Iki island has an onsen town full to the brim of public bathhouses. On our recent holiday, we got to enjoy them all!

We enjoyed an indulgent week of lounging in onsen baths full of rusty coloured water. They were extremely relaxing and cheap! It was much better than using the cold showers at our campsite (there was a very large dead crab in mine…) The onsens are very salty and the colour comes from the oxidation of the salts as the water cools from its original 90 Degrees Celsius. This means you can almost float in the baths and it certainly proved soothing after a hard day of relaxation.

The island also hosts a dolphin reserve. We visited and said hello to the five dolphins of over three generations. We even fed them some little fishy treats! It was great fun to see such beautiful creatures up close and personal. They even made that infamous dolphin chatter noise!

Iki is a place to enjoy spa like treatment and wildlife aplenty…