Ito — The Prefecture's Largest Flow, and a Winter Pillow Fight

Why visit

As of January 2024, Ito Onsen produced 26,836 litres of hot water per minute — the largest flow in Shizuoka Prefecture (C002). That volume shapes the town. The centre holds many day-use baths and public bathhouses (C006), and foot and hand baths are scattered through the streets: Fureai-no-yu in Matsukawa Park, Bisoku-no-yu outside Izu-Kogen Station, Tsubaki-no-oteyu on the Yunohana shopping street (C007). You can meet the water here without booking a room.

Who it is for

• Travellers who want to walk a hot-spring town rather than simply bathe in one.
• Winter visitors. This town's winter holds the burning of Mount Omuro (C015) and the All-Japan Pillow Fight championship (C016).

What to do

The water. The springs are chiefly simple and weak-saline, described in terms of two types, chloride and sulfate (C003). The water is colourless, odourless and clear, and its salt content is said to hold heat (C004). Ito Onsen is said to have been found in the Heian period, and in the Edo era its water was presented to the third shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu (C005).

Tokaikan. A former wooden ryokan, now open as a cultural facility: 200 yen to enter, with bathing on weekends and holidays at 500 yen for adults and 300 for children (C008).

Landscape. The Jogasaki coast is a volcanic headland (C009). Mount Omuro is known for its panoramic viewpoint (C010). Lake Ippeki is called the Eye of Izu (C011). Komuroyama Park is known for some 100,000 azaleas (C012).

Seasons

Evening cherry blossom at Sakura-no-Sato in spring; sea fireworks and water attractions at Orange Beach in summer; autumn foliage and mandarin picking; the burning of Mount Omuro and the pillow-fight championship in winter (C013, C014).

How to get there

You can arrive without changing trains. The Odoriko limited express runs from Tokyo to Ito in about 1 hour 40 minutes (C019) — the simplest way onto the Izu Peninsula.

The shinkansen is faster but requires a change at Atami (C021): about 55 minutes from Tokyo to Atami, then about 22 minutes on the JR Ito Line (C020). From Nagoya it is about 1 hour 52 minutes to Atami, then the same 22 minutes (C022).

By car from the Tokyo direction, leave the Tomei Expressway at Atsugi IC for the Odawara-Atsugi Road and continue via Atami — about 90 minutes (C023). From Nagoya, leave at Numazu IC for Route 1 via Mishima, then Route 136 and the Usami-Ohito Road, about 60 minutes (C024). When the coast road is congested, the Izu Skyline is suggested instead (C025).

There is a tourist information office at Ito Station (C018).

Where to stay

Ito's lodging is not gathered into a single hot-spring street. It is presented across three areas — the Ito Onsen town, Izu-Kogen and Jogasaki Onsen (C027). Staying in the seaside town centre is a different trip from staying up on the highland.

The properties themselves mix ryokan, hotels and resort facilities (C028). The search is divided into 22 themed filters, where hot-spring conditions — a private open-air bath in the room, a reservable bath, the property's own spring — sit alongside ocean views, meals in the room and barrier-free access (C029). Hot water and a sea view are parallel axes of choice here, which is what distinguishes staying in Ito.

The listings are run by the Ito Onsen Ryokan and Hotel Cooperative (C026), whose official site presents the town as a hot-spring destination 90 minutes from Tokyo (C030).

Limitations and cautions

• All journey times are approximate and vary by season and time of day. Fares and service frequency were not obtained.
• The total number of member properties, and how many sit in each area, are not stated on the cooperative's page and were not obtained. Rates, availability and plans change constantly and are not recorded.
• The number of springs is not obtained. For flow rate, lower-tier media circulate figures of 32,000–34,000 litres per minute; only the officially confirmed 26,836 litres (January 2024) is used here.
• The water description rests on the tourism association (Tier B) alone; it has not been cross-checked against the city or the prefectural hot-spring association.
• Opening hours and fees for the public baths and foot baths, the height and lift of Mount Omuro, the Jogasaki suspension bridge, azalea bloom times and event dates are not obtained.
• Accommodation and local food (seafood, dried fish, mandarins) are not yet researched.