Located near the mountains, Beppu’s Suihou Ogura onsen is one of the many unique onsen in this town famous for its onsen.

Beppu – A place of healing

Beppu and its miraculous healing pools have been a spot to go since the 8th century AD. During during the Edo period, Beppu saw an explosion in its size and became known as a town of healing. It was said that any ailments could be cured by the waters there. You just had to find the right one.

Today Beppu is one of the most well-known onsen towns in Japan and receives many visitors every year. However, as it can be a bit difficult to reach, most people who visit these thermal baths are locals from Kyushu.

Suihou Ogura Onsen

Suihou Ogura Onsen is a small but famous onsen known for its water’s colour-changing properties. Its colour actually depends on the weather and ambient light, changing from blue to milky white and back again.

As Suihou Ogura Onsen describes itself on its website (in Japanese): “Enjoy the fantastic hot springs, which contain 723 mg of metasilicic acid (one of the highest metasilicic acid contents in Japan), which is highly effective for beautifying the skin, and change from blue to milky white . You can use six baths, including ‘Teruyu’, which are each fed by the hot spring water and have their own unique atmosphere, for private use”.

Getting to Beppu

From Tokyo, the easiest way to get to Beppu would be to fly to (most likely) Fukuoka, Kitakyushu or Oita airports and then take a bus or a train to Beppu. It is a popular destination, so you can take either a JR train or a Nishitetsu highway bus from any of these locations.

Alternatively, you can use the Shinkansen from Tokyo, Osaka/Kyoto or Hiroshima and change to an express train or bus at Kokura Station in Kitakyushu. The express train to Beppu takes 1 hour 10 minutes and costs ￥5060 one way.

The same train from Fukuoka’s Hakata Station takes 2 hours and costs ￥6670 one way.

More about train ticket purchasing for JR West: https://www.westjr.co.jp/global/en/ticket/overview/

More information about Nishitetsu buses and purchasing tickets: https://www.nishitetsu.jp/en/ticket/

My visit

A friend and I were visiting another friend in Beppu overnight before starting a trip to Kagoshima (including Yakushima and Kirishima). As we arrived in Beppu in the afternoon by bus (from Tenjin Station in Fukuoka), we decided to go to Suihou Ogura. We rented a private onsen, Yamabukian (山吹滝, “Yamabuki waterfall”) for 1 hour for ￥1500 for all 3 of people.

This onsen has two pools, an indoor pool and an outdoor one. The inner one is meant for one person at a time while the outer one is larger and can accommodate three.

The outer one is the one that turns blue depending on the weather, as can be seen in the picture below. At this time it was raining but light, which is why it is both blue and milky white at the same time:

Getting There and information

Suihou Ogura is located here in Beppu near the Beppuogiyama Golf Club. It has its own parking lot that is located across from the entrance to the building that customers can use for free.

If you go, you can either bring your own towel and face towel or rent them. Remember that the larger towel stays in the changing area. You may bring the smaller one with you but make sure it does not touch or enter the water.

Have fun!

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