Kurodake no Yu

Sounkyo is a village at the bottom of a deep canyon on Route 39, and the Kurodake ropeway leaves from the top of the main street. Kamikawa town opened Kurodake no Yu in 1998 as the village's public bath.

The layout runs upside down. The big indoor bath and the washing area are on the ground floor, and the rotenburo and sauna are upstairs where you can look out over the gorge. The water is clear and easy on the skin, and the bath fills with hikers in summer and riders off the ropeway in winter.

Entry is ¥800 and it stays open until 9:30 at night through the winter. From late January to early March the Sounkyo Ice Fall Festival lights up ice sculptures on the riverbank each evening, with fireworks, and an hour here afterwards is how to thaw out.