Muko Onsen Kyoto

Muko, in the southwestern part of Kyoto Prefecture adjacent to Nishikyo ward, is a small suburban city immediately south of the ancient Yamashiro provincial capital and west of the Katsura River where the remnants of Nagaoka-kyo — Japan's briefly designated capital for just ten years from 784-794 AD before the final relocation to Heian-kyo (Kyoto) — lie beneath the urban landscape in one of Japanese archaeology's most intriguing partially excavated ancient capital sites. Muko Onsen Kyoto draws on sodium and bicarbonate thermal waters from the geological resources of the Kyoto basin, offering restorative baths in a small city whose extraordinary hidden archaeology — the buried ancient capital of Nagaoka-kyo discovered beneath the modern suburban fabric — and easy access to central Kyoto's incomparable cultural heritage create an appealingly layered spa setting. The Nagaoka-kyo ancient capital archaeological sites and local history museum, the Katsura River cycling path north to Arashima's bamboo grove and west of Kyoto's historic western districts, and the easy Hankyu Kyoto Line access to the Kinkakuji and Gion heritage districts make Muko a fascinatingly archaeological and conveniently positioned spa destination in southwestern Kyoto Prefecture.