21 Facilities4 Onsen towns
Founded in 1879, with its 1938 wooden building and curved gable, Takegawara is the symbol of Beppu Onsen. A regular bath costs ¥300 — a deep, hot pool down a flight of steps. The famous sand bath has you buried in warm sand by staff while wearing a yukata. Bring your own soap and shampoo.
A large complex where you can try Kannawa's specialties — waterfall bath, sand bath and steam bath — in one place. It once earned three Michelin stars and is used to overseas guests. Many private family baths; tattooed visitors are directed to these. A restaurant serves hell-steamed dishes. Open until 1 am.
A thatched communal bath on the shore of Lake Kinrin. Unstaffed — drop ¥300 in the box at the door. Changing area and bath share one room; an indoor pool and a half-open pool facing the lake, and it is mixed bathing with clear water and little screening, so it's a challenge for women. Right in busy central Yufuin, but quiet at the 10 am opening.
A milky open-air bath on a hillside above Beppu Bay. Thatched 'yunohana huts' where bath salts are harvested — a national cultural property — line the grounds and can be visited free. Hell-steamed food too.
A stone steam-bath chamber in use since the Kamakura period. Lie in a yukata on a bed of medicinal sweet-flag herb and sweat heavily in 8–10 minutes. Yukata rental ¥220 (or bring a T-shirt and shorts). Free foot steaming outside.
The symbol of Nagayu, said to have Japan's most carbonated water. Sink into the 32°C open-air pool and silver bubbles coat your whole body. The charred-cedar and plaster building by architect Terunobu Fujimori is a sight in itself.
An inn famous for spring water that turns cobalt blue on certain days. A wide open-air bath with views of Mt. Yufu and silica-rich water that feels like lotion, for ¥800.
A communal bath 5 minutes from Yufuin Station. Drop ¥200 in the offering box by the Yakushi statue and walk in — open 6 am to 10 pm. A slice of everyday Yufuin away from the tourist street.
The signature of Beppu's giant hilltop hotel: a five-tiered open-air bath cascading toward Beppu Bay, spectacular at night and dawn. Day tickets include the swimsuit-friendly outdoor spa pool 'Aqua Garden'.
A long-established inn on the southern rim of the Yufuin basin. Its vast 'Gomusō-no-yu' open-air bath looks straight at Mt. Yufu across the valley. Day-use reception is short (10 am–2 pm), but on weekdays you may have it to yourself.
Five minutes from Beppu Station, stop No. 4 on the 'Beppu Hattō Onsen-dō' trail. The building is new, but in true Beppu style there are no washing stations — you scoop water from the tub. Hot and mild pools, ¥250, from 6:30 am.
One of the Beppu Hattō 'eight springs', Horita sits on the old road towards Yufuin and its municipal bathhouse is among the busiest in Beppu's city-run network. Rebuilt in 2003, it has a bright, airy indoor hall and a seasonal open-air bath set among plantings and rock work; the two differently styled bath wings swap between men and women each week. The water is a gentle simple spring. ¥300; open 6:30–22:30, closed the first Wednesday (next day if a holiday). Afterwards, rest in the lounge overlooking Beppu Bay. Amenities are sold, so bring a towel. About 13 minutes by Kamenoi bus from Beppu Station's west exit to Horita-Onsen-mae, or 3 minutes by car from Beppu IC.
The flagship bathhouse of Nagayu Onsen in Ōita, which bills itself as Japan's best carbonated spring. Its European look comes from a sister-city tie with Bad Krozingen in Germany, and inside the water flows straight from the source with no heating or dilution. The rust-brown sodium-bicarbonate water is rich in iron and CO₂, and fine bubbles cling to your skin in the tub. Gender-separated indoor and open-air baths on the 1st and 3rd floors swap daily. Open 06:00–21:00 (last entry 20:00) — great for an early soak; closed the 3rd Wednesday of each month. Adults from outside the city pay ¥700; a private family bath is ¥2,400 for 50 minutes. Cards and QR payment accepted. 25 minutes by car from JR Bungo-Taketa Station.
Three minutes on foot from Gozen-yu, this is the gender-separated communal bath locals use every day. You pay ¥300 at a ticket machine and walk in — no attendant, and the bathroom holds just one indoor tub. Nagayu's bicarbonate water flows freely and has stained the spout area brown with mineral deposits. Open 06:00–22:00 (last entry 21:30), closed the 4th Wednesday. No soap or shampoo, so bring your own. If you are walking around Nagayu, add this ¥300 locals' bath to Gozen-yu and the free riverside Gani-yu.
Halfway along Ideyu-zaka, the steam-wreathed main street of Beppu's Kannawa district, this communal bath is run by the local residents' association. In typical Beppu style the changing area and bath share one room, and hot sodium-chloride water rich in metasilicic acid flows freely. Visitors pay only ¥100 — technically a coin-locker fee rather than admission. Open 06:30–21:00 daily. No soap or shampoo and minimal washing space, so follow local manners: quiet and quick. There is a toilet on the little square out front, and the Jigoku-mushi steam-cooking workshop and Umi-jigoku are two minutes away, making it an easy stop on a Kannawa stroll. Counts toward the Beppu Hattō Onsen-dō stamp rally.
Amagase Onsen, where steam rises along the Kusu River in Hita, Ōita, is counted with Beppu and Yufuin among the 'three great springs of Bungo'. Its trademark is the communal open-air baths dotted along the riverbed, and Yakushi-yu is one of the most approachable: a single rock tub, mixed bathing, ¥100 dropped into an unattended box. The 75°C simple sulphur spring is diluted to a comfortable temperature, with a faint whiff of sulphur and a view of the spa street across the river. Open 10:00–22:00 daily; wrapping a bath towel is allowed, which makes it easy for first-timers, and it is lit and atmospheric at night. Stroll the town, rebuilt after the 2020 floods, and try the other riverside baths such as Kanda-yu and Ekimae Onsen. About 10 minutes on foot from JR Amagase Station.
A ryokan in Amagase Onsen, one of the Three Great Hot Springs of Bungo, in Hita, Oita. Its simple sulfur spring fills the open-air bath Takikan-an, which looks down on Sakura Falls, one of the Three Waterfalls of Amagase, and day bathing is accepted. There are also five private open-air baths.
A ryokan just an 8-minute walk from JR Yufuin Station whose pride is a large bath with sweeping windows over Mt. Yufu and the town below. Day bathing for travellers between sights runs 13:00-16:00 at 1,000 yen for adults (face towel included) and 500 yen for ages 4-12; the inn closes irregularly (about 8 days a year). After your soak, the in-house Yufuin Beer Hall serves local craft beer and a lunch buffet (11:45-13:30, reservation required). Kinrin-ko Lake and Yunotsubo Street are within walking distance, making it a convenient base for experiencing Yufuin Onsen without an overnight stay. The day-bathing window is short, so check the official site or call 0977-84-2101 before visiting.
A city-run public bath in the Hamawaki district of Beppu, Oita - called, along with Kannawa, a birthplace of Beppu Onsen. Built in the early Showa era when the East and West Hamawaki baths merged, it still serves as a neighbourhood sento rooted in local daily life. Unusually for a municipal bath it runs from 6:30 in the morning until 1 a.m. (25:00), one of the longest hours among Beppu's eight spa areas. The 64.1°C simple spring flows free. Admission is a remarkable 200 yen for adults (junior high and up) and 100 yen for children (under elementary free), usable around a one-hour cleaning break from 14:00 to 15:00. Closed the 3rd Monday of each month (may shift on holidays). A short walk from Higashi-Beppu Station on the JR Nippo Main Line - a fine addition to a Beppu Hatto tour alongside Takegawara and the Kannawa hells.
A cure-oriented inn founded in 1973 in the Myoban area of Beppu, one of the Beppu Hatto. Its draw is a rare natural mineral mud bath - fine mud born only where steam vents, humic clay and mineral springs coincide - which you soak in across the whole body in open tubs. The water flows free from the self-springing source once called Konya Jigoku (a simple acid spring, pH 2.9, 49.7°C): milky acidic water and thick mud baths alike. The mixed open-air mineral mud bath has a partitioned women's section, and women bathe wearing hair caps. Indoors there are a sulfur colloid bath, more mud baths and a steam bath; the underground mineral mud chamber is so concentrated that elementary-age children may not enter. Day bathing runs 9:00-20:00 (last entry 19:00; indoor mud and steam baths until 19:30) at 1,500 yen for adults. There are no washing stations, only mud-rinsing showers - authentically rustic. Get off at the Nayajigoku-mae bus stop from Beppu Station; free parking, open year-round.
A day-bathing facility opened in 1993, quietly nestled in the countryside of Yufuin, Yufu, Oita. Its greatest charm is the location facing Mt. Yufu head-on - from the gender-separated open-air baths the majestic peak looms close at hand. The 42.3°C simple spring runs on the cool side, perfect for a long, slow soak that warms you to the core. The bathhouse is modest - an indoor tub, an open-air tub and three washing stations - with calm background music playing. Twelve family baths, each with its own open-air tub, rent for 2,200 yen per hour (up to four adults) to enjoy the mountain in private. The main baths are 600 yen for adults and 300 yen for children, open 9:30-18:00 April to October and 11:00-18:00 November to March, with no regular closing day. About 14 minutes on foot from JR Yufuin Station, with parking for 50 cars - a fine rinse after climbing Mt. Yufu.