[Real Experience] Beppu Hells Tour! Recommended Efficient Routes and Time Needed Explained!!

This time, I’ll introduce an efficient way to tour the Beppu Hells and tips for doing it well.

There are 7 hells on the Beppu Hells Tour, and some can be reached on foot while others require transport, so many people probably wonder, “So what’s the most efficient way to see them?” “How much time should I allow?” I imagine.

Joe actually went on the Beppu Hells Tour, and based on my real experience of making mistakes despite researching carefully beforehand, I’ll share the recommended efficient route as a complete version, so please do read to the end.

What Are the “Hells” of the Beppu Hells Tour?

A “hell” (jigoku) refers to a place where “steam, hot mud, and boiling water gush out.”

There’s no record of when the word “hell” began to be used in Beppu, so it’s unclear, but it’s said to have been in use since the Heian period, perhaps borrowed from the Buddhist Hell of Burning Heat (Shonetsu Jigoku).

By 1830, in the Edo period, a book called “Tsurumi Nanayu Mawari-ki” describes the hells of the time and the lives of the people.

Overall map of the Beppu Hells Tour

First, let’s get an overall picture of the Beppu Hells Tour on a map.

From north to south, the Beppu Hells Tour consists of 7 hells: Oniishibozu Jigoku, Umi Jigoku, Kamado Jigoku, Shiraike Jigoku, Oniyama Jigoku, Chinoike Jigoku, and Tatsumaki Jigoku.

To roughly remember the names and locations for sightseeing, take the first syllable of each and memorize “O-U-KA-SHI-O-CHI-TA” (“Oh, the sweets fell!”). Ha ha.

It’s hard to tell from the map, but they fall into two main areas: Oniishibozu, Umi, Kamado, Shiraike, and Oniyama Jigoku make up Group 1, and Chinoike and Tatsumaki Jigoku make up Group 2.

Recommended Efficient Sightseeing Routes for the Beppu Hells Tour

The recommended route for the Beppu Hells Tour depends on your means of transport and the number of days you can spend sightseeing.

Based on your length of stay, your available time, and how it fits with other sights, try planning roughly how much time you can spend.

Pattern A: Visit All 7 Hells in Half a Day

Pattern A is for people who have only limited sightseeing time left (and those with grit).

Inevitably you have two options: start first thing in the morning, or start first thing in the afternoon. If you start after the afternoon is well underway, you won’t finish and will regret it, so give up on seeing everything.

The map on the signboard says 2 hours, but visiting all 7 hells of the Beppu Hells Tour takes about 3 hours 30 minutes.

The route goes south down from Umi Jigoku, and there’s a solid reason this route is best: the slopes. If you do Umi Jigoku last, it’s all uphill, which is quite tough.

Visiting All 7 Hells on the Scheduled Sightseeing Bus “Beppu Jigoku Meguri Course”

For Pattern A, depending on your time and budget, joining the scheduled sightseeing bus “Beppu Jigoku Meguri Course” is also an option.

This is the only course where you can ride the Oni Bus! And you can ride the Kamenoi Bus, the birthplace of the bus guide!

*The time needed is about 3 hours, though it varies a little with road conditions (traffic, etc.) and the eruption time of the Tatsumaki Jigoku geyser.

There are only two trips a day, morning and afternoon. Advance reservation (Highway.com) is required. Reservations open at 10 a.m. two months before the operating date.

Boarding point	Morning trip	Afternoon trip
(1) Departs in front of Kitahama Bus Center	9:15	13:55
(2) Departs from Beppu Station Stop 4	9:15	14:00

The fare includes admission to the Beppu hells and a bus guide.

Adult	Junior high school student	Elementary school age and under
¥4,000	¥3,000	¥1,950

The morning trip starts early, so you’d have to check out of the hotel early; the afternoon trip is recommended.

★Check out my stay blog on Oedo Onsen Monogatari Beppu Onsen Beppu Seifu, a 1-minute walk from Kitahama Bus Center!!

Pattern B: Spread the Hells Over 2 Days

A Beppu trip can be done in a single day, but while the hells and a day-use bath in Kannawa Onsen cover the main spots, there are also people who travel for 1 night 2 days or 2 nights 3 days to take it easy.

In that case, Pattern B is the better fit.

Also, with Pattern A, if you think “I don’t have a solid 3 hours 30 minutes, but I can set aside 2!”, you can see 5 hells: Oniishibozu, Umi, Kamado, Shiraike, and Oniyama.

Shiraike Jigoku and Chinoike Jigoku are about 3 km apart, so it’s also an option to divide it into a day of hells within walking distance and a day of hells that involve transport.

This time Joe stayed in Beppu for 2 nights 3 days, so I chose Pattern B.

Watch the Geyser Timing at Tatsumaki Jigoku!

Joe’s mistake was not taking the geyser timing at Tatsumaki Jigoku into account.

Tatsumaki Jigoku erupts as a geyser at intervals of about 25 to 30 minutes, so if your timing is off you lose a lot of time.

Chinoike Jigoku and Tatsumaki Jigoku are within walking distance of each other, so before going to Chinoike Jigoku, go to Tatsumaki Jigoku first, ask the staff when the next geyser will erupt, and if the wait is 20 minutes or more, stroll around Chinoike Jigoku first.

If you skip this, the tour becomes inefficient.

Time Needed for the Beppu Hells Tour

The time needed for the Beppu Hells Tour varies strictly with the pattern and means of transport you choose, but if you use a taxi, it comes to 3 hours.

*The geyser wait is calculated at a maximum of 30 minutes.
*For buses, the wait is calculated at a maximum of 30 minutes.
*Travel time to and from the area is not included.
*When splitting across 2 days, travel between Chinoike Jigoku and Shiraike Jigoku is not included, so it’s shown as “–.”

Selected pattern	Means of transport	Time needed
Pattern A: Visit all 7 hells in half a day	Bus	3 hours 30 minutes
	Car or taxi	3 hours
Pattern B: Spread the hells over 2 days	—	Day 1: 1 hour 40 minutes	Day 2: 1 hour 5 minutes

Beppu Hells Tour day-trip model course overview

Under “Pattern A: Visit all 7 hells in half a day,” the time needed by bus is listed as 3 hours 30 minutes, but this does not include travel before and after or a lunch break.

My top recommendation is a course where you start in the morning from the Umi Jigoku area, take lunch at Jigoku Mushi Kobo Kannawa, then see the Chinoike Jigoku area in the afternoon and head back.

For the model course, please allow me the following assumptions and notes.

If you leave Beppu Station at 10 a.m., have lunch at Jigoku Mushi Kobo Kannawa, and visit all 7 hells, you arrive back at 3:30 p.m., a total of 5 hours 30 minutes for the whole trip.

On weekdays, lunch may be less crowded, so it takes about 5 hours.

How to Get from Shiraike Jigoku to Chinoike Jigoku

To tour the hells efficiently, you need to know in advance how to get from Shiraike Jigoku to Chinoike Jigoku, which are physically far apart.

The model course uses the bus, but there are 4 means of transport, so let me introduce them.

Means of transport	Fare	Travel time
Bus	¥190 per person	10 to 40 minutes *Depends on bus wait time
Taxi	¥1,000 per vehicle	5 minutes
Car / rental car	¥0 *Free parking	5 minutes
On foot	¥0	About 32 minutes

Moving from Shiraike Jigoku to Chinoike Jigoku by Bus

From Shiraike Jigoku, go down Miyuki-zaka slope right in front, turn left at the intersection, and the Kannawa bus stop (Stop 2) will come into view on your left. It’s about 3 minutes on foot.
*The Kannawa bus stop directly across the intersection (on the right in the photo) is for the Beppu direction, so be careful not to board the wrong bus.

Board a Kamenoi Bus toward Kamekawa, No. 16, or Beppu Medical Center, No. 29, and in about 6 minutes you arrive at the stop in front of Chinoike Jigoku. The bus fare is ¥190.

There aren’t that many buses, 2 an hour, 4 at most, with intervals of 20 to 30 minutes, so decide your boarding time by working backward.

With no bus wait it takes as little as 10 minutes and a ¥190 fare, but if you end up waiting for a bus it can take up to about 40 minutes.

Moving from Shiraike Jigoku to Chinoike Jigoku by Taxi

If you’re traveling as a group, a taxi is recommended over the bus.

If you call Hato Taxi (0977-21-2001), they’ll pick you up in about 10 minutes even from within Beppu City.
Make a quick call before you finish sightseeing at Shiraike Jigoku.

Many of the drivers are local, so telling them “please come to the front of Shiraike Jigoku” is enough.

At around ¥1,000, a taxi is recommended for groups of 3 or more!

Moving from Shiraike Jigoku to Chinoike Jigoku by Car or Rental Car

If you go by car or rental car, go down the slope in front of Shiraike Jigoku and turn left at the intersection with the Kannawa bus stop, and you can reach Chinoike Jigoku in one go.

Tatsumaki Jigoku also has a parking lot, but Chinoike Jigoku’s lot is spacious, so I recommend parking at Chinoike Jigoku!

Moving from Shiraike Jigoku to Chinoike Jigoku on Foot

I don’t recommend it at all, but walking from Shiraike Jigoku to Chinoike Jigoku takes about 32 minutes.

Buy the 7-Hell Common Ticket!

If you’re visiting all 7 hells, be sure to buy the 7-hell common ticket, which is a set ticket!

Entering one at a time costs ¥400 each time, and visiting all 7 costs ¥2,800 for adults (high school age and up), but the 7-hell common ticket is ¥600 cheaper at ¥2,200.

There’s no discount on Asoview, but you can buy in advance, so I recommend it!
You don’t need to go to a ticket window with a long line on the day, so you save time!
You also earn Asoview points ♪

The common ticket is bound in a booklet, and you put the stub into the collection box placed near the entrance of each hell.

How to Get from Beppu Station to Umi Jigoku

There are several ways to get from Beppu Station to Umi Jigoku, but the most typical is the Kamenoi Bus.

From the JR Beppu Station West Exit, board Kamenoi Bus No. 2, 5, 24, or 41; it takes about 20 minutes to the stop “Umi Jigoku-mae,” then 1 minute on foot to Umi Jigoku.

How to Get from Shiraike Jigoku to Chinoike Jigoku

Getting from Shiraike Jigoku to Chinoike Jigoku is also generally done by Kamenoi Bus.

It takes about 4 minutes on foot from Shiraike Jigoku to the stop “Kannawa,” then about 6 minutes on bus No. 16 from “Kannawa” to the stop “Chinoike Jigoku-mae.”

Highlights of the Beppu Hells Tour

So far, I’ve explained the recommended patterns, time needed, model course, and access for the Beppu Hells Tour.

Finally, I’d like to introduce the highlights of each hell. Some spots are Instagram-worthy, so don’t forget to take photos!

Highlights of Umi Jigoku

Among the 7 hells, Umi Jigoku has a spacious, nature-rich site where you can see a mysterious, cool-looking cobalt-blue pond.

Take a walk around the perimeter of Umi Jigoku. Lots of steam rises from the pond, and it’s really hot when you get close.

In the grounds of Umi Jigoku are a large pond and giant water lilies (Oni-basu), where I came across a bird standing by on a lily pad, waiting to catch fish.

Umi Jigoku has the Jigoku Onsen Museum, and on the 2nd floor you can learn the history of the hells tour.

There’s a souvenir corner on the 1st floor, and its selection is among the most extensive on the hells tour, so be sure to have a look.

Highlights of Oniishibozu Jigoku

From Umi Jigoku to Oniishibozu Jigoku is 1 minute on foot. If you watch the flow of people, you won’t get lost.

Oniishibozu Jigoku is compact and easy to walk around.

Right after you pass through the entrance gate, the bubbling, gurgling boil resembles shaved heads (bozu), and the name comes from the place name “Oniishi.”

The temperature is 90°C, super hot!

There’s also a circular footbath spot. The water is a sodium chloride spring, with effects of regulating your condition and promoting sound sleep.

Soaking while taking in the smell of sulfur and the naturally rising steam is the best, isn’t it!

Highlights of Kamado Jigoku

From Oniishibozu Jigoku to Kamado Jigoku is a gentle downhill, arriving in about 5 minutes on foot!

Kamado Jigoku has steam at a temperature of 90°C, and its name comes from the ancient custom of cooking rice with the hell’s steam at the grand festival of the local tutelary shrine, Kamado Hachimangu.

In the grounds, there’s a demon that fled upon seeing the morning sun, associated with Hachiman Kamado Shrine, and the Dragon God keeps watch over the demon.

Like Umi Jigoku, Kamado Jigoku has an emerald-green pond, but further back, steam shoots up forcefully with a loud noise.

It seems this pond changes color a few times a year, to blue or green, and also gets lighter or darker in shade.

You can also see a pond the color of clay melted from underground bedrock formed by geothermal heat.

There’s also a fun spot where you can feel the steam in your throat.
It’s 100°C, so if you don’t approach little by little, you might be in for trouble…

Highlights of Oniyama Jigoku

Oniyama Jigoku is right near Kamado Jigoku, a 1-minute walk.

Are you getting full yet?

Oniyama Jigoku used its gushing hot spring and steam to start the world’s first crocodile farm in the Taisho era.

Is this an alligator park? That’s how many crocodilians live here.

About 80 crocodilians of the crocodile and alligator families are kept here.

They were keeping the gharial (one genus, one species), a globally rare crocodilian designated as an endangered species.

Highlights of Shiraike Jigoku

From Oniyama Jigoku to Shiraike Jigoku is 2 minutes on foot.
Named for Shiraike Jigoku, the entrance gate is white-based, and the site is registered as a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty.

At Shiraike Jigoku, the spouted hot spring falls into the pond, and as its temperature drops it naturally changes to a bluish-white color.

In the grounds is a tropical fish house that uses hot spring heat, keeping tropical fish such as the pirarucu, the giant fish of the Amazon, and the man-eating piranha.

Highlights of Chinoike Jigoku

Chinoike Jigoku is about 3 km from Shiraike Jigoku, so you need to move by Kamenoi Bus, taxi, or rental car.

Chinoike Jigoku is Japan’s oldest natural hell, where red hot mud gushes from the strata and accumulates, dyeing the entire pond red.

“This one feels the most like hell!” (my limited vocabulary)

The two kanji for “hot blood” have an overwhelming presence.

Just looking at it makes you hot.

A hell dog run!
Though despite the name, it was an ordinary dog run with natural grass.

While you’re at it, the Tatsumaki Jigoku geyser is about to start, you know.

Highlights of Tatsumaki Jigoku

From Chinoike Jigoku to Tatsumaki Jigoku is 1 minute on foot.

Tatsumaki Jigoku has a natural geyser, where 150°C hot water rises from deep underground and collects in a certain cavity.

Because of the relationship between the surface temperature and the temperature of the cavity underground, vaporization occurs and it erupts for a set time like a tornado.

There’s only one viewing spot, so while there’s a souvenir shop nearby, there’s nothing to see besides the geyser.

The eruption can reach 30 m, so it’s held down with stonework.

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Unfortunately, Joe couldn’t see the geyser live due to time, so I’ll refer to an Instagram video.

Sightseeing Around the Hells Tour

If you’re tired from walking around the hells, “Kannawa Mushiyu” in Kannawa Onsen is recommended!

Lie on medicinal herbs for 10 minutes! You sweat all over and relax.

30 minutes is plenty for “Kannawa Mushiyu.”

Hot Spring Inns and Hotels Around the Beppu Hells Tour

It takes about 20 to 30 minutes one way by bus from Beppu Station to the Beppu Hells Tour, so to tour the hells even more efficiently, you should stay at a hot spring inn or hotel around the hells.

The day-trip model course I introduced returns to Beppu Station, but if you stay at an inn near the Beppu Hells Tour, you get more time to relax with the inn’s hot spring and nearby day-use baths.

Beppu Kannawa Onsen Sanso Shinwaen is located in the Kannawa district, a one-of-a-kind hot spring inn with a convenient location for touring the hells and strolling the town.

It’s a 3-minute walk to Umi Jigoku and you can freely return to the inn, so the charm is that you don’t have to worry much about sightseeing time.

The popular day-use bath Hyotan Onsen is also accessible in a 10-minute walk.

It’s women-only, but Beppu Kannawa Onsen Sanso Shinwaen also has a rare mud bath.

Summary: 5 Tips for Touring the Hells Efficiently and Well

Finally, let me sum up 5 tips for touring the hells efficiently and well.

If you understand just these tips, I think you can get around quite efficiently.