過年去日本泡溫泉：你還沒訂、卻最該訂的冬季溫泉旅館之旅（2026）

12分鐘閱讀·更新於 2026年6月

I almost didn't book my first Lunar New Year trip to Japan, because I assumed the country would be shut. I am Taiwanese by marriage; at home, the island closes for a week — shutters down, families in, restaurants dark. I pictured the same in Japan and nearly rebooked for March. I was completely wrong, and that mistake would have cost me the best onsen week of my life: deep snow on the eaves of a Ginzan ryokan, a private rotenburo steaming into a black sky, and a snow-crab dinner so good my father-in-law went quiet halfway through, which for him is a standing ovation.

Here is the thing almost no Taiwanese, Hong Kong or Southeast-Asian traveler is told: Lunar New Year is one of the smartest weeks of the entire year to be in a Japanese onsen town. This guide explains why, which towns to choose, how snow-crab season lines up perfectly with the holiday, what to actually expect on the ground, and how far ahead to book. The dates to plan around: Lunar New Year is 17 February 2026 (Year of the Horse) and 6 February 2027.

Japan abandoned the lunar calendar in 1873 and moved its New Year to 1 January. The practical consequence for you is enormous: during Lunar New Year, Japan is having an ordinary February. Trains run on full timetables, restaurants and shops are open, museums and attractions operate normally. This is the exact opposite of Japan's own New Year period (roughly 29 December to 3 January), when a surprising amount of the country — including many restaurants and even some ryokan kitchens — closes for the holiday. If you want traditional Japan fully open and fully staffed, the lunar holiday is paradoxically a better window than the Gregorian one.

And it lands in the heart of deep winter, which is when an onsen is at its most magical. The contrast that makes a hot spring unforgettable — your shoulders under steaming water while snow falls on your hair — only exists in January and February. The outdoor rotenburo bath, the snow-laden pines, the early dark that makes the lantern light glow: this is the postcard, and Lunar New Year sits right in the middle of it.

Not every onsen town is at its best under snow, but the ones that are become genuinely extraordinary. Ginzan Onsen in Yamagata is the picture everyone has seen — three- and four-storey Taisho-era wooden inns lining a small river, gas lamps glowing, snow piled on every roof; it is at its most cinematic in February. Kinosaki in Hyogo pairs seven historic public bathhouses you stroll between in yukata and geta with the finest snow-crab kaiseki on the Sea of Japan coast. Kusatsu in Gunma centres on the yubatake, a steaming field of hot-spring water in the middle of town that throws clouds of vapour into the freezing air. For serious snow-country soaking, Nyuto in Akita and Zao in Yamagata deliver remote, milky, deeply atmospheric baths.

Here is the happy accident of the calendar. The Sea of Japan snow-crab season runs from early November to late March, and the catch is at its richest and sweetest in January and February — exactly when Lunar New Year falls. On the San'in coast, especially around Kinosaki, this is the headline event of the winter: a full crab kaiseki where a single prized Matsuba crab, tagged with the port it came from, is served as sashimi, grilled over charcoal, simmered in a hot pot, and finished as rice porridge in the broth. If you are going to splurge on one dinner of the trip, a Lunar New Year crab kaiseki is the one. To understand how that dinner fits into a ryokan's meal plan, see our guide to ryokan meal plans.

Two realities to plan around. First, Japanese domestic travelers are not on holiday — they are at work — so you will not see the crushing domestic crowds of Japan's own New Year or Golden Week. What you will see is heavy international demand: travelers from Taiwan, Hong Kong, mainland China, Korea and Southeast Asia all move at once, which concentrates pressure on flights, popular ryokan, and the most famous towns rather than on Japan as a whole. The fix is simply to book early and, if you can, favour a slightly less obvious town. Second, it is genuinely cold — single digits Celsius by day in the onsen regions, below freezing at night, with real snow in Tohoku. Pack proper layers, and check transport, because heavy snow can delay trains and close mountain roads in the north.

Lunar New Year is, above all, a family holiday, and many travelers come three generations deep. If that is your group, prioritise ryokan with in-room or private onsen so older relatives can bathe in privacy and warmth without the public bath, and confirm large tatami rooms or connecting rooms early, because the family-sized configurations are exactly what sells out first. Lock the ryokan before the flights. Build one splurge crab or kaiseki dinner into the itinerary. And if this is your first ryokan stay, read our first-time ryokan guide and browse the best onsen towns in Japan to choose your base.

我第一次計畫過年去日本，差點沒訂成，因為我以為整個日本都會關門。我是嫁進台灣的，每逢過年，整座島就歇業一週——鐵門拉下、全家團圓、餐廳一片漆黑。我以為日本也是這樣，差點改訂到三月去。結果我完全搞錯了，而那個誤會，差點害我錯過這輩子最棒的一週溫泉之旅：銀山溫泉旅館屋簷上的厚厚積雪、私人露天風呂朝著漆黑夜空冒著熱氣，還有一頓好吃到我公公吃到一半默默不出聲的松葉蟹晚餐——對他來說，那就等於全場起立鼓掌了。

有件事幾乎沒人告訴台灣、香港或東南亞旅客：農曆春節，其實是一整年裡最聰明去日本溫泉鄉的一週。這篇就要告訴你為什麼、該選哪些溫泉鄉、松葉蟹季為什麼跟過年完美對上、實際到了當地會是什麼樣子，以及要提早多久訂房。要先記下的日期：農曆春節是2026年2月17日（馬年）和2027年2月6日。

日本從1873年就廢掉農曆，把新年改到1月1日。這對你有個超大的好處：農曆春節期間，日本只是過著平凡的二月。電車照正常班表跑，餐廳和商店都開著，博物館和景點全部正常營運。這跟日本自己的新年期間（大約12月29日到1月3日）完全相反——那段期間全國有意外多的地方，包括很多餐廳、甚至一些旅館的廚房，都會放年假休息。如果你想看到傳統的日本完整營業、人手到齊，農曆假期反而比西曆新年是更好的時間窗口。

而且它正好落在隆冬的核心，這也是溫泉最有魔力的時候。讓泡湯難以忘懷的那種對比——肩膀泡在熱氣蒸騰的湯裡，雪卻落在你的髮絲上——只有1月和2月才會出現。露天風呂、積雪的松樹、早早變黑的天色讓燈籠的光更顯溫暖：這就是明信片裡的畫面，而農曆春節正好坐落在最中央。

不是每個溫泉鄉雪季都好看，但那些真的適合的，會美到不可思議。山形的銀山溫泉就是大家都看過的那張照片——三、四層樓的大正時代木造旅館沿著小河並排，瓦斯燈暖暖亮著，每片屋頂都堆滿了雪；它在2月最有電影感。兵庫的城崎溫泉則是穿著浴衣踩著木屐、在七間歷史悠久的外湯之間漫步，再配上日本海沿岸最頂級的松葉蟹會席。群馬的草津溫泉以「湯畑」為中心——鎮中央一整片冒著熱氣的溫泉田，把大團蒸氣噴進冰冷的空氣裡。想體驗正宗雪國泡湯，秋田的乳頭溫泉和山形的藏王，能給你偏遠、乳白、氣氛濃到化不開的湯。

這就是日曆湊巧帶來的幸運。日本海的松葉蟹季從11月初一路到3月底，而漁獲最肥美、最甘甜的時候，正是1月和2月——剛好就是農曆春節。在山陰沿岸，尤其是城崎一帶，這是整個冬天的重頭戲：一整套螃蟹會席，把一隻掛著產地標牌的頂級松葉蟹，做成生魚片、炭火燒烤、火鍋慢煮，最後再用蟹高湯煮成雜炊。如果這趟旅行只打算狠下心吃一頓豪華晚餐，農曆春節的螃蟹會席就是那一頓。想了解這頓晚餐怎麼搭進旅館的餐食方案，可以看我們的旅館餐食方案解析。

有兩個現實要先規劃好。第一，日本本地人並沒有在放假——他們在上班——所以你不會碰到日本自己的新年或黃金週那種誇張的本地人潮。你會碰到的是龐大的國際需求：台灣、香港、中國大陸、韓國和東南亞的旅客同時出動，壓力會集中在機票、熱門旅館和最有名的幾個溫泉鄉，而不是均勻分散到整個日本。解法很簡單，就是提早訂，而且如果可以的話，選一個稍微沒那麼熱門的溫泉鄉。第二，是真的很冷——溫泉地區白天攝氏個位數、晚上零度以下，東北還會下真正的大雪。記得帶足夠的洋蔥式保暖衣物，並隨時確認交通，因為大雪可能讓電車誤點、讓北部的山路封閉。

農曆春節說到底就是個家庭團圓的節日，很多人是三代同堂一起出遊。如果你們也是這樣，就優先選有客房內湯或包租湯屋的旅館，讓長輩不必去大眾池，也能私密又溫暖地泡湯；並提早確認大間榻榻米房或相鄰房型，因為這種家庭尺寸的房型，正是最先賣光的。先鎖定旅館，再訂機票。行程裡安排一頓豪華的螃蟹或會席晚餐。如果這是你第一次住旅館，先讀讀我們的第一次住日式旅館完全指南，再逛逛日本最棒的溫泉鄉來決定你的據點。