Yuyama no Sato Onsen — Attraction in Beppu

The highlight of our Beppu trip, Yuyama no Sato is a hidden gem. It was such a unique, relaxing experience in nature, and it allowed our mixed gender group to enjoy the onsen all together.

You arrive at a homestead with a large garden in front - when we arrived, the owner was tending to her crops. We purchased tickets for 600 yen, while my friends hired some paper swimsuits for an additional 200 yen (just be aware they speak limited english, so use simple words or google translate). You can also hire towels, but we all brought our own (it might also be worth bringing a plastic bag to carry your wet swimwear back). The lady gave us all large bags to carry our stuff in and sent us down the path. We walked for 5 minutes through a bamboo forest and arrived at a clearing with numerous pools, some chairs and tables, and the men's changing room, which was a small wooden hut. Across the bridge were the bathrooms and women's change rooms, also in their own huts. We got dressed into our swimsuits and the sandals that were provided outside the huts and hurried to the pools - it was 5 degrees Celsius outside. There were multiple pools of varying temperatures including a footbath, a sauna, and a waterfall in a stream (though that was far too cold to use on this occassion). Despite being cold outside the pools, I found the hot water warmed me up enough that I could move around freely without too much urgency.

It's also worth noting that it's a bit different to a standard onsen - unlike most onsens, here you don't scrub yourself with shampoo and body wash before entering the tub, though there is a bucket you can use to rinse yourself off. Theres no showers and no hairdryer, so I kept my long hair up in a bun and didn't submerge my head. You're also expected to carry your bag of stuff with you when you move baths, but we didn't bother as there was only one other patron...

The reviews sounded really promising, so we wanted to try. If you do the jigoku tour "backwards" it is also only 10-15 minutes from the last stop "umi jigoku" with the local bus. Since this place seems to have no website it was a little hard to find the correct hours. We arrived at 4.30pm and saw a sign that looked like it closes at 5pm. Still we went inside and a nice man welcomed us, we paid 700yen per person for entry and simple bathing clothes (mandatory since we as a couple wanted mainly to go to the mixed gender pools) and told us we should just come back at 6pm. So we took the map and walked through trees, over a bridge and down a slope until we reached a really nice place with a bunch of different pools right in a small valley next to a small river and a waterfall. Great! There were separate changing rooms for male/female but at that time nobody seemed to really bother. Only a few other people were there at this rather late time, but at around 5.30 a family came and probably headed for the inside pool for women. Pools were mostly hot, one was warm and one was too hot for us. You can go to the river/waterfall which was cold as ice in January....

Wow!!! This place is a must to visit if you enjoy going to onsen. Not only was the obachan really sweet when receiving us, they have built the furos with materials provided by the surrounding environment; they have living trees incorporated into their structures. They have well thought out the needs of bathers - they have cleaned sandals to borrow while you hop from furo to furo (and waterfall :-)) make sure to put the used ones into the tub before you leave! The ones outside hanging are just cleaned and drying, so take the ones placed on the shelves inside. They have a cute stamp as well! It was a hot summer day, but it was cool among the trees and the bamboo. I recommend bringing your water bottle and a towel, but if you forget you can buy one there! They have an area to sit and have coffee or tea (bring from home) that you can make with the clean onsen water (see picture). Again, so thoughtful! Thank you, and we will be back! ¥600...