Uji Natural Hot Spring Genji-no-Yu — Restaurant in Uji

As a British person on holiday, this was a great place to relax when after a long day of walking through Kyoto and Osaka. My airbnb is nearby so getting there isn't a hassle.

The English isn't great here so I'll talk through what I did.

Before go, make sure to bring a towel so you don't go end up paying 200¥ to use one. Walk in, take your shoes off. Put them in the shoe locker on the left, then go up to counter with the shoe locker key, give them the key and say the amount of people you'll be paying for, wether it's just you or friends (you wont actually be paying at this stage) Once that's done and you got your arm band, they will tell you to go to the end of the corridor and turn left. Then, at the end of that corridor, go through the right gender entrance. In the next room your in,Put your stuff away in the locker then go straight through the door at the other end of the locker

Once you spent your time, head out, dry yourself, put your clothes back on, then back to the counter to pay typically, it costs 1000¥ for the your time there.

As of April 2019, that's how I've done it. I doubt it will change so I recommend following that guide above to have a vague idea on what to do.

Also, you can actually google street view inside the building so do that if you so wish to...

no tattoo allowed, but we entered already, were then kicked out in the changing rooms and still had to pay the full entry fee, even though the staff said she‘ll let the staff at the counter know, so we wouldn‘t need to pay the full amount. i have a slightly more visible tattoo, but my friend‘s are super tiny fine line tattoos under her arms, and we said we‘ll cover them and you can‘t see them anyways if you‘re under water, but they were very insistent, saying it would make other customers „uncomfortable“. the old ladies in the bath were very nice to me and i don‘t think they had a problem, but ok. we were also the only foreigners there, it seems that it‘s a very local place.

the baths looked fine (we didn’t get to bath, just looked around), a little small, and very crowded with lots of people, but it seemed alright otherwise. the staff‘s attitude was polite, i‘m just a little disappointed that they still have such a policy. if they refunded us at least, i’d understand, but having to pay the full price for using just the shower was a little… i went to so many other bath houses and onsen in japan, and never have i been told anything...

Entry fee is 1100 Yen. You pay once you exit the facility. If you need towels they rent a small and a big towel for a small fee. It seems to be very popular with the locals. When we went there it did not seem too crowded and we were the only tourists. You receive cards at the entrance which you can charge with additional fees such as food and drinks.

The women’s section has 3 indoor hot pools, 1 bigger outdoor aroma hot pool, 2 small hot tubs (also outdoors) and a cold plunge. There is also a dry and a wet sauna. In the wet sauna you can also rub some salt on your body to treat your skin. The shower area is clean and has a variety of soaps and shampoos with green apple, oolong or grape scents!

Inside the facility there is a restaurant with delicious meals.

To get there we managed to catch the free shuttle bus from the Uji station. To get on the bus just wait at the stop next to the 7-eleven. The bus should come hourly. We caught the 16:35 bus.

We visited in February so the outdoor pools were...