11 Best Onsen and Sento in Tokyo (2026): Prices, Tattoo Rules and Bath Etiquette (2026)

Hot-spring spas (onsen)

Thermae-Yu is the most central hot-spring spa in Tokyo: a big modern bathhouse in Kabukicho, open 24 hours (it may close for equipment maintenance). It has an open-air bath and indoor baths filled with natural hot-spring water trucked in from Kamiyo no Yu in Naka-Izu, heated and recirculated, plus saunas, a rock sauna, lounges, restaurants and a running station for joggers. It's about 2 minutes on foot from exit E1 of Shinjuku-sanchome Station, or about 9 minutes from JR Shinjuku's east exit.

Cost: ¥3,100 Monday to Thursday, ¥3,200 Friday to Sunday, on holidays, special dates and the eves of holidays, for non-members, which covers 6am to midnight, up to 18 hours, plus wear, towels and the ¥150 bathing tax. Stay past midnight and it adds ¥2,000 (¥2,300 on the ¥3,200 days) for up to 24 hours in all; no going out and coming back. The rock sauna is ¥900 more. Tattoos: it has the most detailed rule in Tokyo, so read it before you go. Foreign tourist men can bathe if they buy and wear one ¥330 tattoo sticker and show a passport or plane ticket; entry is refused if the passport stamp is more than 90 days old. Japanese men and foreign residents with tattoos can't enter at all. For women, tattoos are allowed on a trial basis, with a sticker needed only for a single tattoo bigger than 30 × 30 cm. The catch: Kabukicho is Tokyo's biggest nightlife district, so read up on the touts before you walk over late at night.

Spa LaQua, on the upper floors of the LaQua building at Tokyo Dome City, is the classic big-city day spa. Its natural hot spring comes up from 1,700 metres underground: an amber, strongly salty sodium chloride water, in an outdoor bath at about 38°C with a hotter 43°C bath beside it, plus indoor baths, carbonated baths and several saunas, among them a 100°C one on the men's side. Healing Baden, upstairs, is a separate zone for over-18s at extra cost.

Cost: adults (18 and over) ¥3,500 to ¥4,700, depending on the price band the date falls in (A to D, shown on its calendar); after 7pm ¥2,500 to ¥3,700. A towel set and lounge wear are included. Healing Baden is ¥1,100 more, and staying between 1am and 6am adds ¥2,500. Open: 11am to 9am the next morning; the baths shut at 8:30am (the outdoor bath at 7:30). Getting there: the Spa LaQua lift from the 2nd floor of LaQua goes straight to the 6th-floor front desk; Korakuen (Marunouchi and Namboku lines), Kasuga (Toei Mita and Oedo lines) and JR Suidobashi are all close. Tattoos: not allowed, including paint and stickers. The catch: no children under six, and 6 to 17-year-olds need a guardian, must arrive by 3pm and leave by 6pm.

Tokyo Toyosu Manyo Club is the nearest thing Tokyo still has to the old Odaiba theme-park spa: a big hot-spring building beside Toyosu Market where you change into a yukata and stay all day, or all night. Its spring water is trucked in daily from Hakone Yumoto and Yugawara, two old hot-spring towns, and it has a rooftop garden with a foot bath. It's part of the Toyosu Senkyaku Banrai complex, four minutes from Shijo-mae station on the Yurikamome, linked by a deck on the 2nd floor.

Cost: ¥3,850 for adults (junior high and over) plus ¥150 bathing tax, for 10am to 3am, with yukata, towels and amenities included. Stay past 3am and it adds ¥3,000, so a night in its recliner lounge comes to ¥6,850, with check-out by 9am. Tattoos: tattoos, tattoo stickers and body paint are refused in principle, but it says guests who follow its own rules may enter, and asks you to check with staff before you come. Pair it with an early market morning: our Tsukiji and Toyosu guide has the tuna-auction viewing rules and the food halls next door. The catch: the hot-spring water is trucked in rather than drawn on site.

Tokyo Somei Onsen Sakura is a quieter, more traditional-feeling hot-spring spa in Komagome, the area where the Somei-Yoshino cherry tree was bred. Its own spring comes up from 1,800 metres underground, and there's a restaurant and massage rooms. There's no time limit on your stay.

Cost: adults ¥2,100 on weekdays, ¥2,900 at weekends, on holidays and special days; children from 6 to the end of primary school ¥1,200. Towels and lounge wear are rented separately (towel set ¥350, wear ¥450), and its price page notes that Toshima City's ¥150 bathing tax applies to adults. Open: 10am to 11pm, last entry 10:30pm; it closes for maintenance about once a month. Getting there: a shuttle bus runs from Sugamo Station (JR Yamanote and Toei Mita lines). Tattoos: refused, whatever the size. The catch: no children under six in the baths.

Saya no Yudokoro, in residential Itabashi, is the best-value real onsen on this list: a cloudy, green-tinged, salty hot spring served source-flowing (kakenagashi, straight from the source) in its main baths, around a moss garden and a 1946 house that is now its restaurant. The outdoor bath is topped up and filtered. There are rock saunas and massage too. It's about 8 minutes on foot from exit A2 of Shimura-sakaue Station on the Toei Mita line.

Cost: from 4 November 2026, adults ¥970 on weekdays before 6pm, ¥1,000 after, and ¥1,300 at weekends and on holidays; children (primary and under) ¥600 or ¥900. Towels and wear are ¥380 each. On busy days it may charge the weekend price and add ¥100 an hour after five hours. Open: 9am to midnight, last entry 11pm. Tattoos: allowed only if they can be covered by two of its paid cover stickers. The catch: it's out in the northern suburbs, at the far end of an 8-minute walk from the subway.

Toshimaen Niwa no Yu is a grown-ups' spa (13 and over only) set around a Japanese garden, two minutes from Toshimaen Station, 14 minutes direct from Ikebukuro on the Seibu line. It has natural hot-spring baths, saunas, a restaurant and a mixed Baden pool zone where you wear a swimsuit.

Cost: ¥2,600 on weekdays, ¥3,300 at weekends and on holidays, ¥3,400 on special days (26 December 2026 to 3 January 2027 is one), with the bathing tax, a locker, wear and towels included. After 6pm it drops to ¥1,800, ¥2,400 or ¥2,500. Swimsuit rental ¥500. Open: 10am to 11pm, last entry 10pm. Tattoos: refused, including stickers. Photos: only in the 1st-floor lobby, the Japanese garden and the 2nd floor, and never towards the swimsuit areas. The catch: no under-13s.

Neighbourhood baths (sento)

A sento is a public bath for the neighbourhood, and in Tokyo the price is fixed: ¥600 for anyone 12 and over, ¥200 for primary school children and ¥100 for preschoolers, a price set by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and raised from ¥550 on 1 August 2026, according to the Tokyo Sento Association and Shinjuku City. Saunas, towels and soap usually cost extra; most baths sell small soaps and towels at the counter. These five each have something special, and all charge the standard ¥600 for adults. Harajuku has a sixth in a shopping mall: Kosugi-yu's branch in Harakado, on our Harajuku and Omotesando guide.

Daikokuyu, open since 1949, calls itself Oshiage Onsen: it's a sento that sits on its own weakly alkaline hot spring, with an outdoor bath and a painted mural of the Skytree and Mount Fuji. It's 6 minutes on foot from Oshiage Station and about 10 from the Tokyo Skytree.

Cost: ¥600 for adults, ¥500 for junior high school students; the sauna is ¥370 on the outdoor-bath side (¥400 at weekends) or ¥300 on the carbonated-bath side (¥330); a towel set is ¥130. Open: from 3pm on weekdays, 2pm on Saturdays and 1pm on Sundays and holidays, all the way to 10am the next morning, with no late-night surcharge. Closed Tuesdays. Tattoos: OK, says its price list. The catch: a 90-minute limit, or two hours with the sauna.

Mikokuyu, in Ishiwara in Sumida, rebuilt itself as a modern sento with hot-spring baths on two floors that swap between men and women every Tuesday. One floor is cave-like, with a body-temperature bath at about 35 to 36°C; the other is bright and high-ceilinged, with a semi-outdoor bath that looks at the Skytree and a mural of Hokusai's Fuji. Both have baths at about 43 to 46°C, 39.5 to 42°C and a cold one at about 25°C.

Cost: ¥600, with body soap and rinse-in shampoo provided. Open: Monday to Saturday 3:30pm to 2am (last entry 1:30am), Sunday 3pm to midnight; days off change monthly, and in November 2026 the remaining ones are 9, 16 and 24 November. Getting there: 12 minutes on foot from Honjo-azumabashi Station (Toei Asakusa line), or Toei bus to Ishiwara 3-chome, two minutes away. Tattoos: allowed, says its own site. The catch: which floor you get depends on the week, and only one has the Skytree view.

Kosugi-yu has been Koenji's bath since 1933, and it has kept its original building while changing what goes on inside. Koenji, known for vintage shops, theatre and its Awa Odori dance festival, is 10 minutes from Shinjuku, and the bath is about 5 minutes on foot from the station's north exit, through two old shopping streets.

Cost: ¥600 for adults, ¥200 for primary school children, ¥100 for ages 0 to 5; face towel ¥100, bath towel ¥200, hairdryer ¥20 for three minutes. Open: weekdays 2pm to 1:30am, weekends and holidays from 8am (morning baths), last entry 1am. Closed Thursdays. Tattoos: not stated on its site. The catch: it's busy in the evenings, so go early on a weekend morning for space.

Shimizuyu, two minutes from Omotesando Station, is the stylish city-centre sento: soft water throughout, a high-concentration carbonated bath, a silk bath, an Epsom salt bath at weekends, and draft beer in the lobby. It's the easiest bath to add to a day of shopping in Omotesando or Aoyama.

Cost: ¥600 for adults, or ¥910 with rental towels; the sauna course is ¥1,180 including the bath, or ¥1,380 with towels, body soap and shampoo. Children 6 to 11 pay ¥200, and up to two under-6s go free. Open: weekdays noon to midnight (last entry 11:30pm), weekends and holidays noon to 11pm (last entry 10:30pm). Closed Fridays. Tattoos: refused, including henna. The catch: closed on Fridays, and no tattoos at all.

Hisamatsuyu, in residential Sakuradai, rebuilt in 2014 and drilled its own hot spring, a strongly salty sodium chloride water from 1,500 metres down, for its open-air baths. The building has skylights and courtyards, and on warmer evenings it projects light shows onto the bathhouse walls (not in cold weather, when the glass steams up). It's 5 minutes on foot from Sakuradai Station on the Seibu Ikebukuro line.

Cost: ¥600 for adults, ¥200 for primary school children, ¥100 for preschoolers; sauna ¥550; bath towel ¥150, face towel ¥100. Open: 11am to 11pm, last entry 10:30pm. Closed Tuesdays. Tattoos: not stated on its site. The catch: it's out in the suburbs, and closed on Tuesdays.