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i am coming up on the end of this trip. 3 nights at an incredible resort in beppu, japan.
beppu is a big departure from everywhere else i have been on this trip. while tourism is huge in beppu, it is my understanding that that tourism is overwhelmingly domestic rather than international. it is mostly known for the onsen, hot spring bathing facilities. there are 150 onsen in beppu alone.
beppu
beppu is interesting because there are eight geothermal hotspots in the city, serving as the source for all of the onsen here.
the following image is not mine, but is a great visual indicator of the volcanic activity here:
it is situated with the ocean to the east, and a ton of mountains to the west. there are also several seismic fault lines on the north and south end of beppu, which is the reason for all the geothermal hotspots. i will get into this more later, but earthquakes are quite common here.
onsen are a big deal in japan. to my knowledge, the two main areas most known for onsen in japan are hakone and beppu. hakone is within view of mount fuji, and is quite close to tokyo.
the reason i went to beppu actually goes back to last year’s trip. while planning the 2024 trip, i knew i wanted to stay in an onsen town. it is such an iconic part of visiting japan, and i knew i wanted to go to one. but there are a couple issues there. most onsen are public, large baths that are shared. they are usually (but not always) separated into a men’s bath and a women’s bath. but people without tattoos are almost always barred from entering. there is a long standing association with tattoos and the yakuza in japan. this association is slowly starting to die, but a result of it is that it is considered rude to have visible tattoos. and being naked makes it difficult to hide tattoos.
there are some onsen that allow tattoos, but the second issue is that i don’t want to get naked in front of a bunch of random japanese people.
enter the solution to both problems - a private onsen. you can get a fancy hotel or ryokan that has a private onsen in the room, or another much cheaper option is going to a place that allows you to rent out a private bath by the hour.
i had the general plan for the 2024 trip, starting in tokyo and then heading west. i had specific plans in kyoto already, so my plan back then was to try to visit hakone between tokyo and kyoto, since it is on the way.
but unfortunately, i picked the busiest time of year for tourism in japan, and was trying to visit one of the most popular tourist spots in the country. nothing was available in hakone. i was not able to go there. so i did some more research and found out that beppu is the real onsen capital of japan. i actually discovered beppu thanks to one of my favorite people on youtube, dogen, who lives in beppu. here is a video he did giving a tour of beppu.
i already knew i was going to kyushu (the large southern island of japan) to visit nagasaki during the trip, so a trip over to beppu would not be out of the way at all. in fact, nagasaki is along the western coast of kyushu, while beppu is on the east coast. i was already going past it. so i did some research and stayed at a fancy resort in beppu at the very end of my trip last year.
this was a healing experience, and the perfect end to 30 days of travel. i loved it so much, that i immediately knew i would be visiting it again this time around. beppu is one of the main reasons why for the 2025 trip, i chose to go once again go west from tokyo instead of north.
but there was a slight issue with the planning this year. the resort i love and wanted to visit again was only available from the 17th to the 20th. my last day in japan is the 21st. so i had to decide if i wanted to stay here and then pivot to another place in beppu for one night, then fly back to tokyo on my last day and head home, or head back to tokyo a day before the end of my trip. i ultimately chose to head back to tokyo a day early, but not by plane. i’ll get to that in the last post of the trip.
so anyway, i needed to get from fukuoka to beppu.
this was a hard pivot away from the comfy big cities i have spent the whole trip in. this is absolutely a countryside city, and that becomes apparent almost as soon as you arrive.
arriving
i realized immediately after taking these photos that i accidentally left my umbrella on the train here. which sucks, but also i mentioned in my previous post that i had no idea what i was going to do with it for getting home, since it wont fit in any of my luggage. so i guess in a way i solved a problem.
so the most immediate indicator that beppu is in the countryside is the almost complete lack of taxis. they exist, but there are very very very few. you also cannot call them with an app like uber or go, which has worked every other place i have been in this country.
beppu also doesn’t have a huge network of train lines.
there are only 4 train stations in beppu.
so most of the time, if you need to get somewhere in beppu, you need to take a bus, or walk. if you want to call a taxi, you have to flag one down the old fashioned way. you can also call one on the phone, but i don’t speak japanese.
i am glad the taxis hang out by the train stations, because if i had not been able to find one, it would be a 45 minute walk to my hotel.
amane resort seikai
i made it to my hotel, and it was exactly as i remembered. here is a video tour:
i took a bunch of photos too:
as you can imagine, the highlight of this leg of the trip for me is the onsen in the hotel room. given that, i won’t be doing much while in beppu. it is difficult to get around, and theres an incredible incentive to stay in the room.
theres a ton of stuff to do around here, though. theres a monkey park of some kind, theres a ropeway up a mountain, a couple museums, some restaurants, and some famous hot springs called the “seven hells” to see.
however, i have been traveling for 28 days. i am tired. and i have access to the most relaxing thing in the world. all this to say, don’t expect a whole lot from the blog posts in beppu, because most of them will be just relaxing in the hotel.
ok, bath time. bye!
