Kobe day tour: Arima Hot Spring and Mt. Rokko

Arima Onsen ( Arima Onsen) is an onsen, or hot springs in Kita-ku, Kobe, Japan. This Onsen is still a hidden treasure of modern Kobe, behind Mount Rokkō. It attracts many Japanese who want tranquility with beautiful natural surroundings and yet easy access from the busy cities in the Kansai metropolitan area including Osaka. Arima Onsen was named in "The Pillow Book", a famous Heian Era book, as one of the three famous springs in Japan. It was selected as the most prestigious hot spring during the Edo Era. Arima Onsen has two kinds of springs. One is kinsen "gold spring"), which has water colored yellow-brown from iron and salt. The other is ginsen ("silver spring"), which is colorless and contains radium and carbonate.

Kobe is the seventh-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture. It is located on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, on the north shore of Osaka Bay and about 30 km west of Osaka. The earliest written records regarding the region come from the Nihon Shoki, which describes the founding of the Ikuta Shrine by Empress Jingū in AD 201. For most of its history, the area was never a single political entity, even during the Tokugawa period, when the port was controlled directly by the Tokugawa shogunate. Kobe did not exist in its current form until its founding in 1889. Kobe became one of Japan's designated cities in 1956.

Mount Rokkō (Rokkō-san) is the name of a range of mountains in southeastern Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. There is no single mountain or peak called "Rokkō," although the highest peak of the mountains is called Rokkōsan-Saikōhō , (literally, the highest peak of the Rokkō Mountains) and the area to the south is known as the Rokkō area. The mountains run approximately east-west from Sumaura Kōen Park in western Kobe to Takarazuka, and the length of the range is about 56 km. The highest point is 931m. It also includes Mount Maya, Mount Kabutoyama, Mount Iwahara and Mount Iwakura. Today, the Rokkō mountain area is a centerpiece of a popular sightseeing and hiking area for people in the metropolitan Kansai region. Mt. Rokkō is a symbol of Kobe as well as Osaka.

Rokko Garden Terrace is a leisure venue where visitors can enjoy fine seasonal dining and shopping; comprising a total of four eateries and five retail outlets within a single exotic setting. The crowning glory is the panoramic view from a dedicated observatory overlooking the Akashi Strait, taking in the Osaka Bay and stretching as far as Kansai International Airport.

At the top of the Rokko cable car coming from Kobe City is the Mount Rokko Tenrandai, an observation platform where guests can view the urban sprawl of Osaka Bay below. Open until evening, this unparalleled viewpoint offers incredible views no matter what time you visit. The nighttime view is popularly referred to as one of Japan's 10 million-dollar night views.