Touring the Hells of Beppu
This weekend we checked off another stop on our bucket list: Beppu! It is a small city on the southern island of Kyushu. The area is high in geothermal activity — so much so that people have an unlimited heat source for their homes, a huge variety of fresh-flowing onsens (hot springs), and even a natural way to cook food without fire!
During our stay we visited all seven “hells”, a series of distinct pools, containing a unique mixture of minerals. Due to the various compounds, each pool is a unique color (from blood red to crystal blue). The pools are not for bathing—they are literally boiling!— but many had an area off to the side for a foot bath, which we thoroughly enjoyed!
One had a geyser that erupted every 20 minutes…
One even used its thermal water to heat pools for a crocodile breeding facility 🤷♀️
My favorite part was cooking our lunch in the thermal water!
We also visited a cool onsen museum that explained how the thermal pools form.
Overall the timing of the trip was (almost) perfect. We arrived at the peak of the sakura (cherry blossoms) and the weather was cool, but mild.
I say almost perfect because we found out that there is a huge festival starting on Tuesday…think parades of bathtubs and a ceremonial burning of the mountainside… (seriously, check out the videos). It was hard to not stay a little longer for this unique event, but the timing just didn't work out. Maybe next year???
P.S. On the way back we HAD to stop at the TOTO (toilet) museum! 🚽
We learned that TOTO actually started in the ceramic tableware business, but expanded into other ceramics, most notably toilets, but also tubs, sinks, and other building materials.
The gift shop at this one was pretty hilarious… specially printed toilet paper, chocolate toilets, and lots of books from the TOTO publishing company!
Gorgeous pictures! What a fun adventure! ❤️
So much beauty even in purple toilets! Oh to see all of those cherry blossoms!