What Is Gero Onsen? One of Japan's Three Famous Hot Springs and Its Footbaths

Published 2026-10-04 · Sources checked 2026-10-04 · Treasure Hunting Co., Ltd.

This guide is for visitors who want to know what Gero Onsen is and what to do in the town. It uses the English pages of Visit Gifu, the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) and the Gero Onsen Ryokan Cooperative. All pages were read on 2026-10-04. Prices and hours are those printed on the pages, so check them before you go.

The short answer

Gero Onsen is a hot spring town on the Hida River in Gifu Prefecture. Visit Gifu says it is "considered one of the three most famous onsens in all of Japan" and is "particularly famous for the incredibly smooth quality of the water". The town is small enough to explore on foot, with foot baths on the streets, a hillside temple and a village of thatched-roof houses nearby.

The water

The Ryokan Cooperative says the spring water gushes out at 84 degrees Celsius. It is an alkaline simple spring that is colorless, transparent and smooth, with a faint aroma, and it "leaves skin smooth like silk". The cooperative adds that medical practitioners have taken an interest in the water and that rehabilitation facilities using it, and a medical hydrology research center, have been set up. We did not look for independent evidence of any health effect, so read these as the claims of the local trade body.

A long history

The pages give two starting points. Visit Gifu's hot spring guide says Gero is recorded in historical texts going back as far as the 8th century, while JNTO says the town has been well loved since the 10th century. JNTO also mentions a statue in town that commemorates a visit by Charlie Chaplin. In February 2026, Visit Gifu reported that travel professionals across Japan voted Gero Onsen second in the country's Top 100 Hot Spring Ranking, the fifth year in a row, since 2020, that it has stayed in the top three. In 2022 Green Destinations chose Gero as one of its Top 100 Sustainable Tourist Destinations in the World.

Baths and foot baths

JNTO says Gero has three public baths and a free open-air bath beside Gero bridge, and warns that people on the bridge can see down onto bathers. A ticket called Yu-meguri Tegata, in the form of a woodcut print, lets you enter your choice of three hot springs in town and is sold at participating stores. Visit Gifu points to Funsenchi, a set of rocky open-air foot baths on the bank of the Hida River by the Gero Ohashi Bridge, and says you can soak your feet almost anywhere in town. It also suggests walking about in a yukata, the cotton robe.

Shrine, temple and sweets

• Gero Hot Spring Shrine is dedicated to the local springs and guarded by two stone lions.
• Onsenji Temple is dedicated to Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha of medicine and healing, who in the legend appeared as a white egret and showed locals the source of the springs. It stands up a 173-step stone staircase, and the grounds look out over the town. Its red maples are lit at night in autumn.
• A sweets shop by the shrine has its own foot bath. The same guide describes a soft serve made with an egg boiled in the hot spring water, sold at a sweets shop in town.
• JNTO also lists a morning market of local food and crafts and the Gero Onsen Museum, which tells the story of the town.

Gassho Village

Close to the town, Gero Onsen Gassho Village recreates a thatched-roof village with ten gassho-zukuri buildings moved from other places, such as Shirakawa-go. Visit Gifu says one of them is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property, and it names that house the Former Odo House; the Ryokan Cooperative spells it "Ōke House", so the spelling differs between pages. Visitors can watch a shadow play, eat in a thatched house, paint pottery or make washi paper. Visit Gifu lists adult admission at 800 yen and 300 yen for the shadow play theater, with painting at 500 to 2,000 yen and pottery at 1,000 to 3,000 yen.

What we could not verify, and therefore left out

• Entry fees and opening hours of the three public baths, which these pages do not give.
• The price of the Yu-meguri Tegata ticket.
• Any independent study of the water's health effects.
• Which of the two origin dates, the 8th or the 10th century, is better supported.

Related guides

• How do you get to Gero Onsen from Nagoya and Takayama, and get around?
• What is Gero like through the year? Festivals, fireworks and waterfalls

Sources

All URLs retrieved 2026-10-04.

1. Gero Onsen (Visit Gifu) — (overview, Green Destinations)
2. Gero Onsen takes 2nd place in Japan's Top 100 Hot Spring Ranking (Visit Gifu) — (ranking, 24 Feb 2026)
3. Hot Springs in Japan (Visit Gifu) — (history, foot baths, temple and shrine)
4. Gero Onsen Gassho Village (Visit Gifu) — (village, admission)
5. Gero Onsen (JNTO) — (baths, history, museum, market)
6. Gero Onsen, Japan Snow (JNTO) — (Yu-meguri Tegata)
7. Gero Onsen Ryokan Cooperative (English) — (the water, the house name)