Feature · 6 min read
Where should you sleep for a rest night in Noboribetsu?
Noboribetsu pipes nine kinds of spring water into one small town below a steaming crater. Pick the right bed and a single night off the board covers the best bathing in Hokkaido.
By Adam BognarPublished
Book adex inn for a rest night in Noboribetsu if you ride on a budget, because a plain twin comes with free entry to Dai-ichi Takimotokan's Grand Bath and the pass keeps working after you check out. Couples who want a milky sulphur tub of their own should pay for Bōrō Noguchi, and families who want dinner, a pool and the baths under one roof should stay at Takimotokan itself. Rusutsu is well over an hour away, so treat Noboribetsu as a day off the board.
We compared the three Noboribetsu stays in our guide on their baths, rooms, check-in rules and access. None of the three publishes a rack rate on its own site, so check the dates you want on each booking page.
| Stay | Suits | Room | Bath | Check-in / out | Drawback |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| adex inn | Budget riders, onsen hoppers | Twin of about 22 m² | Own sulphur bath plus free Takimotokan Grand Bath | From 14:00 | Breakfast is whatever the café sells |
| Dai-ichi Takimotokan | Families, first-timers | Hotel rooms, buffet or kaiseki plans | 35 baths on five spring types | 14:00 / 10:00 | Big, busy hotel with coach groups |
| Bōrō Noguchi | Couples | Suites of 50–100 m² | Spring-fed view bath in every suite | 15:00–19:00 / 11:00 | Nobody aged 12 or under |
Why spend a rest day in Noboribetsu?
Noboribetsu sits under Jigokudani (Hell Valley), where steam pours off a raw crater of yellow and grey rock and the whole street smells of sulphur. About ten thousand tonnes of hot water a day come up here in nine types, and after a week of chairlifts a town built around moving from one bath to the next suits tired legs well.
Arrive by mid-afternoon. Lanterns light the Oni-bi no Michi path up into the valley every night until 21:30, and the boardwalk through Jigokudani is best at first light before the tour coaches arrive. At lunchtime, Aji no Daiou serves its "hell ramen" at whatever chilli level you name, from 11:30 to 15:00 and closed on Tuesdays. Bar Seventy One keeps the lights on until 3:00 for anyone the water hasn't put to sleep.
Who should book adex inn?
adex inn suits riders who'd spend their money on bath time over room size. The building used to be the Takimoto Inn, and it reopened after a full refit in summer 2024 with 47 Western rooms. A simple twin covers about 22 square metres. There's a drying room and a coin laundry, which matters when you arrive straight from the hill with wet gloves.
The house bath runs unfiltered sulphur water from Jigokudani, thick enough that yunohana (mineral flakes) settle on the floor of the tub. Your stay also gets you into the Grand Bath at Takimotokan for free, and adex inn's Japanese onsen page lists it from 04:00 to 01:00, with the outdoor bath and saunas shutting at midnight. You can still walk over for a soak after check-out. Day visitors pay ¥2,500 from 1 August 2026, and two visits on that pass cover a fair share of the room.
Breakfast is a sandwich and a coffee from the adex Bakery & Cafe downstairs. Since May 2026 the café has taken cards, IC cards and QR payments only, so carry a card down with you.
Is Dai-ichi Takimotokan worth staying at?
Takimotokan is worth it for families and first-timers who want the bath, dinner and a pool without leaving the building. The family behind it has kept the springs here since 1858. Its Grand Bath covers about 5,000 square metres beside Jigokudani, and five spring types feed 35 tubs, from milky acidic sulphur to a bicarbonate water stained red by iron. Bath keepers called yumori check the temperatures by hand.
Hotel guests get the indoor baths from 04:00 to 01:00 and can use them before check-in and after check-out, according to the hotel's FAQ. Check-in is 14:00 and check-out 10:00. The swimsuit pool has a 50-centimetre children's pool and a water slide, which buys parents an hour. Dinner runs as a buffet or kaiseki depending on the plan. Parking is free, and staff at the main entrance direct you into the tower or an outdoor lot.
It's a big, busy hotel, and the drawback is that you share the bath hall with day visitors and every other guest. The outdoor jacuzzi also closes from early November until the snow melts in April. The hotel publishes no tattoo policy, so ask at reception. The whole property shuts from 5 to 15 April 2027 for maintenance.
Is Bōrō Noguchi worth the money for couples?
Bōrō Noguchi is worth it for couples who want to soak without leaving the room. Every room is a suite with its own spring-fed view bath, and the room page runs from a 50-square-metre Junior Suite through a 70-square-metre Standard Suite to 100-square-metre Luxury and Executive Suites. You smell the milky sulphur water as soon as you step into the corridor. Kaiseki dinner with some Western touches is served in private dining rooms, and some have a sunken kotatsu table to put your legs under.
The inn takes no guests aged 12 and under. Check-in runs only from 15:00 to 19:00, and the FAQ offers no early arrival, so time the drive from the hill. Check-out is at 11:00. A private stone-bed sauna room (ganban-yoku) costs ¥3,300 for two with a reservation. The private tub also takes care of the tattoo question, since nobody else bathes in it.
The map
The map marks every place this piece visits.
Contours come from AWS Terrain Tiles, and the coast and water from OpenStreetMap.
How do you get to Noboribetsu Onsen?
From New Chitose Airport, the Donan Bus Noboribetsu Onsen Airport Express reaches the onsen town in about 1 hour 10 minutes, and seats must be reserved. By car it's about an hour on the Do-o Expressway, and a little under an hour from Lake Toya. From JR Noboribetsu Station, a Donan bus takes about 15 minutes, or a taxi about 13 minutes for around ¥2,800. Takimotokan's old non-stop shuttle is out of service. Bōrō Noguchi runs a daily reserved shuttle from New Chitose and from Sapporo Station, and seats close when it fills.
The onsen town has no board rental. A 7-Eleven with a 7-Bank ATM that takes foreign cards stands in the middle of it.
How should you plan the night?
Leave the hill after lunch and check in at 14:00 or 15:00. Soak before dinner and walk the lantern path once you've eaten. Set an alarm for Jigokudani, because the boardwalk empties out only at first light, and leave time for a last soak before check-out. If you stay at adex inn, the Takimotokan pass lets you bathe once more on your way out of town. New Chitose is about an hour away, which makes Noboribetsu a good last night before an afternoon flight.
How we compared
We read each stay's own pages, its FAQ and its access notes in October 2026, along with the Ride Hokkaido town and stay files. Bath hours and prices are the published figures for the date shown. None of the three posts a fixed room rate, so we left rates out of the table. The method is desk research, and nobody from Ride Hokkaido stayed at these properties for this page.
Quick answers
Is Noboribetsu a good base for snowboarding?
Noboribetsu works as a rest-day stop and makes a poor riding base. Rusutsu, the nearest major resort, is well over an hour away by car, and the onsen town has no board rental. Plan one night there between riding days or before a flight from New Chitose, about an hour away.
Can adex inn guests use the Dai-ichi Takimotokan baths?
Yes. adex inn guests enter the Grand Bath at Dai-ichi Takimotokan free, and the pass still works after check-out. adex inn's own Japanese page lists the Grand Bath hours as 04:00 to 01:00, with the outdoor bath and saunas closing at midnight. Day visitors pay ¥2,500 at Takimotokan from 1 August 2026.
Does Bōrō Noguchi Noboribetsu accept children?
No. Bōrō Noguchi Noboribetsu takes no guests aged 12 and under, infants included. Every room is a suite of 50 to 100 square metres with its own spring-fed view bath, and check-in runs from 15:00 to 19:00.
How do you get from New Chitose Airport to Noboribetsu Onsen?
Donan Bus runs the Noboribetsu Onsen Airport Express from New Chitose to the onsen town in about 1 hour 10 minutes, and seats must be reserved. By car the trip takes about an hour on the Do-o Expressway. Bōrō Noguchi also runs a daily reserved shuttle for its guests from the airport and from Sapporo Station.
We write from operators’ and agencies’ own pages, open map data and published research, and we date every fact we check. How we research.