Minami-Echizen Onsen Fukui

Minami-Echizen Onsen in Minami-Echizen town, Fukui Prefecture, occupies a narrow coastal valley where the Kinojo River descends steeply through the forested mountains of the Echizen coast to join the sea at a point where the ancient Hokuriku highway linked the capital Kyoto with the distant provinces of the north. The chloride-rich spring water flows warm and mineral-laden, traditionally prized for its potent warming effect on bodies chilled by the cold, damp winters of this rugged coastal stretch facing the Sea of Japan. The nearby Echizen Coast Quasi-National Park, with its dramatic sea cliffs, sea caves, and colonies of Japanese puffins, gives Minami-Echizen a spectacular natural context for thermal bathing.