Oita Onsen Guide

Eight onsen districts in one steaming city

八つの温泉地が湯けむりに包まれる温泉の聖地

Beppu is the largest hot-spring resort in Japan, pumping out more water from more sources than any other city — over 100,000 litres a minute from some 2,800 springs. The town is really eight onsen districts in one ("Beppu Hatto" — Beppu, Hamawaki, Kankaiji, Horita, Myoban, Kannawa, Shibaseki, and Kamegawa), each with its own water, altitude, and mood: seaside baths, hillside view baths, and the sulfur-steam highlands of Myoban with its centuries-old "yu-no-hana" mineral huts. The famous "Hells of Beppu" (Jigoku Meguri) is a tour of seven dramatic, look-don't-bathe hot-spring sights — among them the cobalt "Sea Hell," the blood-red "Chinoike," and a roaring geyser. With day-use baths from just a few hundred yen, Beppu is the easiest place in Japan to "see" and sample onsen culture.

別府は日本最大の温泉郷で、源泉数・湧出量とも他都市を圧倒します（約2,800源泉・毎分10万リットル超）。街は実質「八つの温泉地」の集合体——別府八湯（別府・浜脇・観海寺・堀田・明礬・鉄輪・柴石・亀川）で、海辺の湯、高台の絶景湯、そして江戸期からの「湯の花小屋」が並ぶ明礬の硫黄の高原など、泉質も標高も雰囲気もそれぞれ違います。名物「地獄めぐり」は、コバルト色の海地獄、血の池地獄、間欠泉など7つの“見る”地獄を巡る観光。日帰り湯は数百円からで、別府は日本で最も気軽に温泉文化を「見て・浸かれる」町です。

• ♨Japan's largest onsen output, with 8 distinct districts源泉数・湧出量ともに日本一
• ♨The world-famous "Hells of Beppu" sightseeing route名物「地獄めぐり」で7つの色とりどりの源泉を見学
• ♨Day-use baths from just a few hundred yen — easy for first-timers日帰り温泉は数百円から、初心者にも入りやすい

Hours and prices vary — always confirm on the official site before visiting.
営業時間・料金は変動するため、必ず公式サイトでご確認ください。

Elegant retreat under the gaze of Mt. Yufu

由布岳のふもと、上質な空気が流れる女性人気No.1の湯の里

Yufuin is Oita's most refined onsen town, spread across a quiet basin beneath the twin-peaked Mt. Yufu (1,583m). Often called "the Yufuin of the West to match Karuizawa in the East," it grew up around three storied ryokan — Tamanoyu, Kamenoi Bessou, and Sanso Murata — whose owners championed a low-key, landscape-first style now copied nationwide. Mornings begin with mist rising off Kinrin Lake; days are spent browsing the artisan cafés, galleries, and sweet shops of Yunotsubo Street. Many of its boutique inns offer rooms with private open-air baths, and it consistently ranks at or near the top of Japan's onsen popularity surveys — especially with couples and women.

由布院は大分で最も洗練された温泉地で、双耳峰の由布岳（1,583m）を仰ぐ静かな盆地に広がります。「西の湯布院、東の軽井沢」とも称され、御三家——玉の湯・亀の井別荘・山荘無量塔——の主人たちが育てた、看板を抑え景観を第一にする上質なスタイルが全国の手本になりました。朝は金鱗湖から立ちのぼる霧、日中は湯の坪街道のクラフトカフェ・ギャラリー・お菓子店めぐり。貸切露天付きの小宿も多く、人気ランキングで常に全国上位、とりわけカップルや女性に支持されています。

• ♨Quiet, refined atmosphere — popular with couples and solo travelers静かで品のある雰囲気、カップル・ひとり旅にも
• ♨Kinrin Lake with its iconic morning mist朝霧に包まれた金鱗湖の幻想的な景色
• ♨Boutique ryokan with private open-air baths貸切露天風呂付きの小宿が多く、プライベート感◎

Hours and prices vary — always confirm on the official site before visiting.
営業時間・料金は変動するため、必ず公式サイトでご確認ください。

Steam-cooked cuisine in an old onsen town

湯けむりの中、地獄蒸し料理が名物のレトロな温泉街

Kannawa is the most atmospheric of Beppu's eight districts — a warren of old lanes where white steam pours from vents, rooftops, and gutters day and night. The townscape is so distinctive that, together with neighbouring Myoban, it was designated a national Important Cultural Landscape in 2012. Legend says the wandering monk Ippen calmed the raging "hells" here in 1276 and opened the original steam bath; today the "Kannawa Mushiyu" still steams bathers on a fragrant bed of sekisho herbs inside a stone chamber. The local specialty is "jigoku-mushi" — seafood, eggs, and vegetables steamed over the natural vents, a cooking style loved by cure-seekers since the Edo period. It's the best place in Beppu to feel old-fashioned hot-spring-town life.

鉄輪（かんなわ）は別府八湯で最も情緒のある温泉街——古い路地のあちこちから昼夜を問わず白い湯けむりが噴き上がります。その町並みは隣の明礬とともに、2012年に重要文化的景観「別府の湯けむり・温泉地景観」へ選定されました。鎌倉時代（1276年）、遊行の僧・一遍上人が荒れ狂う地獄を鎮め蒸し湯を開いたと伝わり、今も「鉄輪むし湯」では薬草・石菖（せきしょう）を敷いた石室で体を蒸します。名物「地獄蒸し」は、噴気で海鮮・卵・野菜を蒸す江戸期からの湯治の食文化。昔ながらの温泉情緒を味わうなら別府随一の地です。

• ♨"Jigoku-mushi" — cooking food in natural onsen steam地獄蒸し料理が体験できる温泉街
• ♨Atmospheric steam-filled streets, especially at dusk夕暮れの湯けむりに包まれた路地が情緒満点
• ♨Affordable "kashi-yu" rental private baths貸切「貸し湯」で気軽にプライベート温泉

Hours and prices vary — always confirm on the official site before visiting.
営業時間・料金は変動するため、必ず公式サイトでご確認ください。

One of Japan's richest carbonated springs

世界でも珍しい高濃度炭酸泉、ドイツ式温泉療養の里

Tucked into the mountains of Taketa City, Nagayu is famed for some of the most heavily carbonated natural spring water in Japan — soak in it and tiny CO₂ bubbles cling to your skin like soda, which is why locals call it the "Lamune" (ramune-soda) spring. Its landmark is the "Lamune Onsen-kan" (2005), a whimsical building of charred cedar and plaster with pine trees growing from its copper roof, designed by the architect-historian Terunobu Fujimori. The German-cabin look is a nod to Germany, the pioneer of carbonated-spring cure culture, and the bathhouse keeps a drinking-spring tap in the old "insen" tradition. A quiet mountain village made for slow, restorative bathing.

長湯温泉は竹田市の山あいにあり、日本でも有数の高濃度炭酸泉で知られます——浸かると微細な炭酸の泡が肌にびっしりと付くことから、地元では「ラムネの湯」と呼ばれます。象徴は2005年開館の「ラムネ温泉館」。焼杉と漆喰の壁、銅板の屋根に松が生えるユーモラスな建築で、設計は建築史家・藤森照信。ドイツの山小屋風の外観は、炭酸泉と温泉療養の先駆地ドイツへの敬意です。館内には古くからの「飲泉」の蛇口も。静かな山里で、ゆっくり養生する湯に向く温泉地です。

• ♨Lamune-style fizzy carbonated bath — a tactile novelty泡が肌に貼り付く「ラムネ温泉」体験
• ♨German-influenced Kurhaus therapeutic bathing traditionドイツ式温泉療養を取り入れたクアハウス
• ♨Peaceful mountain village — perfect for slow travel山あいの静かな湯治場、スローな旅に最適

Hours and prices vary — always confirm on the official site before visiting.
営業時間・料金は変動するため、必ず公式サイトでご確認ください。

Stone-paved onsen street straight out of old Japan

石畳の坂道が続く、昭和の風情そのままの湯治場

A quiet sibling to nearby Yufuin (the two share Yufu City), Yunohira is built along a steep stone-paved slope — roughly 500 metres of pavement laid some 300 years ago, lined with wooden inns, red lanterns, and a handful of tiny public baths. Five "soto-yu" bathhouses dot the slope, including the "Kin-no-yu" (Gold Bath) at the top, the riverside "Suna-yu," and the day-alternating men/women "Naka-no-yu." The waters have long been treasured as a gentle "stomach cure," and the wandering haiku poet Taneda Santoka was so moved by Yunohira's warmth that a small museum, "Shigure-kan," commemorates him here. It's one of Kyushu's most evocative old healing-bath towns.

湯平（ゆのひら）温泉は、隣の由布院と同じ由布市にある静かな対の温泉地。約300年前に敷かれた、長さ約500mの急な石畳の坂に沿って、木造の湯治宿、赤提灯、小さな外湯が並びます。坂沿いには「金の湯」（坂上の最古の湯）、川沿いの「砂湯」、男女が日替わりの「中の湯」など5つの外湯が点在。湯は古くから胃腸にやさしい湯として「不老長寿の霊湯」とも伝えられ、放浪の俳人・種田山頭火もこの地の人情に心打たれて句を残し、記念館「時雨館」があります。九州でも指折りの、風情ある湯治場です。

• ♨Iconic stone-paved street (ishidatami)石畳の坂道に外湯と湯治宿が並ぶ風情
• ♨5 small public baths along the slope to hop between坂道沿いの5つの外湯めぐりが楽しめる
• ♨Old-school yu-ji (healing stay) culture still alive昔ながらの湯治文化が今も息づく

Hours and prices vary — always confirm on the official site before visiting.
営業時間・料金は変動するため、必ず公式サイトでご確認ください。