~3h — the round trip from the gangway, with the 60-minute margin kept aside.
Attendants shovel volcanically heated sand over you until only your face is left thinking. Ten minutes underground, days of afterglow — book on arrival, slots vanish.
Eight distinct spring towns, one of which is a shed with a locked door and an honesty box
At Beppu's beach the sand is heated from below by the springs, and attendants bury you in it up to the neck for about ten minutes. It has been done here since the Edo period as a medical treatment. The weight is the surprising part; the heat is the point.
Beppu is not one hot spring resort. It is eight — each with different water chemistry, a different character and a different price, ranging from a marble-floored hotel spa to a tin-roofed neighbourhood shed that costs a hundred yen and has no attendant.
The building dates to 1879 and was rebuilt in 1938 in a temple-roofed style that has become the emblem of the town. Inside, the ordinary bath costs a few hundred yen and is used by people from the surrounding streets.
The sand bath is the reason to come. You change into a yukata, lie in a shallow trench, and attendants shovel geothermally heated sand over you until only your head shows. Ten minutes is the recommended limit. The heat is even and the weight is unexpected — the sensation of being pressed down is most of the experience.
Eight districts, eight water chemistries
The sand bath, and the town's emblem
~100 of them, at ¥100–300 and no staff
Eight stamps for a certificate; eighty-eight for a ceremony
Skip the hotel spa. Find a neighbourhood bath, pay the ¥100 into the box, and fold your towel on your head.
Both pins on one map, so the distance is a fact rather than a feeling.
Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare on a 6-hour stop ashore.
You change into a yukata, lie in a shallow trench, and attendants shovel geothermally heated sand over you until only your head shows. Ten minutes is the recommended limit. The heat is even and comfortable; the surprise is the weight of the sand, which is most of the sensation. You shower before and after.
About ten minutes on foot — it sits in central Beppu near the shore. The bathhouse dates to 1879, rebuilt in 1938, and the ordinary bath costs a few hundred yen while the sand bath is around ¥1,500 with a yukata included.
Each one is a finished day we have walked and timed, with this stop in it. Read the route rather than assembling it yourself.
Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare.
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