1 / 7Mt. Tsurumi ropewayPhoto: eitarov / CC BY 2.0
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Checked against official sources · updated · Takumi Yamada
Ten minutes up to about 1,300 m — the bay, the steam plumes rising from a hundred neighborhoods, and cherry trees in the park at the foot station.
- On a 4–6h ashore call our verdict is "Tight" — works by taxi: roughly 20 min out, the ride, 30–45 min on top, and back. leave a margin for the cabin interval of 20–30 min and for the weather.
- 9:00–17:30, last cabin up 17:00 — 15 mar–14 nov. from 15 nov: 9:00–17:00, last up 16:30. listed as open all year; service can stop for weather or maintenance..
- 5 hr door to door needs a 7-hour call: a 2–3 hour stop cannot hold it. Pick something closer instead.
- It is a view, so it is weather. Check the morning sky before you commit the hours.
- No single published ride covers this one. Budget for a taxi both ways, or fold it into a guided day.
Why Mt. Tsurumi ropeway is famous
The ropeway climbs Mt. Tsurumi in about ten minutes and puts you 1,300 metres above a city that sits on a steaming hillside. The mountain is an active volcano, which is also the reason there is a town below it.
Mt Tsurumi is the volcano that sits behind Beppu, and the ropeway is the only easy way onto it. The operator describes a ride of about 10 minutes to a top station at about 1,300 m. For a call where the hells and a bath already feel done, it is the one thing in Beppu that changes your height above the steam.
At the top, the operator lists three observation decks whose view changes with the season, including a view of the Kuju mountains. A summit walkway runs past small shrines, with Tsurumi Sanjo Gongen Ichinomiya standing in front of the station, and there is a mountain shop. The cabin has a flat floor and no step at the platform, and a stair lift is fitted at the top station for wheelchairs.
The catch is the clock and the weather. It is a long way from the pier (about 20 minutes by car, longer by bus), the ropeway can be suspended in bad weather, and a cloudy day gives you a wet grey cabin ride and not much else. The operator's facilities page lists only a mountain shop, so eat before you go up. Skip it on a short call; it needs about four hours ashore with a taxi, more by bus.
Things worth knowing
- Buy the return ticket: ¥1,800 against ¥1,200 each way. Riders aged 70 and over pay ¥1,700 return, and the operator lists no other senior discount.
- Check the day's operating status on the operator's site before you commit to a taxi. Service can be suspended for weather or maintenance, and a closed ropeway with a ¥4,000 taxi fare is a bad morning.
- Count the way down as well: the last cabin down is 17:30 (17:00 from 15 Nov), and the last weekday route 36 bus from the ropeway stop to Beppu Station is 17:45 on the March 2026 timetable. Your ship will be gone first, so use taxi or the earlier buses.
- The Yufurin sightseeing express has been suspended since 17 Oct 2026, until further notice. Route 36 from Beppu Station West exit is the bus to use, and the operator names it as the replacement.
Questions people send us
How do you get from the Beppu cruise port to the ropeway?
By taxi it is about 20 minutes by the ropeway operator's own figure, and roughly ¥4,000 on our calculation from the official tariff. By bus, walk to the main-road stop, ride to JR Beppu Station, then take route 36 from the West exit, stop 1, to the Beppu Ropeway stop: about 25 minutes and ¥500 on the operator's timetable and fare table. The Sunflower Terminal stop by the port has almost no daytime buses.
How much is the Beppu Ropeway?
¥1,800 adult return, ¥1,200 one way, ¥1,700 return for ages 70 and over, and ¥900 return for a child, from the operator's fare list dated 1 Feb 2023. It reports about 10 minutes each way.
Is the ropeway open in winter?
Yes, it is listed as open all year with no regular closed days. From 15 Nov it runs 9:00–17:00 with the last cabin up at 16:30, and it may stop for weather or maintenance.
Routes that already include it
Each one is a finished day timed from the official timetables, with this stop in it. Read the route rather than assembling it yourself.
What to put beside it
Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare.
See · ~4h circuitThe Hells of Kannawa
Cobalt ponds, blood-red pools, a geyser on a timer — seven volcanic "hells" you view, not bathe in.
See the detail
Eat · ~4h with the hellsJigoku-mushi: steam your lunch
Rent a steam vent, lower your basket of seafood and vegetables into the earth, eat what the volcano cooked.
See the detail
Do · ~3hA sand bath, buried to the neck
Attendants shovel volcanically heated sand over you until only your face is left thinking.
See the detail