Beppu Hot Springs in One Day
Walk the steaming lanes of Kannawa, tour the cobalt and blood-red hells, cook lunch in volcanic steam, and end the day soaking in an open-air bath.
Last updated 2026-09-03 · 1-day self-guided plan
Beppu's Hells & Baths
Steam from every drain, and a bath to finish
For first-timers to Japan's busiest hot-spring town who want to look at the boiling ponds in the morning and get into the calmer water by evening.
1Kannawa steam lanes
From Beppu Station take a Kamenoi bus about 20 minutes uphill to Kannawa and get off around 9:00. The whole district vents: steam rises from gutters, roof pipes and the walls of the old bathhouses. Wander the lanes above the bus stop before the hells open, past the free foot baths and the wooden Mushiyu steam bath, where locals lie on beds of medicinal grass.
45 MinutesCost: Free- 2
Umi Jigoku and the Kannawa hells
Five of Beppu's seven hells sit within a ten-minute walk of each other here; a combined ticket covers all seven. Umi Jigoku, the sea hell, is an impossibly blue pond of near-boiling water in a landscaped garden, with a greenhouse of lotus heated by the spring. Next door, Oniishibozu is grey mud blowing bubbles the size of monks' heads, and Kamado Jigoku has staff who demonstrate the steam with a cigarette.
1.5–2 HoursCost: ¥2,000–2,500 - 3
Steam-cooked lunch
Back in the middle of Kannawa around 12:00, the town-run steam kitchen rents you a basket and a wooden steam oven for about half an hour: buy a set of vegetables, eggs, seafood or pork, lower it into the volcanic steam, and eat at the tables outside. Expect a short wait at lunch; take a number and use the foot bath next door while you wait.
1 HourCost: ¥1,000–2,000 
4Chinoike Jigoku and Tatsumaki Jigoku
The remaining two hells are a five-minute bus ride north in Shibaseki, covered by the same combined ticket. Chinoike, the blood pond, is a wide pool the colour of rust from iron in the clay, and it has been famous for over a thousand years. Beside it, Tatsumaki is a geyser that erupts on a roughly half-hourly cycle; check the board for the next time and sit on the stone benches.
1 HourCost: Free
5Open-air bath at dusk
Ride the bus back down to Kannawa and walk to Hyotan Onsen, a large day-use bath where the water falls from bamboo spouts onto your shoulders and there is a sand bath and an outdoor pool under the trees; arrive around 16:00 and the light goes gold while you soak. Alternatively, head into town for Takegawara Onsen, an old wooden hall by the station where attendants bury you in hot sand.
1.5–2 HoursCost: ¥500–1,000
Day 1 Estimated Cost
- Food¥2,000–4,000
- Transport¥1,000–1,500
- Admissions & baths¥2,500–3,500
Tips
Buy a one-day Kamenoi bus pass at the station: it covers Kannawa and Shibaseki and pays for itself in three rides.
Slip-on shoes save time all day: the hells, the steam kitchen and the bathhouses all have you removing them, and the lanes of Kannawa are steep enough to want grip.
The steam kitchen is lunch, so skip breakfast on the big side: eggs and sweet potato take a few minutes, whole crab and pork closer to 20, and the ovens cook everything without oil.
The hells look best mid-morning under a high sun, when the cobalt of Umi Jigoku is deepest; on cold days the steam swallows the pond, so shoot it from the greenhouse side.