Asama Onsen Matsumoto City

Asama Onsen is a historic hot spring district on the outskirts of Matsumoto city — home of Japan's oldest surviving wooden castle keep, the magnificent Matsumoto Castle whose black-lacquered towers and moat remain the city's most iconic image — where bicarbonate and chloride-rich volcanic water from the Asama volcanic zone has supported therapeutic bathing since the Heian period. The onsen district's traditional ryokan, public baths, and foot baths along a historic spa street provide accessible mineral bathing within easy reach of Matsumoto's extraordinary cultural assets including the Japanese Alps Museum and the world-class Seiji Ozawa Music Festival. The combination of therapeutic volcanic mineral bathing and the incomparable cultural richness of a castle city that sits at the entrance to the Japanese Alps makes Asama Onsen an ideal base for exploring some of Japan's finest mountain and heritage landscapes.