One Day in Beppu – Seven Hells and a Ropeway

On the fourth day of our Kyushu tour, we took the Nichrin train for a three hour ride from Miyazaki to Oita. We transferred to the Sonic for a quick 10 minute trip to Beppu, a famous onsen (hot spring) resort destination. Since we only had one day in Beppu, we decided to see as much as possible instead of relaxing in the onsen.

We decided to visit a few of Beppu’s seven famous Jigoku (Hells), onsen (hot springs) for viewing instead of bathing. There are references to this area as jigoku (hell) dating back over 1,000 years. People believe it was a cursed land because of the gas eruptions, steam, boiling water, and bubbling mud. Apparently since then people decided that those were all interesting things and now it is a major tourist attraction.

There are buses from Beppu station but we took a taxi since we were short on time. We bought a ticket for the Jigoku Meguri that gives you access to all seven. Five of the locations are within minutes of each other by foot and two are located next to each other 2.8 kilometers away. Our first stop was Umi Jigoku (Ocean Hell). If you don’t want to spend several hours visiting all the hells, this is the one that I recommend.

Umi Jigoku is the largest of the seven sites, and there are multiple hot springs. There are bright copper red springs, a beautiful pond, a hothouse where waterlilies are cultivated, and a shrine with gates that wind up the hill. The main attraction of course, is the bright cobalt blue spring that puts the Ocean in Ocean Hell. The color of the blue is inviting, but the steam that radiates off the surface is a good warning of the 98°C temperature.

What I don’t capture in my photos or video is that the sites are all very touristy. They have a smart business model that forces all traffic through a souvenir and snack shop. A lot of the sites offer eggs, pudding, buns, and other food either cooked in the boiling water or steam from the onsen. We tried the steamed purin, a Japanese custard style pudding. It was lighter than expected, eggy but not too dense with a good burnt caramel flavor.

We ended up visiting all of the Jigoku. Oniishi Bozu Jigoku (Bald Monk’s Head Hell) has bubbling mud similar to the mud volcanoes that I saw in Azerbaijan. Kamado Jigoku (Cooking Pot Hell) is named for the tradition of cooking with the steam. Oniyama Jigoku (Mountain Demon Hell) has crocodiles since the heat of the springs provide a good environment. Shiraike Jigoku (White Pond Hell) looked more green when we were there because of algae. Still, it was beautiful and had a nice garden. Make sure to read to the end of this post and watch the video for much more on the hot springs.

We took a bus to the final two hells. Chinoike Jigoku (Blood Hell) is unsurprisingly blood red, and is potentially the oldest. Tatsumaki Jigoku (Tornado Hell) is a geyser that gushes for up to five minutes every 30 – 40 minutes. A stone structure contains the high pressured boiling water, so it is not as spectacular as some a geysers in its natural state. We waited for about 20 minutes, which felt about 15 minutes too long for what we saw.

We took another taxi to the Beppu ropeway since the bus schedule didn’t work out. The ropeway takes you 1,816 meters up Mount Tsurumi, an active volcano that is the source of Beppu’s hot springs. CNN named the ropeway one of Japan’s 36 most stunning locations and it did not disappoint.

You can see a great view of Beppu, Mount Yufu, and the Kuju Mountains.

I wanted to see the sunset from Beppu Tower, so we took another taxi back to the city. Although the website said it was open, the whole tower was closed for renovations. We took a walk along the water instead.

We found a shotengai (shopping street), but stores were mostly shuttered. The Genova ice cream shop was one of the only places open, so of course we tried it. The ice cream rich and creamy, and had an intense natural flavor of each ingredient. The chestnut had real chestnut pieces and wasn’t very sweet. The strawberry had lots of real strawberries that tasted like they were fresh out of the garden. The kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) tasted like a creamy kabocha soup with a slight sweetness. The banana somehow tasted as much like a banana as just eating a perfectly ripe banana – but better.

We had dinner at Bungo Chaya in Beppu Station. We ordered the Toriten and Dangojiru set so we could try two local specialties. The toriten (chicken tempura) was very tender, and it seemed more like a fish and chip batter than regular tempura. Dangojiru (dumpling soup) was comforting and filled with daikon, shitake, gobo, taro, and tofu.

Details

Beppu is about 1.5 hours from Tokyo by plane, or 6 hours by Shinkansen (bullet train) and limited express train. It is one hour longer by Japan Rail pass since the fastest express trains aren’t covered. 

Hotels had limited availability during our visit. We stayed at the Beppu Daiiti Hotel near the station. Our room was very tiny, but conveniently located and very affordable. We wanted to stay near the station on this trip, but next time I will definitely stay at an onsen resort.

Watch our video to see much more of Beppu