Kusatsu Onsen (Hot Springs) located in the Gunma Prefecture is about 200 kilometers from Tokyo (about 124 miles). It was about 2.5 hours away from my in-law's home in Utsunomiya. We rented a car and enjoyed the beautiful scenery along the way.
Kusatsu is ranked as Japan's #1 hot springs and boasts that it produces the greatest amount of natural hot spring water. The Yubatake (hot water fields) are a wooden facility for thermal moderation of the water, making for a unique attractive atmosphere. It is the symbol of Kusatsu.
We had a reasonably priced steak lunch at Silver Back Grill and Beer. My 1/2 lb. steak platter with rice and curry was $16 and my wife's 1/3 lb. order was $13.
We stayed at Sakurai Hotel and had easy walking access to everything. The hotel included an amazing buffet dinner and breakfast with our stay. That evening we also enjoyed the hotel festivities that included traditional summer obon dancing and taiko drumming.
During the day we attended the Yumomi show at Netsu-no-yu which highlights a unique method of stirring the hot springs waters to cool it down. The show cost about $6 for adults and $3 for children.
Right in the middle of town is Kosenji Temple. I quickly ran up the flight of stairs and took in the view and captured some great footage.
We also went to Kusatsu Tropical Wonderland (Nettaiken). It's a small zoo that is surprisingly packed with a lot of animals. I will be highlighting that in a separate video so be on the lookout for that.
Overall, Kusatsu is a beautiful place and we loved our experience. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone and hope to be back there some day soon.