Hot springs in Beppu

Beppu is the most geothermally active city in Japan, with more than 2,900 hot spring vents located within the city limits and eight distinct thermal spring zones collectively known as the Beppu Hatto. The variety on offer is wide, ranging from grand hotel bathhouses to modest neighborhood public facilities to the celebrated Hells, a collection of brilliantly colored boiling pools scattered across the city. The Hells run far too hot for bathing, but they draw visitors who come to walk among them and take in the spectacle.

Set on a wooded slope in Beppu's Myoban district, this resort draws visitors for its yunohana, a term meaning hot spring flowers, which are white crystalline deposits that collect on surfaces where steam from the springs cools and condenses. The spring water itself is strongly sulfurous and acidic, rising at high temperatures from one of the eight volcanic source zones that make up Beppu Hatto.

Hyotan Onsen sits in Beppu's Kannawa steam district and ranks among the city's most beloved public bathhouses. The facility draws on seven separate spring waters and brings them together across a range of bathing options, including a hot-sand bath, a waterfall pool, private family rooms, and an open-air rotenburo, all within a single complex surrounded by rising geothermal steam. It is the only onsen in Japan to have received three Michelin Stars.

Kankaiji Onsen sits on wooded hillsides along the slopes of Mount Tsurumi at the southern end of Beppu, in Oita Prefecture. The district takes its name from Kankaiji Temple, a name that translates as the Temple Overlooking the Sea. The temple rises above the surrounding area and looks out over Beppu Bay. The springs here tap into the wider Beppu Hatto volcanic system, placing the district within one of the most geothermally active zones in Japan.