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Checked against official sources · updated · Takumi Yamada
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.
Five things the plaques won't tell you
- 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.
- This is a viewing circuit, not bathing. The actual baths are at Takegawara and the neighbourhood sheds.
Tatsumaki is a geyser on a roughly half-hourly cycle, with a stone slab set over it to hold the jet down.
Guided days from Beppu
Booked before you sail — there is no tour desk at the pier. Booking through these links supports the site.
More in Beppu
Questions people ask here
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.