Beppu Onsen — photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5 · Wikimedia Commons
Beppu onsen: the eight districts, the hells, and finding the water you came for
Beppu is not an onsen town in the usual sense. It is a seaside city where steam rises out of the drains and hillsides, with hundreds of baths spread over eight old onsen districts. Most guides lead with the "hells", the sand bath and a list of hotels. This one is about the part they skip: the water in Beppu is not one thing, the district you bathe in decides what you get, and the famous sights are not where you bathe. It also covers the cheap neighbourhood bathhouses, how Beppu differs from Yufuin, and how to get there without a car.
What the numbers say
Beppu is recorded in our database with five water types at once: chloride, sulfate, iron, acidic and sulfur.
- Of the 1,441 onsen towns we hold a water type for, 910 list just one. Only 11 list five or more, and Beppu is the most looked-up of those 11. The others include Noboribetsu, Hakone and Zaō.
- Of the 1,167 towns we hold a source temperature for, 10 reach 100 °C. Beppu's Kannawa district is one of them.
- Ōita has 35 onsen towns in our records. Beppu's Wikipedia article is read 2,195 times in our sample, second in the prefecture only to Yufuin (2,281), and 17th of 1,538 towns nationwide.
Our records give the water types for Beppu as a whole, not for each bath. In practice each bathhouse and inn draws from its own well, and two baths a few streets apart can be completely different. The sign in the changing room tells you which one you are in; see reading the water sign.
The eight districts
Locally the city's baths are counted as eight districts, together called 別府八湯 (Beppu Hattō). They are a few kilometres apart, linked by city buses, and each has its own character.
- Beppu (central), around the station and the old shopping streets. Easiest to reach, with the oldest public bathhouses. The water here is often clear and mild.
- Hamawaki, 1.4 km southeast, by the sea at the south end of the centre. A quiet neighbourhood district with local bathhouses.
- Kannawa, up the hill to the northwest. The district with steam pouring out of the street, most of the hells, and food cooked in spring steam. Recorded at 100 °C.
- Myōban, higher up the same hillside. Known for the thatched sheds where mineral deposits from the steam have been collected for centuries, and for cloudy, acidic sulfur water.
- Kankaiji and Horita, on the slopes west of the centre. Mostly large hotels and a few inns, with views down over the city and the bay.
- Shibaseki and Kamegawa, in the north of the city. Smaller and more local.
If you want strong, smelly, milky water, head up the hill to Myōban and Kannawa. If you want an easy bath after dinner near the station, central Beppu is fine. Do not assume that a hotel "in Beppu" has the water you saw in a photograph.
Reading the water before you get in
With five water types in one city, the changing-room sign matters more here than almost anywhere. A few things are worth knowing.
- Acidic water stings. 酸性 (sansei) on the sign means it will sting any cut or graze, and it is not for long soaks. Rinse off with fresh water afterwards if there is a tap.
- Sulfur blackens silver. Take off rings and necklaces before a 硫黄泉 (iō-sen) bath. See sulfur onsen.
- Iron water stains. 含鉄泉 (gantetsu-sen) turns reddish brown in the air and can mark a white towel for good. Use an old one.
- The hot districts run hot. Water that leaves the ground at 100 °C has to be cooled before anyone can sit in it, and some old public baths in Kannawa are kept hotter than visitors expect. Test it with your hand, get in slowly, and do not stay in long.
The hells are for looking at
The 地獄 (jigoku), "hells", are boiling ponds coloured blue, red or milky white by the minerals in them. Most are in Kannawa, with two a short bus ride away. They are a paid sightseeing circuit with a combined ticket, and the water in them is far too hot to touch. Allow half a day if you want to see them, and plan your bath separately.
The nearest thing to a hells bath is eating from one: in Kannawa you can cook eggs and vegetables in spring steam, a style called 地獄蒸し (jigoku-mushi).
The neighbourhood bathhouses
Beppu still has dozens of small public bathhouses run by the city or by neighbourhood associations. They cost very little, often a few hundred yen, and some are free or honesty-box. They are where people who live here wash. A few things that surprise visitors:
- Many have no shower, no soap and no towel. Bring your own small towel and soap, and wash by scooping water from the bath with a basin, away from the tub. This is called かけ湯 (kakeyu).
- Some have the changing area in the same room as the bath, with no door between.
- Regulars are there early in the morning and in the evening. Say a quiet hello, keep your towel out of the water and follow what they do. The general rules are in our etiquette guide.
- Opening hours and prices vary by bathhouse and change; check at the door.
The best known, near the station, is an old wooden bathhouse where you can also have a sand bath: you lie down in a cotton robe they lend you and are covered with warm sand. That is the one kind of bath in Beppu where you keep something on. Ordinary onsen baths here, as everywhere in Japan, are taken without a swimsuit. A few large resort complexes have swimwear pools, but those are not onsen baths in the usual sense.
Where to stay
Near the station is the practical choice: trains, buses, restaurants and the old bathhouses are all within walking distance. Kannawa is the atmospheric choice: smaller inns, steam outside the window, the hells and the steam-cooking on your doorstep, and a bus ride into town. The large hotels on the slopes of Kankaiji and Horita have views and big baths, and usually run shuttles or are a taxi ride from the station.
Beppu has far more places to eat than a mountain onsen town, so a room-only booking works here in a way it does not in Kurokawa or Ginzan. See what "two meals included" means. If you would rather not bathe in front of strangers, many inns have a private bath you can book.
Beppu or Yufuin?
Yufuin is 12.3 km west in a straight line, over a mountain pass, and the two are often treated as one trip. They are very different.
- Beppu is a working city by the sea, with five water types, the hells, cheap public baths and plenty of food at night.
- Yufuin is a valley town with one gentle simple spring, a busy shopping street by day and quiet inns by night.
If you have two nights, one in each works well, and the buses between them are frequent. For Kurokawa, 40.2 km southwest, the cross-Kyushu buses run from Beppu over the Yamanami highway. Our Kyushu guide compares all three.
Getting there
Beppu is on the JR line, and you do not need a car. Our transport data puts it about two hours from Fukuoka by train, and the Japan Rail Pass covers it.
- From Fukuoka. The limited express from Hakata runs to Beppu Station via Kokura, about two hours. Hakata is 105.9 km away in a straight line. Highway buses from Fukuoka are cheaper and take a little longer.
- From Tokyo, Kyoto or Osaka. Take the Shinkansen to Kokura and change to the limited express, or fly to Ōita Airport, 31.2 km away across the bay, and take the airport bus. From Osaka and Kobe there is also an overnight ferry to Beppu port: you sleep on board and arrive in the morning.
- Inside Beppu. City buses link the station with Kannawa, Myōban and the hells. Day bus passes are sold for visitors; check current terms at the station.
A day trip from Fukuoka is possible: the hells in the morning, a public bath and lunch in Kannawa, and the train back. But Beppu is at its best in the early morning and evening, when the bathhouses are full of locals. See onsen without staying the night.
Things not to do
Do not plan to bathe in the hells.
Do not book a hotel "in Beppu" for milky sulfur water without checking which district and which source it uses.
Do not wear silver into a sulfur bath, or bring a white towel to an iron one.
Do not wash at the edge of a neighbourhood bath. Scoop the water out and wash away from the tub.
Do not assume tattoos are fine. Policies vary by bathhouse and hotel. See going to an onsen with tattoos, or book a private bath.
New to this? Start with how an onsen stay actually works and onsen etiquette. For the rest of the island, see our Kyushu onsen guide, Kurokawa and the 3 best onsen towns near Fukuoka. For other cities with many kinds of water, see Hakone and onsen water types.