Rokko / Arima-onsen Hot Spring有馬温泉

A spectacular night view of Kobe from the Rokko Mountains. Popular Arima-onsen Hot Spring, dating back to the 8th century.

Located in southern Hyogo and on the northern coast of the Osaka Bay, the Rokko Mountains belong to Seto-nai-kai National Park and are the best sightseeing and health resort in the Hanshin (Osaka-Kobe) district. The highest of the mountains is Mt. Rokko-san, 931 meters above sea level, affording a night view of Kobe so beautiful that it is admired as "million-dollar night view."

Mt. Rokko-san area was originally opened as a place for foreigners' cottages, followed by rapid development into a health resort since when a cable railway was put in service. It boasts a 100 year old golf course, the oldest in Japan, a man-made skiing ground, the Rokko Ranch run by Kobe City where Kiso horses (Japanese breed), Tokara horses and other horses are grazed on an spacious ground, drawing upward of 7 million visitors a year.


Located in what is called "Ura-Rokko" (back of Rokko) in the north of Kobe is the Arima-onsen Hot Spring Resort, one of the oldest in Japan, said to have been opened when Buddhist monks built a sanitarium there in the 8th century. The spa contains a variety of hot springs including salt-rich spring with a salt content as high as twice that of seawater, carbonated spring with the flavor of soda-pop and radium spring. Arima-onsen Hot Spring is very popular as it is referred to as "The back parlor of Keihanshin" (Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe).