Beppu Cruise Port: The Complete Guide for 2026–27

Why Beppu is worth getting off the ship for

Beppu is a town built on top of hot water. The steam you see rising between the roofs as the ship comes in is not smoke. It comes from the ground: from bath houses, inn kitchens and gutters, and from the hells, seven springs too hot, too coloured or too violent to bathe in. Umi Jigoku is a cobalt-blue pond. Chinoike is the red of rust. Oniishibozu is grey mud that rises in bubbles like shaved heads, which is where the name comes from. Tatsumaki is a geyser capped by a roof.

The rest of the day is about using that heat. In Kannawa, the district where most of the hells are, a city-run kitchen lets you steam your own lunch over volcanic vapour. Downtown, a 1938 bathhouse and a beach on the bay will bury you to the neck in hot sand. Beppu also invented toriten, chicken fried in tempura batter and eaten with ponzu, and the restaurant that started it is a 9-minute walk from the pier.

The hells, the steam kitchen and the baths all lie within about 7 km of a single cruise berth, and a cheap bus covers the main route. The hard part is the timetable: much of the advice online sends you to a stop with no midday buses, and to a bus home that does not exist. This guide is built from the city's own call list, the Kamenoi Bus timetables valid from March 2026, and the published hours and prices of the hells, the steam kitchen and the baths, all checked on 30 September 2026.

What Beppu is not: a temple-and-garden port. No.4 Pier is a working harbour beside the ferry terminal, and the town starts a walk, bus or taxi away.

First: which berth are you at?

Here the answer is easy. Every cruise ship uses No.4 Pier of Beppu International Tourist Port (別府国際観光港 第4埠頭), in the Ishigaki district on the north side of town. It opened in March 2011 as a pier built for cruise ships. All 48 calls in the city's 2025–26 record and all 34 in the 2026–27 list are there, and the list has no days with two ships.

No shuttle bus from the pier is published by the city, the prefecture or the bus company. Some cruise lines run their own, so check the ship's daily programme; otherwise you walk 12 minutes to a bus stop or take a taxi.

Getting from No.4 Pier into Beppu

The local buses belong to Kamenoi Bus. They take cash, Suica-type IC cards and contactless credit cards. Drivers give no change and cannot break a ¥2,000, ¥5,000 or ¥10,000 note, so tap a card or carry coins. A one-day "mini free" pass costs ¥1,100; on a simple hells-and-back day, single fares are cheaper.

Taxi fares are the floor of the official Beppu tariff for the distance: ¥550 for the first kilometre, then ¥50 for each 160 m. Slow traffic adds ¥50 a minute on top. The hells association quotes about ¥1,900 from Beppu Station to Umi Jigoku, which matches. Hourly hire is ¥2,660 per 30 minutes (¥5,320 an hour). Whether taxis wait at the pier on every call is not published, so if you plan to ride one, ask at the ship's tour desk the evening before.

The bus stop trap. The stop nearest the ship, Sunflower Terminal Beppu-mae, is timed to the Osaka ferries and has nothing in either direction between about 9:00 and 16:00 on weekdays. Ignore it. The stops that work are on the main road, about 0.9 km from the ship:

• Shiomicho (汐見町): route 24 towards Kannawa, Umi Jigoku and Myoban. On weekdays it leaves at 8:19, 9:49, 10:19, then 11:19 and hourly to 15:19, then 17:19. At weekends it leaves at 7:59, 8:31, 9:46, then 11:19 and hourly to 15:19. There is no weekend 10:19.
• Mochigahama (餅ヶ浜): several routes towards Kannawa, Chinoike and Beppu Station, including route 20 at 29 minutes past most hours. Weekday buses to the station run several times an hour (¥190).
• From Beppu Station (if you are already downtown): routes 2, 5 and 41 leave the West exit for Kannawa and Umi Jigoku, about 20 minutes and ¥330.

Beppu port to the hells: what is actually possible

The seven hells come in two groups. Five sit together in Kannawa: Umi (sea), Oniishibozu (shaven-monk), Kamado (cooking pot), Oniyama (devil's mountain) and Shiraike (white pond). You can walk between them in a few minutes. Two lie about 3 km further on: Chinoike (blood pond) and Tatsumaki (the geyser). You need a taxi or a bus for those.

The honest options from No.4 Pier:

• Bus both ways (¥520). Route 24 from Shiomicho to Umi Jigoku-mae takes 13 minutes. Back, it leaves Umi Jigoku-mae at 32 minutes past (11 minutes to Shiomicho) — weekdays 9:32, 11:32, 12:32, 13:32, 14:32, 16:32, with no 10:32 or 15:32; weekends from 11:32. Plan around the 13:32 or 14:32.
• Taxi out, bus back. This is the answer for a 10:00 arrival or a weekend morning, when the route 24 gap is longest. A taxi takes about 15 minutes and costs from about ¥1,650.
• Taxi both ways. At least about ¥3,300 a car. It is worth it for four people, or on a short call.
• Adding Chinoike and Tatsumaki. Take a taxi from Kannawa (about 3 km, from about ¥1,200), then a taxi straight back to the ship (6.5 km, from about ¥2,300). Routes 16A, 26 and 26A also run from Kannawa towards Chinoike, but not every trip passes the hells: check the destination board.
• The Jigoku Meguri sightseeing bus leaves Beppu Station at 9:20 and 14:00 for all seven hells: about 3 hours, ¥4,500 including admissions. It must be booked ahead by phone or online, includes about an hour on foot and is narrated in the Japanese bus-guide style, which makes it awkward for most cruise passengers.

The hells: tickets, hours and how long each takes

The hells are open 8:00–17:00 every day of the year. One combined ticket for all seven costs ¥2,400 for adults and ¥1,200 for children. It has been that price since 1 February 2025, it is sold at every hell, and it is valid on the day you buy it and the next day, with one entry per hell. Holders of a disability handbook pay ¥1,200. There is no senior discount, and the association no longer publishes single-hell prices, so the "about ¥450 each" you may read elsewhere cannot be relied on.

How long to allow is not published. Going by the sightseeing bus, which does all seven in about three hours including the driving, plan on about 40 minutes for Umi Jigoku and 15–25 minutes for each of the others.

• Umi Jigoku is the one to see if you see only one. Iron sulphate dissolved in the water turns the pond cobalt blue. There is a lily pond where giant Victoria water lilies bloom from early May to early November, best in the morning. There is also a foot bath, with towels on sale from ¥250, and a shop selling eggs boiled in the spring (five for ¥450).
• Oniishibozu is grey mud rising in round, slow bubbles, a few minutes' walk from Umi.
• Kamado, Oniyama and Shiraike complete the walkable Kannawa cluster; each takes 15–25 minutes.
• Chinoike is the red one, and the most photographed after Umi. It has a restaurant serving toriten and steamed set meals.
• Tatsumaki is a geyser capped by a roof. It erupts at regular intervals and can shoot up to about 30 m. The exact interval is not published, so be ready to wait.

Crowds. No official figures are published, but the association handles coach groups at Umi and Chinoike, so expect tour buses there. The 9:49 bus from Shiomicho gets you to Umi Jigoku just after 10:00; the smaller Kannawa hells are likely to be quieter than Umi when the coaches arrive (our inference).

Access. Every hell has a wheelchair-accessible toilet. Loan wheelchairs cannot be booked ahead: three at Umi Jigoku, two at Kamado and one at each of the others. Card payment at the ticket windows is not published, so carry ¥2,400 a head in cash to be safe.

The steam kitchen: lunch from the ground

Jigoku Mushi Kobo Kannawa is a city facility a few minutes' walk from Umi Jigoku. You buy your ingredients there and cook them yourself in a steamer fed by 98 °C, 100 % geothermal vapour.

• Hours: 10:00–19:00, last order 18:00 (since April 2023).
• Closed: the third Wednesday of each month (the next day if that is a holiday). For the coming season that means 21 October, 18 November, 16 December, 20 January, 17 February and 17 March. None of the calls listed from October 2026 falls on one of those dates.
• Price: the steamer costs ¥400 for up to 15 minutes and ¥200 for each extra 10 minutes. A large steamer is ¥600 (plus ¥300 per 10 minutes). Food is bought separately, and some food prices rose on 1 October 2026.
• Booking: none. Take a numbered ticket and wait your turn. Arriving by 11:30, before the lunch crowd, is the safest plan on a port day.
• Also there: a foot bath (10:00–18:00). The foot steamer was out of use when we checked.

Payment methods are not published. Carry cash for the basket.

Sand baths and Takegawara Onsen

Takegawara Onsen is the city's best-known public bath, a wooden building from 1938 with a curved karahafu gable roof, about 450 m from Beppu Station.

• Plain bath: 6:30–22:30, ¥300.
• Sand bath: 8:00–22:30 (last entry 21:30), ¥1,500 for anyone aged 6 or over. You lie buried in naturally heated sand. Up to eight people fit at once, so expect a wait at busy times. The bath takes no reservations at all, by phone or online, so just turn up; the advice to "book on arrival" does not apply.
• Closed: the third Wednesday of the month, both baths. None of the calls listed from October 2026 falls on one.
• Extras: towels, shampoo, soap and hairdryers cost extra. There is no parking.

Beppu Beach Sand Bath at Shoningahama is the seaside version and the nearest bath to the ship, about 1.75 km away. Adults pay ¥2,500 and children aged 6 to 12 pay ¥1,800, with a yukata, bath towel and face towel included; under-6s are not allowed. It is open 8:00–22:00 (last entry 21:00) from June to October and 8:00–18:00 (last entry 17:30) from November to March. It closes irregularly twice a month, and those dates are not published far ahead, so have Takegawara as the fallback.

Tattoos. Beppu's official tourism site marks both Takegawara and the Beppu Beach Sand Bath as tattoo-friendly. Other baths set their own rules, so ask before you pay.

Hyotan Onsen in Kannawa is the private option: a large bath (¥1,160), a sand bath and bookable family baths, open 9:00 to 1:00.

Mt. Tsurumi, Yufuin and the long-call extras

The Beppu Ropeway lifts 101-person cabins about 10 minutes up Mt. Tsurumi to the 1,300 m level. The summit itself is 1,375 m. From the top you see the bay and the steam of the town below. Cabins run every 20–30 minutes (every 15 when busy) from 9:00. The last ride up is 17:00 from 15 March to 14 November and 16:30 from 15 November. Fares are ¥1,800 return or ¥1,200 one-way for adults, and ¥1,700 return for those 70 and over. There is a stair lift for wheelchairs at the lower station. Bad weather stops it.

Getting there: a taxi from the ship takes 20–25 minutes and costs from about ¥3,700. Alternatively, take bus route 36 from Beppu Station West exit (platform 1). On weekdays it leaves at 9:10, 9:40, 10:10, 10:40, 11:10, 11:40, 12:10, 12:40 and 13:40, and takes about 23 minutes. Buses back to the station leave at 11:56, 12:40, 13:15, 13:45, 14:35, 15:05 and later. It works on a 6-hour call by taxi or an 8-hour call by bus; with the hells, about 9.5 hours.

Yufuin is a hot-spring village under Mt. Yufu, about 24 km inland. The rapid Yufurin bus is suspended from 17 October 2026. That leaves route 36 from Beppu Station West (¥1,100) or a car: 35–45 minutes and from about ¥7,700 each way by taxi. Yufuin and the hells together need a car and a call of 9 hours or more. On a typical 8-hour call, choose one.

Takasakiyama's wild monkeys live on a wooded hill about 6.4 km south of No.4 Pier, just over the city line in Oita. Takasakiyama Natural Zoo is open 9:00–17:00 every day (last entry 16:30, with a few unscheduled closures a year), and adults pay ¥500; cards and IC cards are accepted. The feeding ground where the troops come down is a 6-minute walk from the gate, or ride the small Sarukko rail (¥160 return, every 8–10 minutes). The zoo says it is about 15–20 minutes from the port on an Oita Kotsu bus bound for Oita Station from the Minamisuga-iriguchi stop; a taxi is roughly 10–15 minutes and from about ¥2,250 (our estimate from the tariff). The Umitamago aquarium shares its car park: 9:00–17:00, ¥3,000 for adults and ¥2,500 for 70 and over. Monkeys and aquarium together should fit a 6-hour call, and with the hells about 8 hours (our estimate).

The best things to do in Beppu on a port day

Our full list, with the time each takes from the pier, is on the Beppu top 10, and ready-made itineraries are on Beppu plans. In brief:

1. The hells of Kannawa: five hells on foot around Umi Jigoku, about four hours from the ship and back by bus.
2. Jigoku-mushi: steam your lunch: the steam kitchen in Kannawa, from 10:00, ¥400 per steamer.
3. A sand bath, buried to the neck: at Takegawara (¥1,500) or on the beach at Shoningahama (¥2,500).
4. Takegawara bathhouse: the 1938 hall and a ¥300 plain bath, downtown.
5. Beppu and Yufuin, guided: the private car day for an 8-hour call or longer.
6. Toriten at the source: Toyoken, 9 minutes' walk from the pier, lunch from 11:00.
7. Mt. Tsurumi ropeway: the view over the bay, ¥1,800 return.
8. Calligraphy in a century-old house: a one-hour class downtown.
9. Sound bath in an onsen house: two quiet hours with a view of the sea.
10. Yuzu-kosho and yunohana: the bath-salt huts of Myoban, a taxi ride above Kannawa (from about ¥2,400 from the ship). The shop's hours are not published online, so go only if you have spare time.

For a guide rather than a plan, see Beppu guided. If it rains, our wet-weather plan for every port has the indoor version.

How to think about your hours

Work backwards from the ship. Your all-aboard time is usually 30 minutes before departure (check the daily programme). You want to be back at the gangway an hour before that, and the first half hour after arrival goes on getting off. So the time you can actually use is the call length minus about two hours. In Beppu, also check whether your call is on a weekday or at the weekend, because the route 24 timetable changes.

The 2026–27 list has 34 calls, and the middle one is 8½ hours: four of 6½ hours, two of 7, four of 7½, six of 8, seven of 8½ and the rest longer, up to 12½. None is an overnight. The eight calls from October 2026 run 6½ to 8½ hours, between 4 October and 21 November.

Tours worth booking, by how many hours you have

Every pick opens our own page first — what the operator actually includes, who should skip it, and which upcoming Beppu calls it fits. Prices are the operator's "from" price as of 26 Sep 2026.

4h+One quiet hour downtown, for a short call

These are classes, not tours. They are held in a century-old house downtown, and you take a taxi there and back (about 10 minutes, from about ¥1,150 each way). They work best on a short call, or as an addition to a bath morning.

Shortest call · per person · meets downtownCalligraphy Class for Beginners in a Century-old Japanese HouseA one-hour beginners' calligraphy class, writing words like onsen and jigoku, from about $32. It has the most reviews in the Beppu catalogue (21 at 5.0). You still need to get to the house and back yourself.5.0★ · 21 reviews · From US$32 per person · needs a 3h callWhy it is on this site →Food lovers · per person · meets downtown · max 5Cooking Class: Make a Local Delicacy in a Japanese HouseNinety minutes making dango-jiru, a hand-pulled dumpling soup, in a Japanese kitchen. Only nine reviews so far, and the operator has a late-arrivals policy, so leave a margin on the taxi.5.0★ · 9 reviews · From US$62 per person · needs a 4h callWhy it is on this site →

6h+The Kannawa hells with a local guide

The hells are easy to do on your own: a 13-minute bus ride and one ticket. A guide adds the back lanes and the stories. You get yourself to the meeting point, and route 24 from Shiomicho is the bus to take, not route 20.

Couples · per person, shared · meets by Umi Jigoku · max 6Steam-filled Streets: A Scenic Stroll in KannawaThree gentle hours through Umi Jigoku, Oniishibozu, a foot bath and the steam lanes, with fees included in the listing. It needs moderate fitness and only has six reviews, and the steamed lunch is not part of it.5.0★ · 6 reviews · From US$78 per person · needs a 6h callWhy it is on this site →Couples · per person · own taxi to the housePrivate Sound bath Meditation in ocean view house and Beppu onsenA two-hour private sound bath with two local musicians in an ocean-view house, the opposite of the hells crowds. The house is 15 minutes by taxi from Beppu Station, transport is not included, and the onsen is only introduced, not included.5.0★ · 7 reviews · From US$79 per person · needs a 5h callWhy it is on this site →

7h+A private car for a family or group

Both listings name hotels or Beppu Station for pickup, not the pier. Ask the operator in writing to collect you at No.4 Pier before you pay.

Groups up to 8 · priced per group · pickup to confirmBeppu Guided Private City Tour with TransportA five-hour private car tour where you choose three or four stops from the hells, the Takasakiyama monkeys, viewpoints and a private onsen. It is from $519 per group, about $87 each for six, but admissions, meals and towels are extra.5.0★ · 13 reviews · From US$519 per group · needs a 7h callWhy it is on this site →Couples who want it all included · per personBeppu’s Hidden Gems & Highlights: Exclusive Private Minivan TourA private minivan half-day of the hells, a steamed lunch and the Bamboo Crafts Center, with lunch and fees included. At about $292 each it is the most expensive way to see the hells, and it only has five reviews.5.0★ · 5 reviews · From US$292 per person · needs a 7h callWhy it is on this site →

8h+Yufuin, or a day for limited mobility

Yufuin is a hot-spring village under Mt. Yufu, about 24 km away. With the Yufurin bus suspended, a private car is the realistic way to get there on a port day.

Limited mobility · up to 5 · per group · port pickupBeppu and Yufuin Scenic Private TourFive to six private hours over the hills to Yufuin, with the ropeway as a paid stop. It is the only Beppu listing marked wheelchair accessible and the only one that offers pickup at the cruise port. The hells are only an optional stop if time allows.5.0★ · 14 reviews · From US$565 per group · needs a 8h callWhy it is on this site →

Tours are booked through Viator (a Tripadvisor company). If you book, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It never decides what we recommend — which is why each tour page has a "think twice" note.

About the return to the ship. None of the eight Beppu tours on Viator says in its listing that it will get you back to the ship on time, and only one, the Yufuin private tour, even mentions cruise passengers. Most of the rest are classes or walks you get to yourself. That actually makes the return easier to control: a taxi from Kannawa to No.4 Pier takes about 15 minutes. For the private car tours, confirm pickup at No.4 Pier in writing, tell the driver your all-aboard time when you meet, and agree to be back at the gangway an hour before it.

Money, cards and the practical stuff

Beppu is only partly card-friendly. The buses are the easy part. For most other places, payment methods are not published, so carry cash.

Changing money. Wander Compass Beppu, the tourist office a minute's walk from the east exit of JR Beppu Station, changes currency and is open 8:45–18:00 every day. It also lends wheelchairs and stores bags. The Kannawa Tourist Information office (9:00–17:00) has Wi-Fi and bag storage. No ATM by the pier is published. Tipping is not expected in Japan, in taxis or restaurants. 7-Eleven and Japan Post machines generally accept foreign cards, but we have not checked where the nearest one is, so bring some yen ashore.

Opening days against your date. Toyoken closes on the second Tuesday of the month, and the steam kitchen and Takegawara on the third Wednesday. None of the calls listed from October 2026 falls on those days. Toyoken's lunch service runs 11:00–15:30 with last orders at 15:00, and it closes the door early when the queue is long. A 30-minute wait means no new diners after 14:30. Chinoike Jigoku's restaurant is the toriten fallback if you are already out at the hells.

When to go: seasons and crowds

Beppu's cruise season peaks in April (12 of the 34 calls) and in October–November (8). The 2026–27 list has no calls in December–March yet, although Beppu did host ships in every winter month of 2025–26. A few December and March itineraries name Beppu, but those calls are not on the city's list yet.

• Autumn (October–November). Highs average 23 °C in October and 18 °C in November in nearby Oita, and November is the driest month of the season. The maples in Oita usually colour in late November, earlier on Mt. Tsurumi. Late November is also when the steam shows best: it is most visible on cold mornings, which favours the Diamond Princess (20 Nov) and Eastern Venus (21 Nov) calls.
• Winter. Highs of 11–13 °C and little rain. The ropeway's shorter winter hours run from 15 November to 14 March.
• Spring. Cherry blossom normally opens around 24 March and is in full bloom around 4 April, just as the busiest month of calls begins. The long 12½-hour calls are in April and May.
• Summer. August highs average 32 °C, and June (314 mm of rain) is the wettest month. Do the hells early, before the heat.
• Typhoons reach northern Kyushu about four times a year, most often in August and September. Calls do get cancelled for weather: Diamond Princess lost its October 2025 call to a typhoon.
• Rain plan: the Takegawara sand bath and Hyotan Onsen are indoors, the steam kitchen has a covered cooking area, and the hells are short outdoor walks. The ropeway stops in bad weather.