Kirin-no-Yu (Hoshino Resorts Tomamu)

Kirin-no-Yu is the outdoor bath at Hoshino Resorts Tomamu, next door to the Mina-Mina Beach wave pool. The resort says on its own page that this isn't onsen water, so treat it as a big, well-designed hot pool in the snow. There's no indoor tub at all, and the pools are modelled on flowers Hokkaido is known for.

A hot pool under falling snow at eleven at night still does the job after a day in Tomamu's Powder Area. Resort guests get in free on their passport card, and day visitors pay ¥1,500 with towels, shampoo and body soap included.

Tattoos have to be covered with patches, which reception sells, and bathing in clothes isn't allowed. The resort also rents out the whole bath after closing, from half past eleven to half past midnight, for groups of up to ten.