Kinosaki Onsen New Year’s Eve

Hi,

I'm going to Kinosaki Onsen on 31st December 2014. Is there any event or anything special on the day at Kinosaki Onsen? food stall? fair? hatsumode?

Thanks in advance :)

As you may know, the New Year's Days in Japan are like Christmas holidays in the West, meaning it tends to be quiet family time rather than party time.

There is a shrine IN Kinosaki, and there seem to be five in the general area (not in the immediate neighborhood), where going to all five for "Hatsumode" will bring good fortune for the year.

Thanks AK.

I'm planning to go Amanohashidate first and will arrive at Kinosaki Onsen around 7pm. If I walk along the canal around 8pm-10pm, will there still be shops opened and people walking around considering it's new year's eve? From the guide, seems like most onsen is opened till 11pm on regular day but don't know about the shops.

I'd say if you are staying in a ryokan, it might be better to plan to arrive earlier - I don't know where you are dining, though. And I would imagine the town to be pretty quiet in the evening... in those rural towns, shops would close at 5 or 6 pm (except for liquor shops and some souvenir shops, which might stay open till 9 pm), but on New Year's Eve, I would not expect them to stay open even up to their regular hour.

The baths outside ryokans/hotels are open till.. some until 9 pm, some until 11.

I myself have been there only in summer, so I cannot say anything definite about it, though.

The system at Kinosaki Onsen is really set up for you to arrive earlier if you really want to enjoy the onsen and get your money's worth.

Most of the onsen are not open in the morning, and the onsen passes that the ryokan give you expire I believe sometime before noon.

If you plan to enjoy the onsen AND eat/shop, you'll probably only get to choose one or two onsen.

At normal times, the shops tend to have a downtime period in the early evening before reopening in the evening. On New Years though, it may be different. You'd probably have to call any restaurants you want to eat at to confirm.

Thanks both.

As a foreigner, I'm not that much into onsen. I'll probably just be going to one or two, and a foot bath. I want to also enjoy the town scenery and environment with people walking around in yukata.

I'll be arriving from Tottori around 11:21 to leave my luggage at a ryokan. If I can make it to the train to Amanohashidate leaving at 11:40 then I can come back to Kinosaki Onsen around 6pm. Next train to Amanohashidate would be around 12:35, I would have to come back around 7pm instead. Next day I'm going to Nagoya, moving Amanohashidate to next day is another option for me.