[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":844},["ShallowReactive",2],{"catalog":3,"disc-onsen":400},{"destinations":4,"resorts":123,"concerns":200,"concernGroups":283,"landings":296,"markets":321,"modalities":361,"totals":392},[5,19,27,36,44,53,62,69,75,83,89,95,102,108,116],{"slug":6,"name":7,"country":8,"cluster":9,"modalities":10,"resortCount":13,"programmeCount":14,"fromPrice":15,"gatewayCode":18},"kerala","Kerala","India","asia",[11,12],"ayurveda","yoga",3,4,{"amount":16,"currency":17},128000,"INR","COK",{"slug":20,"name":21,"country":8,"cluster":9,"modalities":22,"resortCount":23,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":24,"gatewayCode":26},"rishikesh","Rishikesh",[12,11],2,{"amount":25,"currency":17},207000,"DED",{"slug":28,"name":29,"country":30,"cluster":9,"modalities":31,"resortCount":23,"programmeCount":23,"fromPrice":32,"gatewayCode":35},"sri-lanka-coast","The Ayurveda coast","Sri Lanka",[11,12],{"amount":33,"currency":34},2180,"EUR","CMB",{"slug":37,"name":38,"country":38,"cluster":9,"modalities":39,"resortCount":41,"programmeCount":42,"gatewayCode":43},"bhutan","Bhutan",[40],"sowa-rigpa",1,0,"PBH",{"slug":45,"name":46,"country":47,"cluster":9,"modalities":48,"resortCount":23,"programmeCount":23,"fromPrice":49,"gatewayCode":52},"ubud","Ubud","Indonesia",[12],{"amount":50,"currency":51},2070,"USD","DPS",{"slug":54,"name":55,"country":56,"cluster":9,"modalities":57,"resortCount":23,"programmeCount":23,"fromPrice":59,"gatewayCode":61},"koh-samui","Koh Samui","Thailand",[58],"thai-lanna",{"amount":60,"currency":51},1890,"USM",{"slug":63,"name":64,"country":65,"cluster":9,"modalities":66,"resortCount":41,"programmeCount":42,"gatewayCode":68},"beppu","Beppu","Japan",[67],"onsen","OIT",{"slug":70,"name":71,"country":65,"cluster":9,"modalities":72,"resortCount":41,"programmeCount":42,"gatewayCode":74},"okinawa","Okinawa",[73,67],"longevity","OKA",{"slug":76,"name":77,"country":78,"cluster":79,"modalities":80,"resortCount":23,"programmeCount":42,"gatewayCode":82},"baden-baden","Baden-Baden","Germany","europe",[81],"balneotherapy","FKB",{"slug":84,"name":85,"country":86,"cluster":79,"modalities":87,"resortCount":41,"programmeCount":42,"gatewayCode":88},"karlovy-vary","Karlovy Vary","Czechia",[81],"PRG",{"slug":90,"name":91,"country":92,"cluster":79,"modalities":93,"resortCount":41,"programmeCount":42,"gatewayCode":94},"bad-gastein","Bad Gastein","Austria",[81],"SZG",{"slug":96,"name":97,"country":98,"cluster":79,"modalities":99,"resortCount":41,"programmeCount":42,"gatewayCode":101},"quiberon","Quiberon","France",[100],"thalassotherapy","LRT",{"slug":103,"name":104,"country":105,"cluster":79,"modalities":106,"resortCount":41,"programmeCount":42,"gatewayCode":107},"montreux","Montreux","Switzerland",[73],"GVA",{"slug":109,"name":110,"country":92,"cluster":79,"modalities":111,"resortCount":23,"programmeCount":23,"fromPrice":113,"gatewayCode":115},"tyrol","Tyrol",[112,81],"mayr",{"amount":114,"currency":34},4310,"INN",{"slug":117,"name":118,"country":119,"cluster":120,"modalities":121,"resortCount":41,"programmeCount":42,"gatewayCode":122},"nicoya","The Nicoya peninsula","Costa Rica","americas",[73,12],"LIR",[124,129,132,135,139,142,145,148,152,155,158,161,164,168,171,175,178,181,184,187,191,194,197],{"slug":125,"name":126,"destinationSlug":6,"destinationName":7,"country":8,"character":127,"relationship":128},"somatheeram","Somatheeram Ayurveda Village","ayurveda-hospital","bookable",{"slug":130,"name":131,"destinationSlug":6,"destinationName":7,"country":8,"character":127,"relationship":128},"kalari-kovilakom","Kalari Kovilakom",{"slug":133,"name":134,"destinationSlug":6,"destinationName":7,"country":8,"character":127,"relationship":128},"carnoustie","Carnoustie Ayurveda & Wellness Resort",{"slug":136,"name":137,"destinationSlug":20,"destinationName":21,"country":8,"character":138,"relationship":128},"ananda-himalayas","Ananda in the Himalayas","retreat",{"slug":140,"name":141,"destinationSlug":20,"destinationName":21,"country":8,"character":138,"relationship":128},"six-senses-vana","Six Senses Vana",{"slug":143,"name":144,"destinationSlug":28,"destinationName":29,"country":30,"character":127,"relationship":128},"barberyn-reef","Barberyn Reef",{"slug":146,"name":147,"destinationSlug":28,"destinationName":29,"country":30,"character":138,"relationship":128},"santani","Santani Wellness Resort",{"slug":149,"name":150,"destinationSlug":37,"destinationName":38,"country":38,"character":138,"relationship":151},"amankora","Amankora","profile",{"slug":153,"name":154,"destinationSlug":45,"destinationName":46,"country":47,"character":138,"relationship":128},"como-shambhala-estate","COMO Shambhala Estate",{"slug":156,"name":157,"destinationSlug":45,"destinationName":46,"country":47,"character":138,"relationship":128},"fivelements-bali","Fivelements Retreat Bali",{"slug":159,"name":160,"destinationSlug":54,"destinationName":55,"country":56,"character":138,"relationship":128},"kamalaya","Kamalaya",{"slug":162,"name":163,"destinationSlug":54,"destinationName":55,"country":56,"character":138,"relationship":128},"absolute-sanctuary","Absolute Sanctuary",{"slug":165,"name":166,"destinationSlug":63,"destinationName":64,"country":65,"character":167,"relationship":151},"suginoi","Suginoi Hotel","thermal-cure",{"slug":169,"name":170,"destinationSlug":70,"destinationName":71,"country":65,"character":138,"relationship":151},"hoshinoya-okinawa","Hoshinoya Okinawa",{"slug":172,"name":173,"destinationSlug":76,"destinationName":77,"country":78,"character":174,"relationship":151},"villa-stephanie","Brenners Park-Hotel & Villa Stéphanie","medical-clinic",{"slug":176,"name":177,"destinationSlug":76,"destinationName":77,"country":78,"character":167,"relationship":151},"friedrichsbad","Friedrichsbad",{"slug":179,"name":180,"destinationSlug":84,"destinationName":85,"country":86,"character":167,"relationship":151},"grandhotel-pupp","Grandhotel Pupp",{"slug":182,"name":183,"destinationSlug":90,"destinationName":91,"country":92,"character":174,"relationship":151},"gasteiner-heilstollen","Gasteiner Heilstollen",{"slug":185,"name":186,"destinationSlug":96,"destinationName":97,"country":98,"character":167,"relationship":151},"thalassa-quiberon","Institut Thalassa Quiberon",{"slug":188,"name":189,"destinationSlug":103,"destinationName":104,"country":105,"character":190,"relationship":151},"clinique-la-prairie","Clinique La Prairie","longevity-clinic",{"slug":192,"name":193,"destinationSlug":109,"destinationName":110,"country":92,"character":174,"relationship":128},"lanserhof-lans","Lanserhof Lans",{"slug":195,"name":196,"destinationSlug":109,"destinationName":110,"country":92,"character":174,"relationship":128},"park-igls","Park Igls",{"slug":198,"name":199,"destinationSlug":117,"destinationName":118,"country":119,"character":138,"relationship":151},"harmony-nosara","Harmony Hotel",[201,207,212,217,224,229,235,241,246,253,258,264,268,273,278],{"slug":202,"name":203,"group":204,"said":205,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":206},"sleep","Sleep","mind","I fall asleep fine and then I am awake at three.",{"amount":16,"currency":17},{"slug":208,"name":209,"group":204,"said":210,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":211},"burnout","Burnout & exhaustion","I am not depressed. I am just completely empty.",{"amount":33,"currency":34},{"slug":213,"name":214,"group":204,"said":215,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":216},"stress-and-anxiety","Stress & anxiety","My shoulders are somewhere near my ears and they have been for a year.",{"amount":50,"currency":51},{"slug":218,"name":219,"group":220,"said":221,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":222},"digestion","Digestion & the gut","body","Something has been wrong with my stomach for years and nobody can tell me what.",{"amount":223,"currency":17},286000,{"slug":225,"name":226,"group":220,"said":227,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":228},"weight","Weight & metabolic health","I have lost the same eight kilos four times.",{"amount":60,"currency":51},{"slug":230,"name":231,"group":220,"said":232,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":233},"back-and-joints","Back, neck & joints","My lower back has been a background noise for a decade.",{"amount":234,"currency":17},251000,{"slug":236,"name":237,"group":238,"said":239,"programmeCount":23,"fromPrice":240},"chronic-pain","Chronic & rheumatic pain","medical","I have a diagnosis. I am looking for something that is not another drug.",{"amount":234,"currency":17},{"slug":242,"name":243,"group":220,"said":244,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":245},"detox","Detox & the annual reset","I want to properly clean myself out once a year.",{"amount":234,"currency":17},{"slug":247,"name":248,"group":249,"said":250,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":251},"menopause","Menopause & perimenopause","life-stage","I am not sleeping, I am not myself, and I am tired of being told it is normal.",{"amount":252,"currency":17},185000,{"slug":254,"name":255,"group":249,"said":256,"programmeCount":41,"fromPrice":257},"fertility","Fertility & preconception","We are trying, and I want to give my body the best possible chance.",{"amount":252,"currency":17},{"slug":259,"name":260,"group":238,"said":261,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":262},"post-viral-fatigue","After illness","I was ill six months ago and I still am not right.",{"amount":263,"currency":34},2770,{"slug":73,"name":265,"group":238,"said":266,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":267},"Longevity & prevention","I am well. I would like to stay that way, and I would like some data.",{"amount":114,"currency":34},{"slug":269,"name":270,"group":249,"said":271,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":272},"first-retreat","A first retreat","I have never done anything like this and I do not want to get it wrong.",{"amount":50,"currency":51},{"slug":274,"name":275,"group":249,"said":276,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":277},"travelling-alone","Travelling alone","I am going by myself and I do not want to eat dinner alone for two weeks.",{"amount":263,"currency":34},{"slug":279,"name":280,"group":249,"said":281,"programmeCount":13,"fromPrice":282},"together","Going together","I want to do the programme. My partner wants a holiday.",{"amount":252,"currency":17},[284,287,290,293],{"key":204,"title":285,"note":286},"Mind & nervous system","Where a change of place does the most work, and where the evidence is best.",{"key":220,"title":288,"note":289},"Body & metabolism","Digestion, weight, joints — the concerns that respond to daily repetition over a fortnight.",{"key":238,"title":291,"note":292},"With a diagnosis","Alongside your own doctor, never instead. These pages are the most careful on the site.",{"key":249,"title":294,"note":295},"Where you are","Menopause, preconception, a first retreat, travelling alone or together.",[297,300,303,306,309,312,315,318],{"slug":298,"h1":299},"ayurveda-retreats-in-india","Ayurveda retreats in India",{"slug":301,"h1":302},"balneotherapy-retreats-in-austria","The thermal kur retreats in Austria",{"slug":304,"h1":305},"balneotherapy-retreats-in-czechia","The thermal kur retreats in Czechia",{"slug":307,"h1":308},"balneotherapy-retreats-in-germany","The thermal kur retreats in Germany",{"slug":310,"h1":311},"longevity-retreats-in-japan","Longevity retreats in Japan",{"slug":313,"h1":314},"longevity-retreats-in-switzerland","Longevity retreats in Switzerland",{"slug":316,"h1":317},"mayr-retreats-in-austria","The Mayr cure retreats in Austria",{"slug":319,"h1":320},"mayr-retreats-in-germany","The Mayr cure retreats in Germany",[322,325,328,330,332,335,337,340,343,346,349,352,355,358],{"slug":323,"shortName":324},"united-kingdom","United Kingdom",{"slug":326,"shortName":327},"ireland","Ireland",{"slug":329,"shortName":78},"germany",{"slug":331,"shortName":98},"france",{"slug":333,"shortName":334},"spain","Spain",{"slug":336,"shortName":105},"switzerland",{"slug":338,"shortName":339},"netherlands","Netherlands",{"slug":341,"shortName":342},"united-states","United States",{"slug":344,"shortName":345},"canada","Canada",{"slug":347,"shortName":348},"mexico","Mexico",{"slug":350,"shortName":351},"brazil","Brazil",{"slug":353,"shortName":354},"argentina","Argentina",{"slug":356,"shortName":357},"chile","Chile",{"slug":359,"shortName":360},"colombia","Colombia",[362,366,371,374,377,380,383,386,389],{"slug":11,"name":363,"tagline":364,"regulated":365,"count":13},"Ayurveda","India’s licensed system of medicine, practised as medicine",true,{"slug":12,"name":367,"tagline":368,"regulated":369,"count":370},"Yoga","A lineage, a teacher, and enough consecutive days to matter",false,5,{"slug":81,"name":372,"tagline":373,"regulated":365,"count":14},"The thermal kur","Europe’s prescribed cure, still paid for by health insurers",{"slug":67,"name":375,"tagline":376,"regulated":365,"count":23},"Onsen","Japanese hot-spring bathing, defined by law",{"slug":100,"name":378,"tagline":379,"regulated":365,"count":41},"Thalassotherapy","Heated seawater, under medical supervision, since 1899",{"slug":58,"name":381,"tagline":382,"regulated":365,"count":41},"Traditional Thai medicine","A licensed profession, not the massage on the high street",{"slug":40,"name":384,"tagline":385,"regulated":365,"count":41},"Sowa Rigpa","Himalayan medicine, delivered by the state in Bhutan",{"slug":73,"name":387,"tagline":388,"regulated":365,"count":13},"Longevity","Two very different answers to the same question",{"slug":112,"name":390,"tagline":391,"regulated":365,"count":41},"The Mayr cure","A medically supervised digestive rest, invented in Austria",{"destinations":393,"countries":394,"resorts":395,"programmes":393,"concerns":393,"modalities":396,"bookable":397,"highConfidence":396,"excursions":398,"extensions":399},15,12,23,9,13,76,45,{"modality":401,"destinations":529,"resorts":783,"programmes":843},{"slug":67,"name":375,"tagline":376,"origin":402,"regulated":365,"regulationNote":403,"indications":404,"cautions":410,"whatHappens":415,"minimumNights":14,"recommendedNights":416,"image":417,"imageAlt":418,"originPlace":65,"body":419,"hardFacts":423,"evidence":430,"treatments":450,"glossary":474,"confusedWith":500,"figures":503,"faqs":516,"destinationCount":23,"resortCount":41,"programmeCount":42},"Japan, where the practice is old enough to have its own literature and its own statute.","Defined in Japanese law: the Hot Spring Act sets the minimum temperature and the mineral thresholds a source must meet before it may be called onsen. Individual springs are classified by chemistry — sulphur, bicarbonate, iron, simple alkaline — and the classification is posted at the bath.",[405,406,407,408,409],"Musculoskeletal aches, stiffness and recovery from exertion","Sleep, through the drop in core temperature after a hot bath","Skin conditions, in the sulphur and bicarbonate springs","Circulation, in the graded hot-and-cold protocols","Genuine rest, which Japan takes more seriously than most",[411,412,413,414],"Alcohol before bathing is dangerous and, in most ryokan, forbidden","Cardiac disease and uncontrolled blood pressure — the heat load is real","Bathe for shorter periods than feels natural; ten minutes is a long time at 42 °C","Tattoos are still refused at many traditional baths — we check and tell you which","You wash thoroughly, seated, before you get in — the bath is for soaking, never for cleaning. Then short immersions with long rests between them, several times a day, usually in a ryokan where the rhythm of bathing, a kaiseki dinner and early sleep is the entire programme. There is no therapist and nothing to book.",10,"photo-1560750588-73207b1ef5b8","A wooden bathing room open to a garden",[420,421,422],"Onsen is not a treatment and Japan does not pretend it is. It is a bathing culture with a legal definition, a two-thousand-year history and about twenty-seven thousand sources, and its therapeutic tradition — *tōji*, taking a cure by bathing — long predates any of the language the wellness industry uses about it.","The legal part matters. Japan’s Hot Spring Act sets out what may be called an onsen: water from underground at 25 °C or above at source, or containing specified quantities of any of a list of designated substances. A bathhouse must display its water’s analysis, and the composition is genuinely the point — a sulphur spring, a simple alkaline spring and an iron-rich spring are different propositions and Japanese bathers choose between them deliberately.","What a foreign visitor most needs is not clinical information but etiquette, because the etiquette is not optional and getting it wrong is the one way to have a bad time. You wash thoroughly, sitting, before entering. The small towel never goes in the water. You do not swim, splash or photograph. Tattoos remain a genuine obstacle at many establishments, though the position is softening and private baths solve it.",[424,425,426,427,428,429],"Japan’s Hot Spring Act (Onsen Hō, 1948) defines an onsen as water emerging at 25 °C or above, or containing specified amounts of designated constituents.","Japan has on the order of 27,000 hot spring sources and roughly 3,000 onsen resort areas.","Bathhouses are required to display the spring’s chemical analysis and its classification.","Beppu, on Kyushu, produces one of the largest volumes of hot spring water of any resort area in the world and is the site of the \"seven hells\".","*Tōji* — a therapeutic bathing stay of a week or more — is a documented tradition long predating modern wellness tourism.","Kusatsu, Kusatsu-Onsen’s water, is among the most acidic bathed in commercially, with a pH low enough to be antibacterial.",[431,435,439,442,446],{"claim":432,"status":433,"note":434},"Habitual hot-spring bathing is associated with better cardiovascular and sleep outcomes","mixed","Large Japanese observational cohorts report associations with lower cardiovascular risk and better self-reported sleep. Observational data on a population that self-selects into bathing cannot establish cause, and the authors say so.",{"claim":436,"status":437,"note":438},"Passive heat immersion produces real short-term physiological effects","good","Uncontroversial: heart rate, peripheral vasodilation, blood pressure and core temperature all change measurably. The step that is not established is from those responses to durable health outcomes.",{"claim":440,"status":433,"note":441},"Bathing before bed improves sleep onset","The mechanism — a warm bath 1–2 hours before bed accelerating the core-temperature drop that initiates sleep — is supported by a reasonable body of work. The effect size is modest and the timing matters more than the mineral content.",{"claim":443,"status":444,"note":445},"Specific mineral compositions treat specific conditions","traditional","A detailed traditional taxonomy — sulphur for skin, iron for anaemia, carbonated for circulation — with centuries of clinical use and little modern controlled evidence for the differentiation between water types.",{"claim":447,"status":448,"note":449},"Onsen bathing detoxifies or \"eliminates\" anything","none","It does not, and Japanese bathhouses generally do not claim it. That framing is an export.",[451,455,458,462,466,470],{"name":452,"duration":453,"body":454},"Rotenburo","10–15 minutes at a time","The open-air bath, and the reason to come in winter. Bathing in 42 °C water with snow falling on your head is the single best argument onsen culture makes for itself.",{"name":456,"duration":453,"body":457},"Uchiyu","The indoor bath. Usually hotter, usually where the serious bathers are, and where the water analysis is posted on the wall.",{"name":459,"duration":460,"body":461},"Sunayu — sand bathing","10 minutes buried, then bathe","Buried to the neck in volcanically heated black sand, at Beppu and Ibusuki. Ten minutes is the maximum and it is quite enough; the weight of the sand is as much of the effect as the heat.",{"name":463,"duration":464,"body":465},"Mushiyu — steam bathing","8–15 minutes","Steam rooms floored with medicinal herbs, at Beppu’s Kannawa district in stone huts that have been in use for centuries.",{"name":467,"duration":468,"body":469},"Ashiyu — foot bath","As long as you like","Public foot baths on the street, free, clothed, and the correct answer for anyone not ready to undress in public or waiting for a train.",{"name":471,"duration":472,"body":473},"Kashikiri — private bath","45–60 minutes, booked","A reservable private bath. The solution for tattooed visitors, for couples, for families, and for anyone whose first onsen it is.",[475,477,480,482,485,488,491,494,497],{"term":375,"meaning":476},"A hot spring meeting the legal definition — and the bath house built on it.",{"term":478,"meaning":479},"Sentō","A public bath on ordinary heated water. Not an onsen, and a great institution in its own right.",{"term":452,"meaning":481},"Open-air bath.",{"term":483,"meaning":484},"Tōji","A therapeutic bathing stay of a week or more — the traditional cure.",{"term":486,"meaning":487},"Yukata","The cotton robe worn around a ryokan. Left side over right; the other way is for funerals.",{"term":489,"meaning":490},"Ryokan","A traditional inn, usually with its own baths and a kaiseki dinner.",{"term":492,"meaning":493},"Kakenagashi","Free-flowing: water passing through once and out, never recirculated. The mark of a serious bath.",{"term":495,"meaning":496},"Kashikiri","A private bath booked for your exclusive use.",{"term":498,"meaning":499},"Yudedako","\"Boiled octopus\" — what you look like if you stay in too long. Get out at ten minutes.",{"name":501,"difference":502},"A spa","A spa sells you treatments. An onsen sells you a ticket to water, and everything else — the bathing sequence, the rest afterwards, the meal, the pace — you do yourself. There is no therapist, no consultation and usually no menu. The absence is the product, and it takes most first-timers about two days to stop looking for the missing part.",[504,507,510,513],{"value":505,"label":506},"27,000","Hot spring sources",{"value":508,"label":509},"25 °C","The legal threshold",{"value":511,"label":512},"1948","Hot Spring Act",{"value":514,"label":515},"10 min","One immersion",[517,520,523,526],{"q":518,"a":519},"I have tattoos. Can I go?","Sometimes, and it is worth planning around. Many establishments still refuse visible tattoos because of their historic association with organised crime, though the position is softening and some resort areas now welcome visitors regardless. The reliable answers are a private bath, a tattoo-friendly house, or covering a small tattoo with a patch. Tell us and we will book accordingly.",{"q":521,"a":522},"Do I really have to be naked?","In the communal baths, yes — swimwear is not permitted, and this is not negotiable in the way visitors sometimes hope. Private baths, foot baths and a small number of mixed swimwear complexes are the alternatives, and they are perfectly respectable ones.",{"q":524,"a":525},"How long should I stay in?","Ten minutes, then get out, cool down and go back. Japanese bathers cycle rather than soak. Long single immersions at 42 °C are how people faint, and the risk is real for anyone with cardiovascular disease or after a drink.",{"q":527,"a":528},"Is it worth building a trip around?","For a bathing culture, yes — but be clear that this is travel and culture rather than a supervised programme. There is no consultation and nothing is prescribed. We list it because Beppu and the ryokan tradition are among the great things in this atlas, not because they are a treatment.",[530,668],{"slug":63,"name":64,"place":531,"country":65,"countryCode":532,"cluster":9,"fame":41,"modalities":533,"hook":534,"caseFor":535,"hardFacts":540,"caveat":546,"season":547,"seasonNote":548,"practical":549,"figures":565,"faqs":577,"image":417,"imageAlt":418,"gallery":584,"coords":594,"gateway":597,"tempC":619,"climateNote":628,"leisure":629,"extensions":654,"resortCount":41,"programmeCount":42},"Ōita, on Kyūshū","JP",[67],"The largest hot-spring town on earth by volume — and the reference site for Japanese balneology.",[536,537,538,539],"Onsen is defined in Japanese law. The Hot Springs Act of 1948 sets a statutory definition: water that reaches 25 °C at source, or contains one of a listed set of minerals above threshold. What is posted at the bath is a legal classification, not a marketing claim.","Beppu contains almost every water chemistry Japanese law recognises within a single city, which is why it is the standard reference site for balneological research.","The scale is not a boast. The city discharges more than 130,000 tonnes of thermal water a day from roughly 2,800 registered vents — the largest volume in Japan and second in the world after Yellowstone.","The eight thermal districts were collectively designated Beppu Hatto in 1924, and the Minister of the Environment has designated National Hot Spring Health Resorts under the Act since 1954.",[541,542,543,544,545],"The Hot Springs Act (Onsen Hō), 1948, gives \"onsen\" a statutory definition — 25 °C at source, or a listed mineral above threshold.","Japan records over 27,000 hot-spring sources in more than 3,000 towns, discharging over 2.6 million litres per minute.","Beppu has around 2,909 hot-spring vents within the city — the highest concentration in Japan.","Beppu discharges more than 130,000 tonnes of hot-spring water daily, second in the world only to Yellowstone.","The eight districts — Beppu, Kankaiji, Kamegawa, Shibaseki, Kannawa, Myōban, Horita and Hamawaki — were designated Beppu Hattō in 1924.","This is the least programmed destination we list. There is no therapist, no consultation and nothing to book — you bathe, rest, eat and sleep early, and guests who want a schedule find that disorientating. Tattoos remain a real obstacle: a majority of Japanese bathing facilities have historically refused tattooed guests outright and, although the picture has softened, you must check property by property. We do — and we could not confirm the specific survey figures that circulate on this, so we do not quote them.",[41,41,23,23,41,42,42,42,41,23,23,23],"Onsen is a cold-weather practice: much of the physiological point is the contrast between chilled air and 42 °C water, and the steam columns that make Beppu photogenic only show in cold air. Late October to early December is the best of it. June to August combines heat and humidity with very hot bathing, which is a poor combination — locals bathe less in summer for exactly that reason.",[550,553,556,559,562],{"label":551,"value":552},"Getting there","Ōita (OIT) from Tokyo and Osaka, or the shinkansen to Kokura and a local train. Fukuoka is two hours by bus and often cheaper.",{"label":554,"value":555},"Etiquette","Wash thoroughly, seated, before entering. The bath is for soaking only. No swimwear, no towel in the water, no photographs.",{"label":557,"value":558},"Tattoos","Still refused at many traditional baths. Several properties have private baths that solve it — ask us before booking.",{"label":560,"value":561},"Bathing","Shorter than feels natural. Ten minutes at 42 °C is a long time, and repeated short soaks beat one long one.",{"label":563,"value":564},"Language","Limited English outside the larger ryokan. We book, confirm and brief in Japanese on your behalf.",[566,568,571,574],{"value":511,"label":567},"Hot Springs Act",{"value":569,"label":570},"2,909","Vents in the city",{"value":572,"label":573},"130k t","Discharged daily",{"value":575,"label":576},"1924","Beppu Hattō designated",[578,581],{"q":579,"a":580},"Is there any actual treatment, or is it just bathing?","Mostly it is bathing, and we would rather say so. The evidence for hot-spring bathing in musculoskeletal pain and sleep is reasonable; the more elaborate claims are not supported. What Japan adds is a structure — timing, temperature, rest, food and an early night — that turns bathing into a routine rather than a treat.",{"q":582,"a":583},"Will I be uncomfortable bathing communally?","For about ten minutes, and then not at all. Nobody looks. If it remains a genuine obstacle, several properties have rooms with private open-air baths, which is a different and more expensive experience.",[585,588,591],{"src":586,"alt":587},"photo-1526481280693-3bfa7568e0f3","A mountain above a Japanese valley",{"src":589,"alt":590},"photo-1493997181344-712f2f19d87a","A temple in a garden",{"src":592,"alt":593},"photo-1524413840807-0c3cb6fa808d","Blossom over water at night",{"lat":595,"lng":596},33.28,131.5,{"airport":598,"code":68,"city":599,"routings":600,"transfer":617,"flightNote":618},"Oita","Oita — with Fukuoka (FUK) the better long-haul gateway, two hours away by train",[601,605,609,613],{"from":602,"how":603,"time":604},"Tokyo","Direct to Oita, or the shinkansen to Kokura and the Sonic limited express down.","1h40 flying, 6h by rail",{"from":606,"how":607,"time":608},"Seoul, Shanghai & Taipei","Direct into Fukuoka, then two hours by rail.","1.5–3 hours flying",{"from":610,"how":611,"time":612},"London & western Europe","One stop via a Gulf hub or Tokyo Haneda, then the domestic leg.","17–19 hours door to door",{"from":614,"how":615,"time":616},"India & the Gulf","Via Tokyo, Seoul or Singapore into Fukuoka.","12–15 hours","40 minutes from Oita; two hours from Fukuoka by the Sonic limited express, which is a pleasant journey rather than a chore.","A Japan Rail Pass is worth buying before you leave if Beppu is one stop in a longer itinerary and worthless if it is not — it must be bought outside Japan and it does not cover the fastest Nozomi services. We will do the arithmetic against point-to-point tickets and tell you which way it falls.",[416,620,393,621,622,623,624,625,626,395,627,394],11,20,24,27,31,32,28,17,"A properly four-seasoned climate. The bathing is best when the air is cold — November to March is the season, and August is genuinely uncomfortable for it.",[630,636,640,645,650],{"name":631,"kind":632,"duration":633,"note":634,"when":635},"The seven hells of Beppu","culture","Half day","Jigoku meguri — the coloured hot springs you look at rather than bathe in. Two of the seven are worth the ticket; we will tell you which, and the combined pass is only worth it if you want all of them.","any",{"name":637,"kind":632,"duration":638,"note":639,"when":635},"A sand bath at Beppu Beach","90 minutes","Buried to the neck in volcanically heated black sand for ten minutes. Unlike anything else and, at a municipal price, the best value in the town.",{"name":641,"kind":632,"duration":642,"note":643,"when":644},"Yufuin, over the hill","Full day","A ryokan town in a caldera an hour inland, with a lake and a craft street. Much prettier than Beppu and much busier at weekends — go on a Tuesday.","rest-day",{"name":646,"kind":647,"duration":648,"note":649,"when":635},"Jigoku-mushi cooking","food","2 hours","Steam your own lunch in a municipal steam pit at Kannawa. Prawns, eggs and sweet potato in eight minutes of geothermal steam. Absurd and excellent.",{"name":651,"kind":652,"duration":633,"note":653,"when":644},"Mount Tsurumi by ropeway","nature","Ten minutes up to 1,300 m for the whole bay, and cherry blossom in April at a fortnight’s lag behind the town.",[655,660,663],{"name":656,"nights":657,"note":658,"side":659},"Kyoto & Nara","4 nights","The shinkansen north. If it is a first trip to Japan this is not optional, and Beppu is the better place to end than to begin.","after",{"name":661,"nights":657,"note":662,"side":659},"Kyushu by rail","Kumamoto castle, the Aso caldera, and Kagoshima under its live volcano — the whole island on one pass.",{"name":664,"nights":665,"note":666,"side":667},"Fukuoka & the yatai","2 nights","The gateway city, and the last great street-food stall culture in Japan.","before",{"slug":70,"name":71,"place":669,"country":65,"countryCode":532,"cluster":9,"fame":41,"modalities":670,"hook":671,"caseFor":672,"hardFacts":677,"caveat":683,"season":684,"seasonNote":685,"practical":686,"figures":697,"faqs":710,"image":717,"imageAlt":718,"gallery":719,"coords":728,"gateway":731,"tempC":751,"climateNote":756,"leisure":757,"extensions":773,"resortCount":41,"programmeCount":42},"Ōgimi and the northern villages",[73,67],"One of the five original Blue Zones — and the one where the honest story is that the island is selling a past it no longer has.",[673,674,675,676],"The original finding is real. Okinawa entered the Blue Zone canon on the strength of Japan’s own prefectural longevity records, and the vocabulary the wellness world now uses — ikigai, moai, the Okinawan diet — came from here rather than from a marketing department.","Ōgimi in the north, population just over three thousand, is where the longevity cohort actually lived, and the village still organises itself around the habits that produced it.","What is on offer is a set of habits with a place attached: eating to about eighty per cent full, a diet built on sweet potato and vegetables, unhurried daily movement, and the moai — a mutual-support group people belong to for life.","It combines with a week of onsen on Kyūshū to make a fortnight that is genuinely restful rather than merely instructive.",[678,679,680,681,682],"Gianni Pes and Michel Poulain coined “Blue Zone” for Sardinia; Okinawa was brought into the concept by Dan Buettner, building on Japan’s long-running prefectural longevity records, and popularised in The Blue Zones (2008).","Okinawan men’s life-expectancy rank among Japan’s 47 prefectures fell from 1st in 1985 to 26th around 2000 — known in Japan as the \"26 shock\".","Okinawa now has the highest average BMI of any Japanese prefecture and ranks last nationally for vegetable consumption.","Ōgimi Village, population just over 3,000, styles itself the longevity village.","Saul Justin Newman won the 2024 Ig Nobel Prize in Demography for work arguing that recorded extreme old age tracks poor record-keeping — notably that introducing state birth certification sharply reduces the count of recorded supercentenarians.","Okinawa’s Blue Zone status is the most contested claim on this atlas, and the honest position is that the island is selling a past it no longer has. The generation that produced the longevity statistics was born before 1940 and shaped by wartime scarcity; their grandchildren have the worst obesity figures in Japan. There is also a serious methodological critique — the Ig Nobel-winning argument that much Blue Zone data reflects clerical error rather than biology. We still send people, because a week of those habits in the place that had them is worth something. It is a much smaller claim than the one usually made.",[41,41,23,23,42,42,41,42,42,23,23,41],"October to early November is the best window: the summer humidity has broken, the sea is still warm, and the major typhoon risk has largely passed. March to April is the second window. June to September combines heat, humidity and typhoon season, when flights are cancelled at a day’s notice — we do not sell it.",[687,689,691,694],{"label":551,"value":688},"Naha (OKA) direct from Tokyo, Osaka, Taipei and Seoul. The northern villages are ninety minutes by road and a car is close to essential.",{"label":563,"value":690},"Japanese, with a strong local dialect among the older generation. We place an interpreter with the group for the village days.",{"label":692,"value":693},"What it is not","There is no clinic, no consultation and no protocol. If you want diagnostics, take the Swiss programme instead.",{"label":695,"value":696},"Typhoons","June to September carries real disruption risk. We do not sell this destination in those months.",[698,701,704,707],{"value":699,"label":700},"2008","The Blue Zones published",{"value":702,"label":703},"1985 → 2000","Rank 1st to 26th",{"value":705,"label":706},"3,000","Ōgimi population",{"value":708,"label":709},"Oct–Nov","Best window",[711,714],{"q":712,"a":713},"Will this make me live longer?","No, and nobody can sell you that. What ten nights can plausibly do is change a few daily habits by showing you a place where they are ordinary rather than effortful. That is a much smaller claim than the one usually made, and it is the only one we will make.",{"q":715,"a":716},"If the data is contested, why go?","Because the habits are worth learning whether or not they explain the statistics, and because the village stays we arrange are with families who chose to host. If you want a longevity claim backed by measurement, take the Swiss diagnostic week — it is a different product and we say so.","photo-1519046904884-53103b34b206","A palm and parasol on white sand in subtropical Japan",[720,722,724,725],{"src":417,"alt":721},"A wooden bathing room open to greenery",{"src":717,"alt":723},"Palms on a subtropical beach",{"src":592,"alt":593},{"src":726,"alt":727},"photo-1468413253725-0d5181091126","A palm-lined beach on the East China Sea",{"lat":729,"lng":730},26.69,128.12,{"airport":732,"code":74,"city":733,"routings":734,"transfer":749,"flightNote":750},"Naha","Naha — on the main island, with the north an hour and a half beyond it",[735,739,743,746],{"from":736,"how":737,"time":738},"Tokyo & Osaka","Direct, very frequent — this is a domestic holiday route.","2h30 from Tokyo",{"from":740,"how":741,"time":742},"Taipei, Seoul & Hong Kong","Direct.","1.5–2.5 hours",{"from":610,"how":744,"time":745},"One stop through Tokyo or a Gulf hub, then the domestic leg. Two flights minimum.","18–20 hours door to door",{"from":614,"how":747,"time":748},"Via Tokyo, Seoul or Taipei.","13–16 hours","90 minutes up the expressway to the Motobu and Yanbaru houses in the north. A hire car is genuinely the better answer here and we will arrange one.","Okinawa is a domestic Japanese holiday destination first and an international one second, which means Golden Week in early May, Obon in mid-August and the New Year period are full and expensive months out. It also means the fares are good outside them.",[752,621,753,622,623,754,625,625,754,623,622,755],19,22,30,21,"Subtropical and never cold. The window is late September to November — the humidity has broken, the sea is still warm, and the typhoon risk has largely passed.",[758,761,764,767,770],{"name":759,"kind":632,"duration":633,"note":760,"when":635},"Shuri Castle","The Ryukyu kingdom’s seat, burnt in 2019 and being rebuilt in public — the reconstruction workshop is open and is more interesting than a finished castle would be.",{"name":762,"kind":647,"duration":633,"note":763,"when":667},"A market morning in Naha","Makishi public market and the Tsuboya pottery lane behind it. Goya, sea grapes, awamori and the pork every part of which is eaten.",{"name":765,"kind":652,"duration":633,"note":766,"when":644},"Churaumi aquarium","One of the largest tanks in the world, with whale sharks and manta. Go at four in the afternoon when the coach parties have left.",{"name":768,"kind":652,"duration":642,"note":769,"when":644},"The Yanbaru forest","The subtropical north, UNESCO-listed since 2021, with endemic species found nowhere else. A guided walk finds a great deal you would otherwise miss.",{"name":771,"kind":632,"duration":633,"note":772,"when":635},"Ogimi, the village of longevity","The place the Blue Zone claims began. A lunch of the local vegetables with the people who grow them, and a much less tidy story than the books tell.",[774,777,780],{"name":602,"nights":775,"note":776,"side":667},"3 nights","Almost every routing goes through it and it is a poor city to spend only an airside hour in.",{"name":778,"nights":665,"note":779,"side":659},"The Kerama islands","Forty minutes by ferry to a national park of coral and turtles, with a fraction of the main island’s development.",{"name":781,"nights":657,"note":782,"side":659},"Ishigaki & the Yaeyamas","An hour further south — closer to Taiwan than to Naha, and the last quiet corner of Japan.",[784],{"slug":165,"name":166,"destinationSlug":63,"area":785,"country":65,"modalities":786,"character":167,"knownFor":787,"why":788,"signature":793,"typicalNights":794,"priceNote":795,"accolades":796,"honest":798,"relationship":151,"confidence":799,"image":589,"imageAlt":800,"greatFor":801,"whoShouldGo":806,"team":807,"roomTypes":808,"facilities":821,"dining":828,"activities":835,"arrival":841,"destinationName":64,"programmeCount":42},"Kankaiji, above Beppu bay",[67],"The best-known onsen hotel in Beppu, and the one whose terraced Tanayu baths looking down over the bay appear in most photographs of the town.",[789,790,791,792],"Sits in the Kankaiji district — one of the eight designated Beppu Hattō thermal areas — with its own sources rather than piped water.","The terraced open-air baths above the bay are the single most recognisable onsen view in Kyūshū.","Large enough to be reliably bookable in a town where the best small ryokan take four rooms and no foreign bookings.","A practical base from which to bathe across several of the eight districts, which is what a Beppu trip is actually for.","Terraced open-air bathing over the bay, and a base for working through the eight Beppu Hattō districts.","2–5 nights","Modest by the standards of this site. Japanese hotels price per person with meals; indicative only.",[797],"The most photographed bathing view in Beppu","This is a large Japanese resort hotel, not a wellness retreat — expect a buffet, families and a waterpark alongside the baths. It is on this list because it is the practical base for a bathing week, not because it is a programme. Tattooed guests should check current policy before booking.","medium","A temple above a Japanese town",[802,803,804,805],"Onsen bathing at scale","Families","A first Japan trip","Views over the bay","Somebody who wants Japanese hot-spring bathing as the Japanese actually do it — a large hotel, enormous baths, a bay below them — rather than a boutique interpretation of it. This is not a wellness clinic and does not claim to be; it is the best seat in the onsen capital of Japan.","No clinical team, and none is claimed. Onsen bathing here is a bathing culture rather than a supervised therapy, and any property that tells you otherwise is selling you something. Bathing attendants and a spa, not physicians.",[809,812,815,818],{"name":810,"note":811},"Japanese-style room","Tatami, futons laid in the evening, and a yukata. The right choice on a first trip.",{"name":813,"note":814},"Western-style room","Beds, for guests who would rather not sleep on the floor.",{"name":816,"note":817},"Japanese-western room","A tatami sitting area and beds. The most comfortable compromise.",{"name":819,"note":820},"Suite with private bath","An in-room onsen bath, for guests who are not comfortable bathing communally — which is worth knowing is an option before you rule Japan out.",[822,823,824,825,826,827],"Large terraced public baths over Beppu bay","An extensive bathing and water complex","Separate men’s and women’s bathing floors","Private family baths, bookable","Bowling, games floor and a cinema — this is a Japanese resort hotel","Views of the Beppu hells steaming across the town",[829,832],{"name":830,"note":831},"The buffet restaurant","Large, Japanese and western, and much better than the format suggests — the Oita seafood and the local chicken are the reason to go.",{"name":833,"note":834},"Japanese restaurants","Kaiseki and à la carte for guests who would rather eat properly than plentifully.",[836,837,838,839,840],"Bathing, at length, which is the point","The seven hells tour","Sand baths at Beppu beach","Mount Tsurumi ropeway","Yufuin day trips",{"airport":598,"code":68,"transfer":842},"Forty minutes by road; two hours from Fukuoka by the Sonic limited express",[],1788869506645]