Where should Sapporo Kokusai riders soak in Jozankei?

How do you get between Sapporo Kokusai and Jozankei?

Stay at a Jozankei hotel and the Jozankei Ski Liner does the driving. It runs from 23 December 2026 to 22 March 2027 for guests of the tourism association's member hotels and inns, at ¥2,800 return for adults and ¥1,400 for children, paid by card when you book. Buses leave the onsen town at 9:00 and 10:30 and reach the resort in about 45 minutes. The return runs leave the resort at 15:15 and 16:45 and take about 30 minutes. On 31 December and 1 January the return runs leave at 14:15 and 15:30.

Book online by 21:00 the night before. Each run holds 40 people, a run with no bookings doesn't go, and you have to reserve both directions. Boots stay off on the bus, and boards travel in a bag. The same page sells a stay plan with a Sapporo Kokusai day ticket waiting at the front desk.

Without a hotel booking, the Sapporo Kokusai Ski Resort Line bus from Sapporo Station stops in Jozankei on its way up, and it needs a reservation. A day ticket at Kokusai rises to ¥7,000 at the window and ¥6,700 online for 2026/27.

Which day bath suits riders best?

Bath	Adult day price	Hours	Tattoos	Worth knowing
Yunohana Jozankei-den	¥1,180	10:00–21:00, every day	Not published	Towel and robe set ¥450; 400 free parking spaces
Kyujitsu-yu	¥2,850 with towel; ¥1,420 for two hours from 18:00	10:00–24:00, last entry 22:00	Refused, stickers included	Aged 7 and up only
Jozankei View Hotel	¥1,500–¥3,000	Varies	Visible tattoos refused	Bath-only entry on weekdays only
Yumoto Koganeyu	¥1,270 with one drink	6:00–9:00 and 10:00–23:00	Not published	Down the valley toward Sapporo
Free foot baths	¥0	Varies	No rule	Feet only

Prices are from each bath's own pages and the tourism association list, read in October 2026.

What makes Yunohana Jozankei-den the easy pick?

Yunohana is a big day-bathing complex in Jozankei Onsen Higashi, about five minutes' walk from the Jozankei Shako-mae bus stop. It opens every day of the year, and you don't need a hotel booking. The outdoor baths look down on the Toyohira River, and you'll find small stone tubs for two or three people along with a cave bath lit blue among the rocks. A Western-style hall and a Japanese-style hall swap between men and women daily.

The ¥450 rental set covers bath and face towels plus a robe for lounging, so you can walk in straight from the car with nothing. A heated rock-bed room costs ¥500 an hour and takes its last guests at 19:00. Parking is free.

When is Kyujitsu-yu worth the extra?

Kyujitsu-yu sits on the second floor of the Kyujitsu Building, which opened on 24 April 2025 with a hotel and a lounge in the same block. The bath has an indoor tub and an outdoor tub, and its sauna seats 15. It earns the price on a long sauna evening with a drink in hand, as long as nobody in your group has ink. A full Kyujitsu ticket costs ¥2,850 from 10:00 to midnight and includes a rental towel plus two house coins for a drink or a gelato.

The late tickets suit riders better. Entry from 15:00 costs ¥2,520, and entry from 18:00 drops to ¥2,300 with the same towel and coins. A bare two-hour soak costs ¥1,420 in slots that start every two hours from 18:00, and an early bath from 6:00 to 9:00 costs the same. Last entry is 22:00, and the building admits nobody under seven. Its tattoo ban extends to cover stickers and body paint.

Where else can you soak in Jozankei?

The hotels sell day entry at their own prices. Jozankei View Hotel is listed as refusing visible tattoos and lets bath-only visitors in on weekdays. Shika no Yu charges ¥1,500 for an indoor bath that looks over the stream, and Yumoto Shun no Oyado Matsuno-yu asks ¥800. Hours change from one desk to the next, so check each hotel's site from the tourism association list.

Yumoto Koganeyu sits down Route 230 toward the city. Its morning session runs 6:00 to 9:00 with last entry at 8:30, and the Ski Liner calls there on its first outbound run and its last return. A towel set costs ¥220.

Where can you soak for free?

Walk the main street with a small towel in your pocket. Futami no Ashiyu sits by the river near the red Futami bridge, and Taro no Yu is a second foot bath in town. At Jozan Gensen Park you can sit at the foot bath while eggs cook in the spring beside you. From 20 January to 28 February 2027 the New Yukitoro light event fills the town and the grounds of Jozankei Shrine after dark.

What is the water like?

Jozankei's hotels all draw on the same clear sodium chloride spring. It comes up neutral at 60–80°C from 56 sources in the bed and banks of the Toyohira River, and it tastes faintly of salt on the lips. Salt springs hold their heat on the skin, and that heat carries you through falling snow on the walk back to your hotel. In 1866 two Ainu guides from Hariusu on the Otaru coast led the monk Miizumi Jozan up the river to these springs, and he built the first bathhouse beside the water.

Can you bathe in Jozankei with tattoos?

Two baths say no in writing. Kyujitsu-yu refuses tattoos outright, and Jozankei View Hotel refuses visible ones. Onsen Oni lists no published policy for the rest, so ask at the window before you pay, using the line in our etiquette guide. The simplest fix is a room with its own tub. Every room at Jozankei Onsen Yurakusoan has a hiba-wood onsen bath, and the ryokan's four private baths are free to guests around the clock.

How we researched this

We read each bath's own price and facility pages, the Jozankei Tourist Association's day-bathing list and Ski Liner page, the Onsen Oni tattoo database and our own fact sheets in October 2026. Prices are the adult rates published at that time. Nobody from Ride Hokkaido bathed in Jozankei for this piece.

Sources

• Jozankei Tourist Association: day bathing
• Jozankei Tourist Association: Ski Liner and ski plans
• Yunohana Jozankei-den: prices and hours
• All About: Yunohana Jozankei-den baths
• Kyujitsu Building: Kyujitsu-yu
• Kyujitsu Building: prices
• Yumoto Koganeyu
• Yumoto Koganeyu: prices
• Onsen Oni: Jozankei
• Onsen Oni: Jozankei View Hotel
• Wikipedia (Japanese): Miizumi Jozan