Outdoor baths #
露天風呂 - literally a heavenly dew bath. Sometimes 野天風呂 - an ehm, field under the sky-bath. Just imagine lying in hot water, a dark deep forest instead of the walls, stars slowly falling onto your face and you realize those are snowflakes, melting from the hot steam before they reach you. The river runs below, and bears lurk behind those trees… No, for real, I’ve been to an onsen where you get a wooden staff with a jingle bell attached to it - supposedly to keep bears at bay. Super kawaii! The staff I mean, not the bears. Those I actually didn’t see, hehe.
Indoor baths #
内湯 - an inside hot water - very poetic, isn’t it? Inside bath can be pretty gorgeous actually. If the place is big - it can have several different pools both inside and outside. Though sometimes a not-so-big hotel would have only a single bath and that one can be a bit of a hit-or-miss, at least for me. Mostly because I’m not a huge fan of when the water is too hot - and when there’s a single bath, it is usually too hot and there’s no other place to go.
Private baths #
The default mode of operation in onsens is to separate male and female compartments. But if you are traveling with your family, you probably would like to enjoy hot water together. Private baths come to the rescue! They are called 貸切風呂 - “rental bath”, or 家族風呂 - family bath. Most large onsens would have some, possibly for additional fee. And you better reserver in advance!
Also when a hotel or ryokan is very-very small, say half-a-dozen rooms total - it would sometimes only have a couple of private baths, expecting everybody to select a slot for themselves.
Mixed onsens #
Another option is to go to a mixed onsen - 混浴 温泉. Yep, they exist not only in hentai manga. Most often though you would wear a special bathrobe. Nope, not a swimsuit. A special robe - a kind of simple one-piece for women and a sort of loincloth or skirt for men. Trust me, it is pretty comfortable and blends much better with the environment. Except that one place where they made them of eye-popping pink color 😑.
Those things shaped like barrels #
They are super-private baths. I mean, not in a sense that you wound book them for yourself. They would be just scattered near the big pool-like bath, or placed in the garden or even on the roof. It is that literally a single person can fit - you. And it feels good. Especially those which are more curved, like a giant goblet - making you naturally return into a fetal position and remember good old times.
What about those waterfalls? #
Yeah, sometimes the hot water would be made falling down - as a stream or drop by drop like a medieval torture setup. That’s it. Because why not?