with handling foreigners to gesture what to do and demonstrated. Make sure you have a 100 yen coin for the locker. Bring your own towel if you don't want to spend 200 yen on a small towel. But you do get to keep the towel and it has the hot spring's name/ logo. The pool is averaged size. Not as hot as some of the other hot springs I've been to so I was able to sit in for a bit longer than usual. It was very nice to soak and relax after the hike. It wasn't amazing but it wasn't bad either. Try the Arima cider. And make sure...