Arima Onsen: This is the original hotspring town located in the mountains of the Hyogo region. To get there you need to get to Shin-Kobe, then take the subway to Tanigami where you switch trains to Arimaguichi before taking one final train to Arima Onsen.

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Arima Onsen: The air is extremely fresh here and you can see the hotspring steam venting out of the mountains. During low tide, people often have picnics down in the river. If you come at night, the place is filled with amazing fireflies!!


Arima Onsen: This is the hotspring that I visited - it's called Taiko no yu. Entry fee is 2400 yen and it's well worth the price. There's both indoor and outdoor onsens each having a variety of different spas ~ from sulfuric to carbonated and hydrogen filled spas. I must say sitting in the outside spas in the mountain top with the rain pouring down was definitely the highlight of the trip!


Arima Onsen: I was told that the cupcakes here at Arima Onsen are extremely delicious and popular because they are cooked using hotspring water. The nice lady at the counter kept telling me "eat today... hot". I bought them anyway and ate them on the bullet train on the way back. It didn't take me long to understand why she wanted me to heat them up ~ they tasted stale and friggen crumbled all over me!