[Access] About 15 minutes by car from Maruseppu IC
[Webpage] Maruseppu Onsen Maure villa

After enjoying summer skiing at the Engaru Rock Valley Ski Resort, I went to Maure villa to enjoy hot spring at Pokke-no-yu. When I searched the hot spring around the ski resort, I just simply thought this wooden building looked great, so I didn’t investigate what types of hot spring they have. However to my surprise, Pokke-no-yu has characteristic hot spring, which made my skin very smooth. Yes, it was a nice alkaline simple spring.

Although it has an indoor bath and an outdoor bath, it is relatively small for a day trip onsen facility. It opened in September 2019, so the wooden edges of the baths are still new and pleasant. The waiting room is also small, but has a nice atmosphere with wooden pillars and beams, making me want to relax in the cool breeze after taking bath.

There was a wooden building next to the open-air bath, and it was a Finnish-style sauna. There was no one else in the room, so I could enjoy the hot sauna while doing löyly. Even though it was summer, the temperature outside was below 20 degrees Celsius. So I could relax without covering cold water on my body.

The purpose of today’s day trip was to go summer skiing rather than onsen. It was first time for me to go summer skiing. I could rent ski, boots, stocks, etc. and buy a lift ticket which are just same as winter skiing (of course). I thought water may be sprayed on the ski slope, so I brought a waterproof windbreaker. But it was not the case, so I didn’t have to worry about waterproofing. However, if I would fall down on the plastic slope, it would hurt a lot, so long sleeves and long pants are better. The backside of the ski is made of stainless steel, and the edges are quite sharp, so I bought cotton gloves, even though it was summer.

It was just like normal winter skiing, but on the plastic snow like shown in the picture. After getting off the lift, there was a oil-soaked sheet, so put the ski on it before skiing. This is the reason for the black color in the left photo. Skiing on the plastic snow let me feel like skiing on the frozen ski slope. Also, I could not get the speed on the gentle slope, so it’s a little hard to get used to such difference. Nevertheless, I thought this is a good facility for people who want to practice skiing. In fact, the people who were skiing today were really good, and they were taking videos to check their form. If there would be a facility like this near my house, I would love to go often to practice 🙂