Noboribetsu Onsen area

A small mountain onsen town named for Jigokudani, the 450-meter sulfurous crater that supplies the village's nine separate spring types. Boardwalks above the valley let visitors walk through the steam plumes. Beyond the bath houses, Date Jidai Mura recreates an Edo-period samurai village with daily ninja shows, Bear Park on Mt. Shihorei keeps a colony of Hokkaido brown bears, and the 100-degree pond Oyunuma feeds a natural foot bath in the forest below it. The Pacific cliff line at Cape Chikyu is a 30-minute drive south.