1 / 11The Hells of KannawaPhoto: Simon Desmarais / CC BY-SA 2.0
Tap a photo to see it large. 11 photographs, every one credited.
Checked against official sources · updated · Takumi Yamada
Cobalt ponds, blood-red pools, a geyser on a timer — seven volcanic "hells" you view, not bathe in. Umi and Chinoike are the essential two if time is short.
- Our number 1 for Beppu, out of ten. It is the first thing we would spend the hours on.
- On a 4–6h ashore call our verdict is "Pick two or three" — the five at kannawa are walkable together. the other two need a car.
- It is not only a photo stop: more hot water comes out of this town than anywhere in japan, and second place is not close.
- 8:00–17:00 — every day.
- 4 hr door to door needs a 6-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.
Why The Hells of Kannawa is famous
More hot water comes out of this town than anywhere in Japan, and second place is not close
Beppu produces more hot spring water than anywhere in Japan and second most in the world after Yellowstone. The Hells are seven springs too hot to bathe in, so they were made viewing sites instead: a cobalt one, a blood-red one, and a geyser that goes off on a schedule. Several are National Places of Scenic Beauty.
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."
Beppu has around 2,200 vents and discharges more hot water than any other town in Japan — a volume second in the world only to Yellowstone. Some springs are far too hot and too chemically aggressive to bathe in, and for a thousand years people called those jigoku: hells.
Umi Jigoku is cobalt turquoise at around 98°C, and the colour is dissolved iron sulphate rather than any dye. Chinoike Jigoku is deep red from iron-rich clay and is the oldest natural hell documented in Japan. Tatsumaki is a geyser on a roughly half-hourly cycle, with a stone slab set over it to hold the jet down.
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.
Things worth knowing
- If you only see two, make them Umi (turquoise) and Chinoike (red). The rest repeat.
- The ¥2,400 combined ticket covers all seven and is valid that day and the next. Single-hell prices are not published.
- Cold mornings make the steam dramatic. Flat summer afternoons do not.
- Free foot baths sit inside several of the hells — bring a small towel.
- Jigoku地獄 — Hell. A spring too hot and too aggressive to bathe in.
- Yunohana湯の花 — Mineral crystals grown on straw over months. Take a bag home.
The Hells of Kannawa and your ship
Both pins on one map, so the distance is a fact rather than a feeling.
Where the 4 hr goes
Counted from the moment you step off the gangway, about 30 minutes after the ship arrives. The hour before all-aboard is not in this bar; it is already set aside.
20 minutes each way is the measured figure for taxi/bus ~20 min, not the optimistic one. If your ship is late, cut the 3 hr 20 min in the middle. Never cut the hour at the end.
Questions people send us
Are the Beppu hells worth the ticket?
On a call of four hours or more, two or three of them are. Umi Jigoku (turquoise, from dissolved iron sulphate at about 98°C) and Chinoike Jigoku (deep red from iron clay, the oldest documented in Japan) are the two that differ most. The combined ticket is ¥2,400 and is valid that day and the next.
Can you bathe in the hells of Beppu?
No — that is what makes them hells. They are too hot and too chemically aggressive, and the circuit is for looking. Bathing happens at Takegawara Onsen, at Myoban, and at around a hundred neighbourhood bathhouses that charge ¥100–300 and have no staff.
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.
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
See · ~2.5h with downtownTakegawara bathhouse
The 1879 grand dame of public baths under a temple-grade roof — entry costs pocket change and the wooden lobby alone is worth the trip.
See the detail