~3h — the round trip from the gangway, with the 60-minute margin kept aside.
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Singing bowls, sea views and steam — a meditation session in a private onsen home. The deep-exhale counterprogram to the hells’ spectacle.
More hot water comes out of this town than anywhere in Japan, and second place is not close
Beppu's hot-spring houses are quiet, wooden and acoustically dead, which is why sound sessions ended up here. The combination of geothermal heat and a room designed to absorb noise is unusual, and a port day rarely offers an hour that is actually still.
Beppu has around 2,200 hot spring vents and discharges more hot water than any other town in Japan — a volume second in the world only to Yellowstone. Steam comes out of drains, gardens and the gaps between houses, and the local word for the seven most violent springs is "hells."
As a hazard to be avoided, not a sight
Straw beds under thatched huts, still done that way
The sand bath, in a wooden building rebuilt 1938
Beppu becomes a national tourist town
Steam-cook your own lunch at Kannawa, then a sand bath at Takegawara. The hells are optional; these are not.
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.
Booked before you sail — there is no tour desk at the pier. Booking through this link supports the site.
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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