March 06, 2023 Day 12: Awara Onsen & Tojinbo

A trip to the hot springs is a great way to get to know Japanese culture better. Awara Onsen resort in the north of Fukui Prefecture welcomed its first guests in 1883. In Japan, it is known for its refined elegance and over the years has been popular with writers and artists. You will find as many as 74 hot springs around town, each one boasting its own unique set of health benefits. Some 20 ryokan inns with onsen baths, filled with the natural geothermal water, offer a world of blissful relaxation. The open-air baths are simply divine. A short walk from Awara Onsen Station are five foot baths, all of which are free to use. They have varying water qualities and temperatures and are ideal for resting your feet after a day of sightseeing. Tojinbo is a one kilometer long stretch of rugged basalt cliffs along the Sea of Japan coast north of Fukui City. The rocky coastline has been carved out by the waves, leaving deep chasms and precipitous bluffs that tower up to 30 meters above the water below. The coarse, pillar-shaped rocks look like bundles of hexagonal and pentagonal rods and are a rare geological formation that can be seen in only a few other spots in the world. Tojinbo can be explored via trails which lead along the rocky embankment to various chasms and promontories. Visitors are free to walk right up to the unmarked edges of the bluffs. Watch your step and take heed as Tojinbo is named after a monk who, legend has it, fell to his untimely death along the cliffs. It is also possible to appreciate the towering bluffs from 30-minute long pleasure boat cruises; however, the boats do not run when waves are high.