Beppu is a resort city in the Oita Prefecture. Found in the southern island of Kyushu, Japan, it boasts of as many as 4,000 onsens or hot springs set between the volcanic mountains and the lovely Beppu Bay. You know you are in Beppu as soon as you see those steam vents all over the city. Quite amazing and rather unreal to find in a city.

We arrived autumn time. The (hot) springs area in Umi Jigoku was teeming with steam vents looking even more surreal because of the autumn foliage. Unfortunately, we came on a long weekend. This Thanksgiving weekend sent throngs of locals out of their urban abodes heading for the luxury of sand baths, mud baths, foot baths, onsen, hot spring baths to be found in Beppu.

We couldn’t wait for 2 hours for the sand baths. Besides, it’s freezing cold (as low as ZERO degree in Mt. Tsurumi Summit at 1,375 meters high) and we weren’t confident we’d enjoy lying down “buried” under the hot sands for only 15 minutes, then up and go. Too much trouble. Instead, we opted for the foot baths. Still too hot for our legs and feet, but t’was fun doing this with the group before a hefty kaiseki in our hotel’s restaurant. A lonnnnng dinner, with the ubiquitous Japanese cooking utensils and dishes spread out on our long table. The plating typically teases, but the taste never ever disappoints!

We were filled to the brim with all the sumptuous food. The miso soup had an unusual, savory taste. The pickles you’d care to eat with your rice. The thin meat slices paired well with the broth with morsels of fish balls, shrimps, etc. The saba (costing ¥5,000 per mackerel) was so fresh. The tempura batter sweetish and crisp. Even the matcha gelatine-like dessert tasted sooo good.

That last photo above was sourced from our hotel’s site.

So, no worries. We didn’t snap photos inside the hotel’s onsen. Did we try it? Naturally. Beppu boasts of the best onsen experience. And so, we ended our long day on a “hot” note.

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