--- title: "Hot Springs & Spa Towns, the 10 best places to bathe | Wimup" description: "The world's great hot springs and spa towns, from Budapest's baths to Japan's onsen, ranked by the water and the bathhouse." url: https://wimup.com/hot-springs type: Themed list updated: 2026-10-27 publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com) --- # Hot springs, the world's best places to bathe. By Wimup desk · 10 picks · 4 films · ≈ 4 min read Ten places where the hot water is the reason to go: Ottoman bathhouses, Japanese onsen towns, Roman pools and geothermal lagoons, ranked, with the bath to book first. We ranked these ten by the water and the bathhouse: the source, the setting and the bathing culture built around it, and then by how easily a first-time visitor can walk in and use it. ## Hot springs, the world's best places to bathe. ### 1. Budapest, Hungary Danube · Hungary No city bathes like Budapest. Széchenyi, open since 1913, keeps its outdoor thermal pool at 36 to 38°C year round, and across the river Rudas still runs its 16th-century Turkish bath: an octagonal pool under a dome on eight pillars. - **Best for:** Bathhouse culture - **Bathe at:** Széchenyi · Rudas - **Water:** Thermal pool 36–38°C Links: [Hungary guide](https://wimup.com/country/hungary.md) ### 2. Kusatsu, Japan Gunma · Japan The onsen town Japanese travellers rate first, built around the Yubatake, a steaming field of wooden channels that cools the water in the town centre. Kusatsu has Japan's largest free-flowing volume, and the water is strongly acidic at pH 2.1. - **Best for:** Onsen ritual - **Bathe at:** Sainokawara - **Water:** Acidic, pH 2.1 Links: [Japan guide](https://wimup.com/country/japan.md) ### 3. Beppu, Japan Ōita · Kyushu · Japan Japan's largest output of hot spring water, and the widest range of ways to use it: sand baths, mud baths, steam rooms and the coloured Jigoku you look at but never enter. Takegawara, founded in 1879, buries you in warm sand in its 1938 building. - **Best for:** Variety - **Bathe at:** Takegawara - **Water:** Japan's largest output Links: [Japan guide](https://wimup.com/country/japan.md) ### 4. Hakone, Japan Kanagawa · Japan The easiest serious onsen trip in Japan: the Romancecar reaches Hakone-Yumoto from Shinjuku in about 80 minutes, and the day baths take walk-ins. Stay one night in a ryokan with its own bath, and do the loop to Lake Ashi the next morning. - **Best for:** Ease from Tokyo - **Bathe at:** Ryokan · day baths - **Water:** Nearly 20 spring types Links: [View the Top 10](https://wimup.com/city/hakone.md) ### 5. Pamukkale, Turkey Denizli · Turkey White travertine terraces laid down by the springs, with the Roman spa city of Hierapolis on top. You walk the terraces barefoot, but the swim is the Antique Pool, warm water over toppled marble columns, charged on its own ticket. - **Best for:** Setting - **Bathe at:** Antique Pool - **Water:** Roman spa city Links: [View the Top 10](https://wimup.com/city/pamukkale.md) · [Watch the Pamukkale film](https://wimup.com/watch/pamukkale.md) ### 6. Blue Lagoon, Iceland Reykjanes · Iceland Milky-blue geothermal seawater from the Svartsengi field, set in black lava, at 37 to 39°C. It sits near Keflavík airport, so most visitors bathe on arrival or departure day; check the operator's notices first, as nearby eruptions have closed it at short notice. - **Best for:** Setting - **Bathe at:** The lagoon - **Water:** Seawater 37–39°C Links: [View the Top 10](https://wimup.com/city/reykjavik.md) · [Watch the Reykjavik film](https://wimup.com/watch/reykjavik.md) ### 7. Baden-Baden, Germany Black Forest · Germany One of the Great Spas of Europe, and Friedrichsbad, opened in 1877, is still the bath to do. Its Roman-Irish ritual runs through 17 stations of warm air, steam and thermal pools, textile-free except on Wednesdays and Saturdays. - **Best for:** Bathing ritual - **Bathe at:** Friedrichsbad - **Water:** 17 stations Links: [Germany guide](https://wimup.com/country/germany.md) ### 8. Rotorua, New Zealand Bay of Plenty · New Zealand A town on a live geothermal field, where the steam rises from the parks and the Te Arawa hosts explain what you are seeing. Soak at the Polynesian Spa on the lake edge at dusk, in two springs: acidic Priest (pH 3.1) and alkaline Rachel (pH 8.9). - **Best for:** Geothermal - **Bathe at:** Polynesian Spa - **Water:** Acid · alkaline Links: [View the Top 10](https://wimup.com/city/rotorua.md) · [Watch the Rotorua film](https://wimup.com/watch/rotorua.md) ### 9. Tbilisi, Georgia Abanotubani · Georgia The city is named for its warm water, from tbili, Georgian for warm, and the brick-domed sulphur baths of Abanotubani still sit under the old town. Book a private room and the scrub; Chreli Abano, behind the blue mosaic front, is the one to know. - **Best for:** Old-town baths - **Bathe at:** Abanotubani - **Water:** Sulphur Links: [View the Top 10](https://wimup.com/city/tbilisi.md) · [Watch the Tbilisi film](https://wimup.com/watch/tbilisi.md) ### 10. Karlovy Vary, Czechia Karlovy Vary Region · Czechia The great drinking-cure town: you sip the springs from a spouted cup under five colonnades rather than bathe in them. The Vřídlo shoots up to 12 metres at 73°C in its own hall, and the Hotel Thermal's outdoor pool on its hillside terrace is the swim. - **Best for:** Drinking cure - **Bathe at:** Colonnades - **Water:** Vřídlo 73°C Links: [View the Top 10](https://wimup.com/city/karlovy-vary.md) ## FAQs ### Where are the best hot springs in the world? Budapest for a city, with Ottoman and early-20th-century bathhouses on a metro line, and Kusatsu for an onsen town. Beppu has Japan's largest output and the widest range of baths. ### Do I have to bathe naked? In a Japanese onsen, yes: baths are split by sex and swimwear is not allowed. Friedrichsbad is textile-free except on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Budapest, Pamukkale, the Blue Lagoon and Rotorua all expect a swimsuit. ### Can I use a Japanese onsen with tattoos? It depends on the bath, and many still refuse visible tattoos. Ask before you pay, cover a small one with a patch where that is accepted, or book a private family bath, which many ryokan offer. ### Which of these suits a short trip? Hakone, about 80 minutes from Shinjuku by Romancecar, and Budapest, where Széchenyi has its own metro stop. The Blue Lagoon is near Keflavík airport, so it fits an arrival or a departure day. ### When is the best time to go? Winter, for the open-air baths: cold air over hot water is the point, and Kusatsu and Hakone are at their best with snow. Pamukkale is the exception, best in spring or autumn, when the terraces are not baking. ## Sources - Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.