When I visited Takayama, I noticed how unclear the literature surrounding going to Gero to bathe in the hot spring baths there was. In this post, I will very briefly explain how to optimally do a day trip from Takayama to Gero, taking advantage of the “Yumeijin Yumeguri Pass.”

Transportation

If you are in Takayama, getting from Takayama to Gero and back is just an hour on train. The two lines you can take are the standard Takayama line (970 yen one way) or the Hida express line (2,240 yen one way). If you have a JR Pass, either of these options is covered, and the Hida express line covers the distance in 49 minutes instead of the 1 hour and 15 minutes the Takayama line takes. One of the two lines runs about every hour between 6 am and 10 pm. However, if you don’t have a JR Pass, you will want to note the timetable for the Takayama line because you probably want to avoid paying an extra 2,000 yen. Within Gero, you will easily be able to get everywhere you want to by foot.

The Yumeijin Yumeguri Pass

The pass is fairly well-documented, but I can briefly explain what the pass offers. The pass costs 1,300 yen and gives you one-time access to 3 hot spring baths over a time-span of 6 months. This pass is only a 140 yen discount to the entry fees for the three public paths in Gero. But the pass also gets you access to the baths of many of the hotels in the town, which are typically reserved for their customers.

When you arrive in Gero, you will see a visitor center on the right as you exit the station. You can go there to buy a pass. The folks at the center will also provide you a map of the town and a page that explains the rules of the pass in English and provides the hours of all the different baths covered by the pass. It is worth noting that (I believe) the visitor center opens at 9 am, so you probably don’t want to arrive in Gero at 7:30.

The Baths

In Gero, there are 3 public baths, the Cure Garden Open Air Bath, Shirasagi-no-yu, and Sachi-no-yu. You could get into these baths without a pass simply by paying the entrance fee. All the other baths (19 in total) belong to hotels or other private establishments. When my brother and I visited, we went to the Cure Garden Open Air Bath, Shirasagi-no-yu (which was being renovated at the time), and Yamagataya. Of those, I would strongly recommend Cure Garden and Yamagataya.

Bathing Etiquette

I won’t comment on how to behave in the baths, but this is something people unfamiliar with Japanese baths should look up. One thing that is important is that you should bring your own towel and bath towel. Another thing worth mentioning is that it is stated that people with tattoos are typically refused entrance to baths in Japan. I never experienced this with anybody I know personally, but I wouldn’t test it.

Some Tips

• I got the sense that many hotel baths are in general fairly nice. A quick glance at Google reviews should give you an idea of which hotels covered by the pass have the best baths. Some of the Google location pages may even have images of the baths.
• Allocate about half an hour to each bath while you are in Gero. I was taken back by how exhausting bathing in these hot springs is. In particular, for baths without a section outdoors, you are left with no escape from the suffocating pressure of hot air saturated with water vapor. You are realistically not going to be able to lounge in a single bath for an hour or more.
• Plan your hours ahead of time because most of the hotel baths are only open to people with the pass for two or three hours. It would probably be a good idea to plan for visits to a museum or a park or a hike during the time between baths.

Hopefully this post explains some things more clearly than the other literature about bathing in Gero. I wish you the best of luck with your day trip and hope you enjoy the baths.