Address: 3丁目4-24恵美須東, Naniwa Ward, Ōsaka City, Ōsaka Prefecture, Japan
Telephone: 06-6631-0001
Website: http://www.spaworld.co.jp/english/
Discount coupon available here.
My experience: Spaworld is undoubtedly one of the largest public baths in Japan, located right next to the infamous Festival Gate. The building counts an impressive eight floors.
Walking in through the large sliding doors the lobby is filled left and right with ticket vending machines. It’s (again, and quite deliberately planned) my lucky day, because Spaworld is again on a discount spree, offering unlimited access to the baths for 1000 yen. I present my ticket and point card to the lady at the front desk and receive a wristband fitted with an electronic chip that functions as a wallet throughout Spaworld. As in all baths this is also the time and place to take of the shoes and stick them in a shoe locker. On this visit the Europa Zone on the 4th floor has been reserved for the men, and the women have been dealt the Asia Zone on the 6th floor.
I head up to the 4th floor in the elevator. A small portion of this floor is a mixed area where people hang out in their Spaworld issued out-of-bath garb. Entering through the traditional noren into the locker room I have the choice of 26 rows of lockers labelled A-Z. I settle for one that seems to be close to the entrance of the bathing area. I change into my birthday suit, ready to enter the baths. In between the locker room and the baths is an area with massage chairs and mirrors. The bathing area is seperated from the locker room by a short corridor with water spraying nozzles to hose down the bathers. Inside it’s just like a regular sento except it’s much much larger. There are several differently themed areas, all with an array of baths and saunas. The outside bathing area is seperated from the inside by a resting area with a bar. This is where the wristband comes in very handy. Every area has a washing part with soap, shampoo, washing towels, razors and toothbrushes supplied for free.
After poodling around the baths for a while I decide to dress up in some public area clothing, consisting of a comfortable pair of pants and a pull-over, all readily available from the Spaworld shelves at no extra cost. Dressed up I head for the relaxing area, filled with comfortable reclining chairs and a bank of televisions. I thought I’d take the time to read a little bit, but the comfort of the chairs soon gets to me and I drift of into an afternoon nap. After I wake up I head for one of the washing areas to and take a dip in one of the cold baths to wake up.
After getting dressed again in my own clothes I head down to the exit. First I need to pay the bill for the wristband wallet at a vending machine where I then get issued my exit pass so I can leave the building. I spent three hours bath hopping and relaxing, and I feel I could have easily entertained myself for another three hours, so if you are planning to visit Spaworld, make sure to take your time.
Besides all this, the top floor also features a mixed pool, accessible for men and women in bathing suites that can be rented from the service desk in the locker rooms.
Spaworld is located within easily walking distance from JR, Nankai and Hankai Shin-Imamiya stations, Tennoji station and the Midosuji subway line Doubutsuenmae station. The regular entrance fee is around 3000 yen, but this often gets discounted to 1000 yen, so if you want to time your visit to coincide with the 1000 yen campaign keep an eye on the Spaworld website. All things you could possibly need in the bath are included, such as towels, soap, shampoo, razor blades, after shave, hair tonic, hair dryers, styling mouse and probably more.
This bath is part of the Spaworld chain.
Tags: coupon, experience, Spaworld, super sento
This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 10:43 am and is filed under Experience reports, Ōsaka City . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.
