Beppu Hells (Jigoku Meguri): tickets, onsen and etiquette

The Beppu Hells, or Jigoku Meguri in Japanese, are seven natural hot spring sites where boiling water, mud and steam come straight from the ground, in the onsen city covered in the Beppu travel guide. The association that runs them describes the tour as visiting facilities where you see source springs of nearly 100 degrees, so each one is a sight, not a bath. The honest verdict: worth a half day if you like unusual scenery, and best paired with a real soak afterward. This page is part of the wider Japan coverage.

Most visitors come from a base in Fukuoka or another Kyushu city. If you are still choosing where to sleep first, the where to stay in Fukuoka guide shows which area gives the easiest train toward Beppu. The hells are open every day of the year in every kind of weather, and the association invites visitors to use the foot baths at four of the hells.

Who should skip it

Skip the hells if your goal is to bathe, if you dislike queues at a geyser that erupts at no fixed time, or if you have only one hour in Beppu. In that case one hell, such as Umi Jigoku at the Kannawa bus stop, plus a public bath is a better use of the hour than a rushed run through all seven. Take the combined ticket if you have a morning or afternoon and want to compare the colors and textures of several sources.

The association says the hells are scattered in two areas. The five around Umi Jigoku in the Kannawa area are within walking distance of each other. Chinoike Jigoku and Tatsumaki Jigoku are about 3 km away. Four of them, Umi, Chinoike, Tatsumaki and Shiraike, are designated as national places of scenic beauty.

Umi Jigoku (Sea Hell) is the largest of the seven, a cobalt-blue pond at about 98°C. The color comes from iron sulfate dissolved in the spring water. Its grounds use the heat to grow giant Amazonian water lilies and tropical water lilies, which the Umi Jigoku page says bloom from early May to early November and are best in the morning.

Oniishibozu Jigoku shows gray boiling mud at about 99°C, named because the bubbling looks like shaved monks' heads. It also has a separate paid bath, Oniishi no Yu, with separate men's and women's baths and five family baths, which the association prices at ¥620 for adults in the general bath.

Kamado Jigoku (Furnace Hell) takes its name from the old custom of cooking offering rice with its 98°C steam for a shrine festival. It has a series of ponds numbered from the first to the sixth and a corner where you can try drinking hot spring water and steam treatments.

Oniyama Jigoku, also called Wani Jigoku (Crocodile Hell), began keeping crocodiles in 1923 using hot spring heat and now has about 70 animals. Its staff feed them every Saturday and Sunday at 10:00.

Shiraike Jigoku is a calm Japanese garden with a bluish-white pond. The color appears as the hot, colorless water cools and loses pressure as it falls into the pool. It also has a tropical fish house.

Chinoike Jigoku (Blood Pond Hell) is described as the oldest natural hell in Japan, recorded in an eighth-century gazetteer as the "red hot spring." Hot red mud containing iron oxide fills the pond, at about 78°C. The grounds sell an ointment made from the clay.

Tatsumaki Jigoku is a geyser, a Beppu City natural monument, that throws boiling water and steam at intervals. A roof holds the water down, though the association says it could reach about 30 m. A red lamp above the sign at the entrance lights when an eruption is near or under way.

The geyser notice

The association posted a notice at Tatsumaki Jigoku on 15 January 2026. It says that this season the geyser had been experiencing longer waiting times before eruptions and that the duration of eruptions had been unstable, due to natural conditions that vary with season and rainfall. It asks visitors to understand that the facility shows a natural phenomenon. Treat the eruption as a bonus, not a promise, and do not make it the reason for a long detour.

Some hells have foot baths and shops selling steam-cooked snacks. The association lists foot baths at Umi, Chinoike, Kamado and Oniishibozu. Bring a small towel if you want to sit with your feet in the hot water. The hells themselves are for looking, not soaking.

Each hell has its own ticket office, and every one of them sells the combined ticket for all seven. The association says to buy the combined ticket at the first hell you visit. It is valid on the day of purchase and the next day, and each hell can be entered once. That means you can spread the visit over two mornings.

Check the official ticket and hours page before you go, because prices and hours can change; the price table there is dated from 1 February 2025. The page lists reduced prices for disability certificate holders, who must show the certificate when buying, and group rates for 20 or more people. The association's site also has a discount ticket page for visitors who print the coupon or show it on a smartphone, valid for up to five people. Third-party sites also sell the ticket in advance, but the official page is the reference for what it covers.

The association lists free parking at every hell, with about 615 spaces in total, and notes bus lanes at several of them. If you arrive by bus or train, you do not need to think about that, but it is why many visitors rent a car for this trip.

The association's access page gives these options, and the table shows how the choices compare.

Once you are at Umi Jigoku, the five Kannawa hells are close enough to walk between. Chinoike and Tatsumaki are about 3 km away, and the association recommends a car or bus for that stretch. A simple plan is to take the bus to Kannawa, see the five hells on foot, then take line 16 to Chinoike, walk to Tatsumaki, and return by the Kamegawa train or the bus.

If you are short of time, do the reverse for a different reason: start at Kamegawa by train, see Tatsumaki and Chinoike, then take the bus up to Kannawa and finish there, where food and the public baths are. The Beppu Station tourist information center, Wonder Compass Beppu, is open 8:45 to 18:00 daily and is listed among the association's contacts, so it is the place to confirm current bus numbers.

Tatsumaki Jigoku erupts at intervals, so check the lamp when you arrive and plan the rest of the visit around it. Go early in the day to avoid the busier hours, and keep a flexible plan for the geyser.

You can do the hells independently for the price of the ticket plus a few bus fares, or join a guided tour that handles the transport. On your own is flexible and cheap. The association's access page also mentions a regular sightseeing bus run by Kamenoi Bus from Beppu Station, which needs a booking online or by phone. A guided day trip makes sense if you are coming from Fukuoka and want one booking that covers the trains, hells and often a second stop, or if you want a guide's explanation of the geology.

The direct train is the Sonic limited express from Hakata. JR Kyushu's English timetable describes the Sonic from Hakata to Oita as about 2 hours, and Beppu is on the same route, so plan on about two hours each way and check the day's timetable. JR Kyushu also runs the Yufuin no Mori resort train, with one round trip a day from Hakata to Beppu: the listed Yufuin no Mori 3 leaves Hakata at 10:11 and reaches Beppu at 13:31 by way of Yufuin. JR Kyushu notes that Yufuin no Mori and Yufu seats are limited and asks travelers to use the Sonic route as well, so use that train for the scenery, not as your main plan.

Do you need a rail pass? For one return trip, usually not; price single tickets first. JR Kyushu's pass page lists a Northern Kyushu pass at ¥15,000 for 3 days and ¥17,000 for 5 days, with children aged 6 to 11 at half price, and says different prices are available through its online booking. Its comparison table marks the Sonic as covered by the All Kyushu and Northern Kyushu passes. The Northern Kyushu area includes Fukuoka, Oita, Kumamoto, Nagasaki and Saga, and the Kyushu Shinkansen is covered only between Hakata and Kumamoto on that pass. It pays off only if you add several long rides in the same window, such as Nagasaki and Kumamoto as well. Compare that total against single tickets before you buy, and see the JR Pass guide for the method.

The Kyushu travel guide shows how Beppu fits with Fukuoka, Kumamoto and Nagasaki if you are building a longer route.

Japan's national tourism organization describes Beppu as a group of eight hot spring towns, known as Beppu Hatto, each with its own character, and lists the Beppu Beach Sand Bath among the things not to miss. Its Takegawara Onsen page describes a bathhouse built in 1879 with a sand bath, where attendants cover your yukata-clad body in hot sand, and says the onsen is closed on the third Wednesday of the month unless that day is a holiday, in which case it closes the following day. The helpful list of public baths is available at the Tourist Information Center in Beppu Station.

The main kinds of bath are:

• Public baths: neighborhood onsen that locals use. Expect simple facilities and bring your own towel or buy one at the door.

• Sand baths: you lie in warm volcanic sand while an attendant covers you. Ask about the rules and the time limit at the entrance.

• Ryokan and hotel baths: larger indoor and outdoor baths, sometimes open to day visitors for a fee. Ask at the front desk.

• Private baths: rented by the hour, often the easiest answer if you have a tattoo or prefer privacy.

A workable plan is one hell tour in the morning, lunch in Kannawa, and a public bath or sand bath in the afternoon. If you have a second day, add the Yufuin side of the region by train. For the season, see the best time to visit Japan. Umi Jigoku's lilies bloom from early May to early November, Tatsumaki's azaleas from mid-April through Golden Week, and the association notes that the Asagimadara butterfly visits Tatsumaki in October.

Onsen have rules, and the same ones apply in Beppu. Japan's national tourism organization lists the core ones: wash your whole body thoroughly before you enter the water, keep the small towel out of the bath, tie up long hair and do not submerge your head, and expect swimsuits not to be allowed. Most public onsen are separated by gender. Being drunk in an onsen is considered impolite and can affect your health, and the guidance suggests keeping a soak to around 30 minutes.

Tattoos are the main question for visitors. The same source says the policy is case by case: some baths do not mind, so check the facility's own rules before you go. Options it lists are emailing the facility, using skin-colored tattoo seals on small tattoos, or renting a private kashikiri bath. For a longer treatment, the onsen etiquette and the tattoo rule guide goes deeper.