Fushimi Chikara-no-yu — Local services in Kyoto

I was skeptical about this place's low rating before I came, but now that I've been here, I understand why it's rated so low. First off, the place is very small. The second floor consists only of the onsen itself, while the first floor only has a small cafeteria, the front desk, and the shoe lockers. There is essentially no resting area. There are a couple of seats besides the ones in the cafeteria, but nowhere near sufficient for accommodating the amount of customers this place gets.

Second, the facility is old. You can tell by the fact that over half of the showers in the onsens do not have walls separating each other. Instead, two shower units share a bench-like seat, so you're open to the person showering next to you. Furthermore, the shower heads in these no-wall showers are not handheld, as they are in every other onsen that I have ever been to. They are fixed to the wall, and the nozzle (attached to the shower head) only turns the shower on/off. In all of the showers (including the ones separated by walls, which do have handheld shower heads), there is no way to control the temperature of the water. Instead, you have one main shower head for hot water and one faucet for cold water. The faucet is not a shower head so the only way to use cold water is to collect it in the bowl or with your towel.

The baths themselves are decent. Nothing bad or particularly special.

I really think this place ought to just close for a while and renovate. Until it undergoes some major improvements, I don't think it's worth...

Unbelievably bad. Worst super public spa I've ever been to in Japan, in years. It feels more like a large sento, with more jet spas & a salt spa. I'd rather go to a small sento (only 450¥). The high ceiling structure makes the sounds louder, & somehow the locals there talk extra loudly (in Japanese). The middle-aged Japanese women don't rinse before entering the cold bath despite the Japanese sign. One put her face & hair (!!) where the water spouts into the cold bath. I told a staff who agreed that was NOT OK, & to tell them if it happened again. I came out less relaxed & more annoyed. 850¥ on weekends/ hols. 750¥ on weekdays. Not worth it. Avoid if possible. It draws in crowds only cos of its...

Decent supersento in an area with not too many other options. The natural hot spring in the outdoor bath is trucked in from Nose in Osaka (運び湯) meaning there is no well on the site. It's smaller than what has become usual but is part of a bigger entertainment complex. This is in south Kyoto and not a part of the Kyoto tourist complex. Don't expect the "Kyoto" experience, go to Tensan or FuFu in...