Gero Onsen

Gero's standing comes from a Confucian scholar, Hayashi Razan, who in the seventeenth century named Arima, Kusatsu and Gero as the three finest hot springs in Japan; the ranking stuck and the town has used it ever since. The water is alkaline and smooth on the skin, which is where the local claim of a beauty bath comes from. The town runs along the Hida river with inns on both banks, and its most-photographed feature is Funsenchi, an open bath built into the exposed river bed below the bridge - free, unroofed, no walls and no partition, so bathers wear a swimsuit and it is a communal open-air soak in the middle of town rather than a private one. A wooden pass, the yumeguri tegata, admits the holder to three of the participating inns' baths. The Gassho village above the town has relocated thatched farmhouses from the Shirakawa region.

What you actually see

• A seventeenth-century ranking - named one of the three great springs by Hayashi Razan.
• Funsenchi - a free open bath in the exposed river bed under the bridge.
• A three-bath wooden pass - admitting holders to participating inns' baths.
• The Gassho village - relocated thatched farmhouses on the slope above.

When to go

All year. Two days. Winter for steam off the river.

Honest expectations

The river bath is completely open with no screening - swimwear is required and many find it exposed. Day bath hours at inns are short. The town is small and quiet in the evening. High water closes the river bath.

Nearby

Takayama is north up the line; Nagoya is south.