Half Day Travel Plan in Kyoto: Scenic Railway + Onsen
With this travel plan in just half a day starting from anytime before 3 pm, you will be able to enjoy nature, explore the mountain scenery of Kyoto, see the countryside of Japan, and relax on the hot springs after a long tiring day.
- First of all, what is a Torokko?
- Sagano Romantic Train
- What is an onsen?
- Rurikei Onsen of Nantan, Kyoto
- Going back to Kyoto
With this travel plan in just half a day starting from anytime before 3 pm, you will be able to enjoy nature, explore the mountain scenery of Kyoto, see the countryside of Japan, and relax on the hot springs after a long tiring day.
Guide on getting through the plan
In this travel plan, the route will be starting from Saga Torokko Station which is just right next to JR Saga-Arashiyama Station.
First of all, what is a Torokko?
Torokko is the Japanese word for a wheelbarrow-type train for carrying construction materials. It is said to have originated from the English word “truck”. Nowadays, torokko are popularly used for sightseeing tour.
Sagano Romantic Train
The Sagano Romantic Train is a sightseeing torokko in Kyoto. There are a couple of stations for the Sagano Romantic train: Saga Torokko Sta., Arashiyama Torokko Sta., Hozukyo Torokko Sta., and Kamekoa Torokko Sta. The train runs starting from either Saga or Kameoka stations, but it is possible to ride from any station as long as you reserved a seat for the specific date and time schedule.
From Saga Torokko Station, the train departs every hour of the clock starting from 9 am until 5 pm. For this half day plan, 3 pm is the best time to ride. Since this is a reserved seating, if you are unable to ride on your reserved time, the tickets will be unusable—don’t be late! The tickets can be purchased at the green counter (もどりの窓口) or green ticket machines of JR Stations within Kansai, or online on the official Sagano Railway website. The fare is about 600 yen for adults, and 300 yen for children.
The torokko travels through the mountain scenery of Arashiyama that follows the Hozu River. Frequently stopping to let the tourists enjoy the natural scenery, the train slowly moves through the chilly fresh air passing by the valley. Along the course, you will see the Hozu river sometimes carrying waving boat riders. The foliage are a sight to see on this ride. On the fall, the mountain is covered with colorful Japanese maple leaves from deep red to yellow. On the early spring, pink cherry blossoms caves in the train tracks. On the spring and summer, the mountain will be covered with fresh green leaves. On the winter however, the Sagano Scenic Railway is closed from January until February. The ride lasts for about 25 minutes until reaching Kameoka, the last station.
If you are riding torokko at 3 pm, the arrival at Kameoka would be 3:25 pm. Kameoka is a small city in Kyoto and you will be greeted with green fields after stepping out of the train.
From here on, the next destination will be Rurikei Onsen.
What is an onsen?
Onsen is the term for hot spring in Japanese. This often includes the meaning of an inn or a resort built around a hot spring. In Japan, hot springs will most of the time have inns for bathing commodity.
Rurikei Onsen of Nantan, Kyoto
Rurikei Onsen is located on a mountain of Sonobe, Nantan City of Kyoto. This onsen is popular for having a space accessible by both genders. There are also space divided by gender, but the shared one requires a bathing suit. Bathing suit and other commodities are available for renting.
From Kameoka Torokko to Sonobe Station
After arriving at Kameoka Torokko Station at around 3:30 pm, you will have about an hour of free time in Kameoka to look around or have some afternoon snack. Our choice was some shaved ice we passed by on the road to walk to Umahori Station. Walking to Umahori Station only takes about 8 minutes.
The station to get to Rurikei Onsen is Sonobe Station. From Umahori Station, the travel time takes about 20 minutes. Make sure to aim getting to Sonobe station before 5 pm. Caution: Train departures on the country side is not as frequent as with the rural areas. It is normally every 30 minutes up to 1 hour depending on the location. If you have no idea how to check the time for the next train, being at Umahori station and waiting for the next train from 4 pm is more than enough.
From Sonobe Station to Rurikei Onsen by shuttle bus
The free shuttle bus to Rurikei Onsen departs in front of Sonobe Station every 2 hours, 3 pm and 5:20 pm departure are the choices for the afternoon. If you follow my schedule and rode the torokko at 3 pm, you will need to aim to ride the shuttle bus departing at 5:20. It is advisable to arrive early to avoid missing out on the bus since it only comes every 2 hours. If you want more time on the onsen, and decided to take the 3 pm shuttle bus, make sure to adjust your torokko reservation time to not later than 1 pm.
When you arrive at Sonobe Station, proceed to the west exit, down the long staircase, and out to the fresh air of Sonobe. You will notice the surroundings to be a bit mountainous or hilly. The bus stop is very easy to spot, just right out front with signs and bench. The bus will come by around the scheduled time, and it will never leave before it. So as long as you arrive before the departure time, you will have no problem spotting the bus and getting on it. Also don’t expect a big tourist bus. It’s just a regular shuttle bus similar to those used by hotels in Japan.
The shuttle bus is free to ride for Rurikei customers. When riding, the driver will prioritize those with hotel reservations and let them ride first. Other than priority for reserved guests, you won’t be needing reservation to ride, no proofs required. On the way to Rurikei Onsen is mostly uphill. Some ways are more curved than the other, but rest assured, the roads don’t get as narrowed as you imagine when riding. 30 minutes later, you will have arrived at the destination.
Rurikei Onsen entry pricing plans
On the front desk of the onsen resort, you will need to choose a payment plan: Kigaru plan (bathing access) and Zenkan plan (whole building access). Before I explain about the plans, let me introduce the areas on the onsen. The bathing area have 2 separate spaces, one for mixed gender and another for each gender. You are required to wear swimsuit to enter the mixed area. The Kigaru plan gives access to the bathing area which includes indoor baths (separate area and mixed area), open-air baths (separate and mixed), saunas (mixed), warm swimming pool (mixed). With this plan, you cannot re-enter once exiting. This plan would be my recommendation as it’s the simplest plan solely for bathing and relaxing on a half day schedule.
The other plan, namely Zenkan plan, give access to the bathing area plus the lantern terrace, you will also get free bath towels and relax wear, and with this plan you are allowed to re-enter the bath. The bathing area is composed of the same features as with the Kigaru plan, since they are basically the same bathing area, but with this plan, it offers access to another space which is the lantern terrace. The lantern terrace area refers to the whole building contrary its name. Facilities in the building includes: hammock, tent, sleeping, rest, massage chair, and drink areas. There are also access to spa and karaoke areas which have a separate service fee: bed rock spa, herb tent, enzyme spa, and fish therapy. If you prefer this plan, you will need longer time of stay to enjoy all facilities.
Inside Rurikei Onsen
Once you enter the bath area, you will first see rows of lockers. Proceed there to open yours with your key to put all your belongings including your clothes. Wear your swimsuit if you are planning to enter the mixed area, if not, you have to remove all your clothing. Be very careful because you might mistakenly enter the mixed area naked. From my experience, as I was going towards the mixed area, there was a guy butt naked walking on the isle freely so I had to wait for him to realize it and go back to the men’s area since I didn’t want to see him walk back on his front side. The difference of the entrance for mixed and separate baths are easy to tell. The separate bath can only be accessed through the female dressing area. Right in front of the lockers, there’s a very blurry door filled with steam which means it is the entrance for bath that can’t be accessed by anyone but those from that dressing area. For the mixed one, you will have to go to a partly covered wall with a cloth, and once passed it, you will see the men’s entrance for the mixed bath. From there on and you will have to walk an isle until you reach the bathing area. There is also a sign in Japanese that you can’t proceed without swimsuit from that point on.
I am planning on writing manners inside onsen someday, but for now google have them so don’t forget to read them if it’s your first time!
Inside the mixed bath, there are 4 types of sauna rooms: a high temperature dry sauna, herb steam sauna, aroma steam sauna, and an infrared sauna. If you enjoy saunas, these are great varieties to try. As for the baths, my favorite is the open-air onsen or rotenburo (露天風呂). The difference of the chilly mountain temperature and the hot spring bath is just the best form of relaxation. I also liked the scented bath, and they had lavender on it when I visited.
Unfortunately, if you are not staying overnight, you will have to watch out for the time you to leave. Although from my experience, less than an hour of bath is more than enough to enjoy the hot springs, since staying on hot water for too long is a challenge itself. The free shuttle bus that goes back to Sonobe station will leave at 7:20 pm as the last departure. Make sure you have enough time to shower and get dressed. After leaving the dressing room, you will be on the area with vending machines selling ichigo milk (strawberry milk), coffee milk, and milk. Don’t froget to have one to enjoy your onsen more!
Fun note:
Japanese people have a culture of drinking coffee milk or strawberry milk after bath as a refreshment!
Going back to Kyoto
To ride the shuttle bus, just go back to the same area where the bus stopped and wait for it to come. Make sure to ride the one that goes back to Sonobe since there is another place where the shuttle bus goes to. To make sure, just ask the driver “Sonobe eki?” or just simply ride the one that looks like its about to leave at 7:20 pm.
If you’re hungry for dinner, there is an Indian restaurant under Sonobe Station. The shop is run by very nice Nepalese. I recommend going there for dinner if you haven’t decided a place to dine at Kyoto. From Sonobe Station, simply ride back the train that goes straight to Kyoto Station.
And that’s it! Otsukaresamadesu!