Gero was just a city that I passed on my way to Takayama. However, I spent several hours there. Gero is known as one of the most popular onsen towns in Japan. It is also why I made a stop here. I bought an onsen pass, which let me visit 3 different onsens.
I started the day by visiting an onsen close to the train station. It was not crowded and the entire onsen was built with wood. Even the pool itself was wooden. I honestly prefer the texture of the wood to stone, but such an onsen is probably harder to maintain and thus there aren’t many. The view from the pool was also great! I could see the entire opposite side of the river. A bunch of old hotels, a similar feel to the Kinugawa onsen that I visited last year. After soaking in the warm mineral water for a while, I exited the onsen and bought some bottled milk, a popular after-onsen drink.
That same day I also visited the nearby ancient village. Citing Japan Guide, “Gassho Village (Gero Onsen Gassho Mura), an open air museum of gasshozukuri farmhouses, traditional steep roofed houses from the Shirakawago region”.
And after that I visited another 2 onsens – one one them was a hotel one, half open-air, while the other one was a full open air onsen. And it was really crowded! There were almost 30 people in an onsen that was perhaps between 60 and 80 square meters big. Seems like this was the most popular onsen in the town!
