Tourist Attractions

Famous throughout Japan for onsen baths, the two tourist towns of Beppu and Yufuin in Oita attract millions of domestic visitors every year.

Ranging from the tacky to the traditional, the hot spring baths of Oita should be high on any visitors list of things to do.

Beppu is famous for a number of jigoku or “hells”, a term often given to places where geothermally heated water bubbles up to the surface as steamy ponds or sulphurous gloop. These hells are given the full tourist treatment so be prepared for tack. The Hells - see boiling, steaming coloured ponds such as Blood Pond Hell and Oniyama Hell.

Of course, a trip to Beppu would not be complete without a soak in a few of the innumerable onsen dotted around town. The adventurous might want to try a mud bath or shell out to be buried in hot sand. The popular seaside Beppu Kaihinsunayu is a short walk east of the ferry terminal. Other onsens well-worth a visit are Shibaseki onsen near the historic Kifune Castle, Horita Onsen and Hyotan onsen near the Hells.

Other attractions in the Oita-Beppu area include a soak in the historic Meiji-era Takegawara Onsen, which also includes a hot sand bath, and visits to the nearby Umitamago (Sea Egg) Aquarium complex on the seafront west of Beppu and the adjacent Takasaki Monkey Park.

Yufuin is a quite different onsen town more geared towards gentle strolls and arts and crafts. There are pleasant walks to be had around Kinrin-ko, a warm(ish) pond at the foot of Mt. Yufu. and the mountain itself is a not too strenuous 2 hour climb. Baths are in plentiful supply and traditional ryokan accommodation is of a very high standard, if a little expensive.

Foreign Tourist Information Centre in Kita-Meitengai Department store in north-east corner of JR Beppu Station.