2 weeks in Kyushu with the Japan rail pass. Part 5 of 6: Day 11 – 13 Beppu and emergency move to Kyoto!

Day 11: travelling to Beppu – Kaimonji hotspring – Beppu reimen noodles

We checked out of our Kagoshima airbnb at around 10am. The main station was only about 5 minutes walk, but the owner of the building (not the host) saw us with our suitcases and gave us a lift! Thank you! Everywhere we went, people really have been immediately friendly and kind in Kyushu.

We took a 10:48 Sakura shinkansen to Kokura.

Only a few days ago we spent a day traveling from Kumamoto to Kagoshima with sightseeing trains. With shinkansen, it took just under 2 hours – amazing. We left Kokura at 12:52 with Sonic train and arrived at Beppu at 14:21.

Beppu is one of the most famous hotspring resorts in Japan and produces more hotspring water than anywhere else in the country.

There is a tourist information centre within the station, but Beppu also has a separate information centre called ‘Wander Compass’ for foreign visitors. Seeing the Japanese tourist information centre on your right, come out from the station, turn right and you’ll find them within 30 seconds. People were super friendly and helpful. Make sure you get a map/lists of Beppu public baths there.

Also, whilst you’re in the main station, make sure you buy your ‘Spa-port’ from the Japanese tourist office.

Beppu has thousands of hot spring (known as onsen) bath houses and apparently you can become an ‘onsen master’ once you collected 88 stamps (meaning, visited 88 different onsen baths in Beppu) in your ‘Spa-port’. Of course there was no way I could visit 88 onsen baths during our short stay, but I got myself a Spa-port as souvenir.

Don’t forget to try the ‘hand bath’ outside the train station!

Our airbnb was only a few minutes walk from the main station.

We checked in, dropped our suitcases and went to our first Beppu onsen.

Kaimonji onsen was just a few steps away from our airbnb. Entrance fee is only ¥100, but make sure you bring in your own towels, shampoo and soap. The coin locker cost ¥100.

I learned during this visit that Beppu onsen is HOT! After a short rest and lots of drinking in our airbnb, we went for a walk.

Beppu city centre was tiny, quiet, a bit old-fashioned with lots of charm and warmth. After 10 days of traveling, this was exactly what we wanted.

We had Beppu reimen (cold noodles) for dinner. The famous reimen restaurant Rokusei had a long queue, but we waited patiently.

And it was worth the wait; service was friendly and efficient, refreshing and tasty reimen made with care, with 80s rock/pop music playing and an overall great vibe!

Day 12: Early morning Onsen bath – Onsen-steamed food – Beppu sightseeing – ‘Tour of 7 hells’ (we only went to 1 hell) – and more Onsen bath!

Many public baths in Beppu open at around 6am. I woke up early and went to Takegawara onsen before breakfast. Takegawara onsen is a very traditional looking and film-set like building inside and outside. If you have time for only one public bath in Beppu, this is the one you should go to. Fee is only ¥100.

Today we bought a 1 day bus pass (¥900) which can be bought at the tourist information office inside the station. Our first stop was Myoban area. The journey took just under 30 minutes from Beppu station. For your information, this bus journey would have cost ¥410 one way, so the 1 day pass is a really good thing to have.

We got off the bus at Jizo-yu mae bus stop. You can see how ‘myoban’ spa salt is harvested here and there of course is an onsen bath. Myoban area is a little high up in the mountain and even the bus journey to here alone was enjoyable.

I do recommend a food stop at Okamotoya restaurant which is right next to the bus stop. Here you can find a selection of onsen-steamed dishes and other Beppu local dishes at reasonable prices. There is seating inside and outside, but we parked ourselves right at the end of the car park, with a nice view. Just make sure you know what time your next bus is as there are only 2-3 buses running in an hour.

Beppu is also very well known for the ‘tour of 7 hells’, in which people visit all 7 hells aka: onsens. But they are not to bathe, they are multi-coloured volcanic pools of boiling water, each with different characteristics. Each ‘hell’ is a bit like a small onsen amusement park. Entry is ¥400 for individual hell or ¥2000 for all 7. This can be fun, but is also very touristy. So we visited only the ‘sea hell’ which was easily accessible by bus. And yes, it was very touristy and gimmicky, but I was also glad we experienced at least one hell. After all, ‘tour of 7 hells’ is THE must do thing in Beppu!

If you are thinking about visiting only one hell like us, make sure you visit the one with foot bath (free).

We hopped back on the bus and went to see the famous Beppu beach sand bath. We didn’t do the sand bath, but enjoyed their free foot bath and the sea view.

For dinner, C went to have tori-ten, a chicken tempura, another Beppu speciality. Meanwhile, C’s mum and I had supermarket dinner at our airbnb.

After dinner, I went to Furosen onsen. Like this morning’s Takegawara onsen, another ¥100 onsen and right in the city centre.

And then, we heard of a large typhoon approaching…

Day 13: 6AM family meeting and emergency move to Kyoto!

I had a sleepless night tossing and turning. According to yesterday’s news, a big and slow typhoon was approaching Southern Japan. Slow typhoon means it stays longer and likely to cause more disruption. They were predicting its arrival tomorrow; our traveling day to Kyoto. And there was a possibility that trains may not run that day. We had a short family meeting at 6 in the morning.

We were going to take another sightseeing train across Kyushu to Aso today, but we decided to travel to Kyoto instead.

We packed our bags, notified our airbnb owner that we’re leaving and we headed to the station.

And our quick decision absolutely paid off. We got seats in our trains all the way to Kyoto which was unbelievable given this was one of the busiest holiday season in Japan and everyone was trying to travel today to avoid getting stuck. JR was running extra Sonic trains and we arrived in Kokura at 12:24. We had about 2 hours in Kokura, so I used the station wifi and looked for airbnb in Kyoto.

We were actually having a problem with our original Kyoto airbnb, another reason why I had a sleepless night. But this bad luck turned out to be good luck as it was eventually cancelled by airbnb and we received a full refund. Which meant we could look for a place for 4 consecutive nights from tonight rather than one place tonight and move to another. Finding a last minute airbnb on the go was a bit stressful as we had a tight budget, but we ended up in a really nice place. After the horrible experience in Fukuoka and trouble with the original Kyoto place, I did use the ‘super host’ filter this time.

We arrived in Kyoto at 17:31. I was so relieved! And my good luck angel must have been smiling down at me all day today, our new Kyoto airbnb had a free pick up! The airbnb was only 2 stops from Kyoto station by JR train, but free pick up was a god send for me as I had no mental capacity left to think anymore.

Our airbnb was super modern, new, comfortable and beautiful. We relaxed, ate Kasutera cakes we bought in Nagasaki and unwind after the stressful day, feeling safe that we ARE in Kyoto and in an accommodation that’s absolutely a winner.