In the southern corner of Ishikawa Prefecture, four hot spring towns cluster within a radius of twenty kilometres, close enough that a visitor staying in one can easily visit another by bus or taxi on the same day. These are the Kaga Onsen — Yamashiro, Yamanaka, Awazu, and Katayamazu — four historically distinct spa resorts, each with a different spring chemistry, a different architectural character, and a different relationship to the mountain and lake landscape that surrounds them. Together they constitute one of the most refined onsen resort experiences in Japan: not a single overwhelming complex but a landscape of tradition distributed across four different settlements, each with its own personality.
The Four Towns — An Overview
Yamanaka Onsen
Yamanaka is the most celebrated of the four towns and the one most likely to appear on lists of Japan’s finest onsen resorts. The springs rise at the bottom of the Kakusenkei Gorge — a kilometre-long gorge where the Daishoji River has carved through soft limestone to create a succession of pale rock outcrops, deep green pools, and forested overhangs. The two finest ryokan in the Kaga Onsen complex — Beniya Mukayu and Kayotei — both sit in Yamanaka, and the town’s literary associations (Matsuo Basho visited in 1689 and wrote glowingly of the spring water in his Oku no Hosomichi travel diary) give it a cultural depth that the other towns lack.
The Kakusenkei Gorge is accessible via a walking path that runs along both sides of the river for approximately 1.3 kilometres from the Korokoro Bridge at the top of the gorge to the rotenburo public bath at the bottom. The autumn foliage through the gorge, typically at peak in mid-November, is among the finest in Ishikawa Prefecture.
Yamashiro Onsen
Yamashiro developed as a spa town associated with the healing traditions of esoteric Buddhism — hot spring bathing as religious practice, administered through temple establishments that predated the secular ryokan culture by centuries. The town has a more formal, slightly grander character than Yamanaka, with a central zone of rebuilt early twentieth-century Meiji and Taisho-era architecture around the main public bath (Sogo-yu) that creates an unusually coherent historic townscape.
The Yamashiro Onsen Sogo-yu is one of the finest surviving examples of a meisen (high-quality public bath) building in Japan — a two-storey wooden bathhouse built in 1910 and renovated with care, where visitors can bathe for ¥470 in facilities that retain the original tile work and wooden changing room fittings. The second floor of the building functions as a tatami rest area in the traditional manner.
Awazu Onsen
Awazu holds a remarkable distinction: according to historical records, the Awazu spring was discovered in 717 CE during the reign of Emperor Genshō, making it one of the oldest continuously operating hot spring resorts in Japan. The Hoshi ryokan in Awazu holds the related distinction of being the world’s oldest hotel by continuous family ownership — operating for forty-six generations under the same family, with documentation running back over 1,300 years.
The town is smaller and quieter than Yamanaka or Yamashiro and sees fewer international visitors, which gives it a character closer to what all four towns might have felt like before the postwar tourism boom. Several good mid-range ryokan offer kaiseki dinners and private baths at prices considerably lower than comparable facilities in Yamanaka.
Katayamazu Onsen
Katayamazu occupies the shore of Lake Shibayama-Kata, a coastal lagoon connected to the Sea of Japan, and has a different character from the other three towns — more resort-like in the Japanese style, with large hotel-format ryokan facing the lake. The spring water here is a sodium chloride composition, different from the alkaline springs of the inland towns, and the lakeside setting provides a softwater bathing experience with views of water birds on the lake surface from rotenburo outdoor baths.
The Onsen Waters
The spring chemistry of the Kaga Onsen towns differs between the inland springs (Yamanaka, Yamashiro, Awazu) and the lakeside resort (Katayamazu):
Inland springs (Yamanaka, Yamashiro, Awazu): Sodium-calcium chloride and sulphate springs with a slightly alkaline pH. The waters have a notably silky texture on the skin — the high bicarbonate content gives a characteristic smoothness that makes these springs particularly popular with women travellers and those seeking skin care benefits. The springs are colourless and odourless, unlike the sulphurous springs of many Japanese resort towns.
Katayamazu: Sodium chloride spring with a higher salt content, producing a warming effect on the body and a longer-lasting heat after bathing. Good for cold recovery and muscle fatigue.
Ryokan Kaiseki — Kaga’s Culinary Tradition
Dinner at a Kaga Onsen ryokan is as much a reason to visit as the springs themselves. The kaiseki dinner tradition in this region reaches its highest expression at places like Beniya Mukayu and Kayotei in Yamanaka, where the course progression is built around the season’s finest Noto seafood (snow crab in winter, nodoguro and sea urchin through the cooler months), mountain vegetables from the Noto and Hida highlands, and local Ishikawa sake.
The Kaiseki Experience
A standard ryokan kaiseki dinner in the Kaga Onsen area progresses through eight to twelve courses over ninety minutes to two hours. The courses typically follow the classical Japanese structure: sakizuke (amuse-bouche), hassun (seasonal platter), soup, sashimi, grilled dish, simmered preparation, fried element, vinegared refresher, rice, and seasonal dessert. The specific ingredients change monthly, and high-quality ryokan change their menus weekly according to what is arriving at Omicho Market in Kanazawa.
Budget guidance: Dinner-inclusive ryokan rates in Kaga Onsen range from approximately ¥20,000 to ¥40,000 per person per night at mid-range establishments, rising to ¥60,000 to ¥120,000 at Yamanaka’s finest ryokan.
Kaga Cuisine Signatures
The ryokan dinner tradition in this region incorporates several Kaga-specific preparations. Jibuni — the duck and wheat gluten simmered dish that is Kanazawa’s most identifiable local food — appears in various forms. Winter brings zuwaigani snow crab in elaborate multi-course presentations. Mountain matsutake mushrooms from the highlands feature prominently in September and October. The local Kaga miso (a rich, deeply fermented paste produced in the region for centuries) appears in soups and simmered preparations across all seasons.
Day Bathing — The Sotoyu Tradition
Visitors not staying overnight at a ryokan can experience Kaga Onsen’s waters through the sotoyu (outside bathing) tradition — public baths and day-visit facilities at ryokan that welcome non-guests for a fee.
Yamanaka Soyu is the main public bath at the base of the Kakusenkei Gorge, incorporating the outdoor rotenburo that overlooks the river. Day-visit hours are typically 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.; entry ¥500. The outdoor bath is particularly atmospheric in the early morning and during autumn foliage season.
Yamashiro Sogo-yu (entry ¥470) is the finest historic public bath building in the group, recommended for its architectural merit alone. The baths themselves are indoor only.
Many ryokan in Yamanaka and Yamashiro accept day-visit bathers (hitoyoku or higaeri visitors) for ¥1,000 to ¥3,000, often including use of the changing rooms and rest areas. Advance reservation is required at most ryokan for day-visit bathing, particularly on weekends.
The Kakusenkei Gorge Walk
The path along Yamanaka’s Kakusenkei Gorge is the most beautiful short walk in Kaga Onsen and one of the finer gorge walks in the Hokuriku region. The path descends from the Korokoro Bridge through a succession of viewpoints over the river, passing through tunnels cut in the soft rock face and across wooden bridges suspended over the deepest pools.
The poet Matsuo Basho visited in 1689 and wrote in his diary that the Yamanaka hot spring was second only to Arima among Japan’s springs — praise that the town has cited for three centuries. A small memorial at the top of the gorge path marks the spot where he composed a haiku during his stay.
In autumn (mid-October to mid-November), the maple trees covering the gorge walls turn brilliantly. The best viewing requires arriving before 9:00 a.m. to have the path largely to yourself; the gorge becomes crowded by mid-morning on autumn weekends.
Getting to Kaga Onsen
The Thunderbird limited express (Osaka Umeda to Kanazawa) stops at Kaga-Onsen Station, approximately 25 minutes south of Kanazawa Station. From Kaga-Onsen Station, local buses or taxis serve the four spa towns: Yamashiro is 5 minutes, Yamanaka is 20 minutes, and Awazu is 5 minutes by local bus.
From Tokyo, the combination of Hokuriku Shinkansen to Kanazawa (2h30m) plus Thunderbird south to Kaga-Onsen Station (25 min) or the direct Shinkansen connection at Kagayaki to the Kaga area makes Kaga Onsen accessible as a destination without stopping in Kanazawa, though most visitors combine both.
Day trips from Kanazawa to the Kaga Onsen towns are practical: the Kaga-Yuyu bus (round trip from Kanazawa Station) runs specifically to cover the four spa towns and is available with a Kaga Onsen day pass.