Beppu Trips & Tours

Beppu produces more hot spring water than anywhere else on earth, bar Yellowstone and the locals have been finding creative uses for it since a wandering monk tamed the volcanic 'hells' in 1276. The Kannawa district is where the magic concentrates: steam curls from drains and chimneys, corner shops sell sweet potatoes cooked in geothermal vents, and tiny neighbourhood baths charge a couple of hundred yen for waters that would cost a fortune elsewhere. Try the mushiyu at Kannawa – an eight-tatami stone chamber where you’ll sweat (sweetly) on a bed of medicinal sekisho herbs – or Takegawara's sand baths, where attendants bury guests in naturally heated volcanic sand. Unlike more manicured onsen towns, Beppu takes pride in its role as a geothermal oddity and even welcomes inked visitors.