7 Best Onsen in Shinjuku | Best Sento Baths in Shinjuku

Are you looking for an onsen hot spring in Shinjuku?

This article introduces the seven best hot spring facilities available in and around Shinjuku.

We have compiled a list of various types of onsen, from ryokan facilities that cost several tens of thousands of yen per night to public bathhouses that can be used for only 500 yen per visit.

Let’s get started.

Table of Contents

1. ONSEN RYOKAN YUEN SHINJUKU
2. Thermae Yu
3. Mannen Yu
4. Benten Yu
5. Hagoromo Yu
6. Ruby Palace Girls Sauna
7. Minami Aoyama Shimizuyu
8. Conclusion

ONSEN RYOKAN YUEN SHINJUKU (ONSEN RYOKAN 由縁 新宿)

ONSEN RYOKAN YUEN is a luxury brand of Japanese ryokan located around Japan. One of their most famous branches is located right in the heart of Shinjuku. You can walk there from Shinjuku Station in under 10 minutes. Take a break from the hustle of Tokyo and relax in a calm and quiet onsen ryokan. Take a soak in the onsen waters transported from Hakone while taking in views of the city from the top floors. The water is said to relieve nerve and joint pain, stiff shoulders, and bruises while improving blood circulation in the body.

After your open-air onsen bath on the roof, relax in luxury while enjoying an ice pop and a variety of other amenities. Have dinner at the Teppanyaki grill-style restaurant, where they’ll cook a variety of seasonal Japanese ingredients from all over Japan. Because of the great central location near Shinjuku, YUEN SHINJUKU is popular among young people, vacationers, and workers alike. Check it out below.

↑ Go back to the table of contents

Thermae Yu (テルマー湯)

Thermae Yu is a super sento located near Kabukicho in East Shinjuku. If you have time before or after, check out the Godzilla statue nearby and other famous landmarks. Recently, they have changed their policy to allow foreigners with tattoos to enter. If you cover up your tattoos with skin color bandages sold at the front, they’ll allow you to use the facilities. The entrance fee is a little on the higher side, at 4,000 JPY, but it comes with a lot of amenities, rental towels, special clothes to wear after your bath, and access to a variety of cool pieces of Japanese culture that you’d have trouble finding in other parts of Japan.

Try out Thermae Yu’s special electrolyzed bath, which is a bath that has neutral electrolytic water. It’s said to tingle slightly while making your skin supple. They transport the water in the baths every day from the Nakaizu Onsen, an onsen outside Tokyo. Before going home, relax in one of their lounges and get a massage. They offer facial massages and exfoliating massages.

↑ Go back to the table of contents

Mannen Yu (万年湯)

Mannen Yu is a nice traditional sento located near Shin-Okubo Station, a Korean town one station away from Shinjuku Station. They’re open until midnight so you can spend lots of time sightseeing, exploring, and walking around in the Korean area of Shinjuku before relaxing in various baths. If you’re having trouble finding a bathhouse that accepts foreigners with tattoos in Tokyo, we highly recommend that you check it out. They are known for being small, quaint, and easy to navigate for English speakers and first-timers.

They are known for keeping their large public baths at various temperatures for customers. They have normal hot waters, electrified waters, jet baths, and cold water baths. For those who can’t handle bath waters that are too hot, or bath waters that are too cold, they also offer a warm bath in the middle. The silk baths waters are also highly recommended as they will rejuvenated your skin. Check them out below.

↑ Go back to the table of contents

Benten Yu (弁天湯)

Benten Yu is a local sento bathhouse located in Yochomachi on the eastern side of Shinjuku, near Higashi Shinjuku Station. This family-owned business will let you feel what it’s like to live like a local in Tokyo. There are 5 types of baths and 2 types of saunas. They have over 500 manga for guests to read after bathing, including popular manga like Demon Slayer, Naruto, One Piece, and more. If you can’t read Japanese, just relax while enjoying a post-bath drink like vegetable juice or milk.

They have a high-powered jet bath, where you can relax and enjoy a massaging soak. There are sitting and sleeping baths, where the water is shallow so that guests can relax with half of their bodies outside the baths. There are bubble baths, herbal baths, and even an open-air bath, all for the low entrance fee of 500 JPY. Make sure to keep a 100 JPY coin for the massage chair in the relaxation room. For a real glimpse into everyday life in Shinjuku check out Benten Yu below.

↑ Go back to the table of contents

Hagoromo Yu (羽衣湯)

Hagoromo Yu is located near Nishi-Shinjuku-Gochome Station, about 10 minutes west of Shinjuku Station by train. Being located so close to Shinjuku Station, it’s surprisingly spacious. If you enjoy exploring and discovering cool Japanese streets, try walking from Shinjuku Station (about 20 minutes), taking a bath and removing all of your fatigue from the walk, then riding a short train ride back to Shinjuku Station. At Hagoromo Yu the men’s and women’s baths are switched every day so that guests can experience all of the different kinds of baths. There are jet baths, high-temperature saunas, bubble baths, and more to refresh your body and mind.

Every Sunday, the open-air baths feature a “Duck Captain” bath, where the waters in some of the baths are filled with rubber ducks. If you happen to be in Shinjuku on Sunday, make sure to check it out. After taking a bath, you can choose from a library selection of about 2,000 manga comic books. If you want to stay for a while and relax, you can also buy snacks, cup noodles, canned beer, and other things that you might want to have after soaking in a nice public bath. Take a look at Hagoromo Yu below.

↑ Go back to the table of contents

Ruby Palace Girls Sauna (ルビーパラス女性専用サウナ)

Ruby Palace Girls Sauna is a girls-only spa between Shinjuku and Shin-Okubo Station. They are known for their exfoliating Korean akasuri massage, which is where a masseuse uses special Korean exfoliating towels to clean off dead skin cells from your body. It will leave your skin smooth and shiny (and it doesn’t hurt). They are open 24 hours a day, so unlike other public baths, you could visit and leave whenever you please. They provide a multitude of high-quality shampoos, conditioners, soaps, lotions, and more, so it’s okay to pop-in empty handed.

They also have multiple different types of saunas with various different beauty and health effects. Their special herbal steam sauna is said to moisturize your skin and make it smoother while having a calming aroma. Their large public bath is filled with soft water, which contains less calcium and magnesium than average baths. This soft water is said to have multiple health benefits, including improving blood circulation, boosting metabolism, and leaving essential oils on your skin instead of washing them away, keeping it moisturized and healthy. If you want to have a girl’s day in Shinjuku or go solo in an environment welcoming to foreigners, take a look at Ruby Palace below.

↑ Go back to the table of contents

Minami Aoyama Shimizuyu (南青山 清水湯)

Minami Aoyama Shimizuyu is a nice and clean sento known among bathhouse enthusiasts for its rare silk and salt bath and high-concentration carbonated water baths. Shimizuyu is great for people looking for a fully relaxing experience with high-quality bath water. They have soft water pumped into all of the showers, so your skin will be smooth and moist when you clean off before soaking in the baths. The jet baths and rain showers are very popular, so we recommend going after lunch when it opens to get in before the rush.

Minami Aoyama Shimizuyu offers a unique and hospitable atmosphere. The rest area for post bathers has drinks and other amenities. Although it’s technically not in Shinjuku, Shimizuyu is a favorite among Tokyo locals and tourists alike, and is about 15-minutes away from Shinjuku Station, so we decided to include it. Shimizuyu is less than a 3-minute walk away from Omote-Sando Station. Try venturing to a high-quality bath a short way away from Shinjuku at Minami Aoyama Shimizuyu.

↑ Go back to the table of contents

Conclusion

Have you decided what onsen in Shinjuku you want to try out? We chose the best onsen and sento bathhouses in the Shinjuku area that are friendly to first-timers and still have the traditional and local Tokyo atmosphere.

We hope that our list could help you plan where you want to go in Shinjuku. If you are unsure about the rules of onsen, check out this article below.

• Onsen Etiquette

If you want to stay connected and share your onsen experience on social media while in Japan, keep reading for data and pocket Wi-Fi solutions.

Have you booked your SIM card or pocket WiFi for your trip to Japan yet?

In Japan, you’ll want to be connected without missing out on high-speed data and internet!

By reserving online before departing, you can

• Lower your rental fees
• Avoid stock shortages at the airport

To learn more about data and WiFi options for your trip, check out our products below.

CUSTOMER’S VOICE

↑ Go back to the table of contents