Beppu Onsen

Beppu Onsen in Ōita prefecture on Kyushu island is Japan's most prolific thermal city — a city so intensely geothermally active that steam rises from grates in the streets, from the sea floor in the bay and from vents on every hillside, producing more geothermal water than anywhere else in Japan (over 130,000 kilolitres per day). The eight distinct spa zones of Beppu Hatto (Beppu Eight Hot Springs) each offer different water types, from the deep blue Umi Jigoku (Sea Hell) — a 98°C pool of cobalt blue from dissolved minerals — to the blood-red Chi no Ike Jigoku (Blood Pond Hell) and the mud geyser of Tatsumaki Jigoku, collectively making the Jigoku (Hells) of Beppu one of Japan's most extraordinary geothermal spectacles. The sulphurous waters feed public bathhouses for every budget from simple communal baths to luxury ryokan onsen, making Beppu a complete immersion in Japanese thermal culture across all its dimensions from the sacred to the spectacular.