Hi everyone. On the long weekend I went over and stayed in Beppu and visited the Hells of Beppu and part of Yufuin. I just wanted to offer some words of advice for traveling there and where I stayed.
I decided to get there on a Saturday, but I had missed the early bus so I arrived after the hot springs closed. I would advise taking the early bus to get there especially if you’re going during November like I did because it gets dark early.
A word of warning the buses to and from the Hells of Beppu much like on Yakushima stop running pretty early and they only run every 30 minutes to an hour depending on where you want to go.
Getting to Beppu or Yufuin is the easy part. There’s a sightseeing train that runs from Kokura to Yufuin although that can be expensive. You can view the details on that here.
From what I saw it can be a bit expensive at roughly 5000-7000 yen each way. You have to reserve your seat in advance for the train and the spots tend to fill up fast.
Your other option if you tend to last minute travel like I do is you can take the bus is 1500-2000 yen each way.
Accommodations can get expensive quickly if you plan last minute. The place I picked is a very old building. It’s a no frills hospital, but like most places in Beppu they have an onsen. It’s called Guest House Matsukiso. The accomodation was about 3000 yen a night plus a 300 yen a night charge for the onsen.
I mostly just got my bearings and relaxed the first night and went to the nearby Kushi Katsu (串カツ) restaurant. Think fried and skewered food.
Once you’re out and traveling I’d recommend getting up early enough to catch the 8:00am bus so you can explore as much as possible. There’s a bus pass you can get that’s 1600 yen for one day or 2400 yen for two days that will take you the Hells of Beppu and all over Yufuin. The buses can get expensive so it’s well worth it.
If you’re just going to Yufuin you may just want to pay as you go because it’s not as worth while. However, there’s a smaller pass just for the Beppu Hells that’s only 900 yen which is less than the round trip fair of going there and back one time.
Word of Warning to solo travelers (especially other women). Please be extra careful of suspicious people at the Kintetsu Ropeway on the Yufuin route as I had an unpleasant experience being harassed by someone there and had a hard time getting help due to the language barrier and no one stepping in to help.
That’s all on this trip for now, but I hope to add more later. See you next time.
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