To ease the ache of walking everywhere, I headed to the outskirts of Osaka these past two days to onsens. An onsen is a hot bath, often with other naked strangers, and it is way more appealing than I am making it sound so far. It’s one of the best things about Japan, actually, and even if you are an especially modest gaijin, you should still grit your teeth and do it.
In my opinion, the best onsens are not “spa world” or other crappy tourist traps like that, but the traditional serene ryokan where you can tilt your head back and admire the sakura (cherry blossoms) or maple leaves. Thus I prefer the outdoor onsen. So when I went hunting, I found two incredibly nice onsen, only one of which I’m willing to talk about, because the other was my favorite and like native Japanese the best kept secrets stay secret because none of the tourist websites list it. 
Fushiokaku Onsen is about a half hour outside of Osaka, at Ikeda station you take bus 134, 135, or 136 to Fushiokaku. It’s a huge hotel, with a restaurant, herb garden, etc. overlooking an especially loud stream with man-made waterfall. Not that that detracts from the ambiance at all – the building is a concrete hellhole, but don’t let that scare you off either.
Baths are on the fourth floor and are 1500 yen – they provide you with a towel, which you cannot keep (unfortunately). The women’s bath is really nice, truly. There is a large indoor bath (eh) then three outdoor baths – a rock one, a large cedar tub, and then a marble/granite one with a higher temperature. These are all situated in a very nice outdoor garden setting, with cherry and maple trees, as well as a waterfall. The best time to go would likely be night-time, as the waterfall and trees are lit up. It was very peaceful – there were four other persons there total, none of whom were under 50 years old except me (always a good sign – go where the old ladies are, it’s always the best).
Website has some English, http://www.fushioukaku.co.jp/english/index.html, I understand some of their guest rooms have open air baths as well, so that would be reallyyyy nice for a night out of the city.
