Takegawara Onsen

What to expect

Takegawara Onsen is the bathhouse most people picture when they think of Beppu. It sits on a narrow street in the old Motomachi neighbourhood, a short walk from the station and the bay, and the city of Beppu runs it as one of its municipal baths. If you only have time for one soak in town, this is the usual pick.

The city dates the bathhouse to 1879. The name means “bamboo tile”: the first building had a bamboo roof, later replaced with tiles. The building you see now went up in 1938, a large wooden hall with a heavy curved karahafu gable over the entrance. Inside, the high-ceilinged lobby with its wooden floor is part of the reason people come. This is not a museum, though. Locals still walk in with a towel over the shoulder for their morning bath.

There are two separate things to do here:

• The ordinary bath (futsuyoku): one plain indoor bath on each side, men’s and women’s. There is no outdoor bath or sauna.
• The sand bath (sunayu): you change into a cotton robe, lie down in a pit of sand warmed by the hot spring, and an attendant shovels sand over you until only your head is out. Afterwards you rinse off and use the ordinary bath, which the ticket includes.

The water

The city lists the water as coming straight from the source and flowing through the baths without being recirculated. The two sides use different springs. The men’s bath is a sodium-calcium-magnesium chloride and bicarbonate spring, and the women’s bath is a sodium bicarbonate spring. The sand bath shares the men’s source. The city does not publish bath temperatures, and travel guides describe the water as on the hot side. Beppu’s neighbourhood baths are often kept hotter than visitors expect, so test the water with a hand before you sink in.

In November 2025 the city ran a one-week event that swapped the men’s and women’s sides so regulars could try the other spring. It noted that the two sources run at different temperatures.

Prices and booking

Prices are from the city’s page in October 2026.

What	Price
Ordinary bath, adults (junior high and up)	¥300
Ordinary bath, elementary schoolchildren	¥100
Ordinary bath, preschoolers	Free
Sand bath (ages 6 and up, ordinary bath included)	¥1,500
Sand bath, 10 visits	¥13,500
Ordinary bath, 10 visits	¥2,700 adults, ¥900 children

Ten-visit tickets for the ordinary bath are valid for a year and also work at several other city baths.

The sand bath takes up to eight people at a time. There is no booking by phone or online. You give your name at the desk and wait your turn, and on busy days the desk can stop accepting people before the official last entry at 21:30.

The desk sells what you forgot: an original towel for ¥350, a bath towel for ¥1,200, a shampoo, rinse and soap set for ¥100, plus razors, toothbrushes and hair caps. A coin locker costs ¥100, the hair dryer ¥100 for seven minutes, and washbowls are free. The city also lends a bath cover and a bath shawl free of charge if you ask the bath in advance, and asks other bathers to be understanding toward people who bathe in such garments.

Onsen etiquette

The ordinary bath follows standard Japanese public bath rules. Bathe naked, wash and rinse at the side of the bath before getting in, and keep your towel out of the water. This is a local bath first, so keep your voice down and do not add cold water without asking the people already in the tub. Do not take photos in the changing or bathing areas.

In the sand bath you keep the robe on, and the attendants tell you when to get up. Oita Prefecture’s public bath rules have banned mixed bathing for anyone aged 7 or over since January 1, 2022, so older children must use the bath for their own sex.

Getting there

Takegawara is at 16-23 Motomachi, Beppu.

• On foot: about 10 minutes from JR Beppu Station on the Nippo Main Line.
• By bus: several city bus routes stop nearby.
• By car: about 15 minutes from Beppu IC on the Higashi-Kyushu Expressway. The bathhouse has no parking, so use a paid lot in central Beppu or leave the car at your hotel.

Beppu itself is reached by the JR limited express Sonic from Hakata in Fukuoka, by bus from Oita Airport, or by overnight ferry from Osaka.

When to go

Takegawara is open every day except the third Wednesday of the month. The ordinary bath is quietest at opening time, when the people in the tub are mostly regulars. Late morning to evening brings more visitors, and the sand bath queue is longest on weekends and holidays. Winter is the best season for a hot sand bath. In summer the sand can feel like hard work in Beppu’s humid heat, so go early in the day.

Where to stay nearby

There are no rooms at the bathhouse. Central Beppu, around the station and the Kitahama seafront, has business hotels and larger hotels within walking distance, which makes a dawn bath at Takegawara easy. For more choice, see our Beppu Onsen guide, which covers the city’s eight hot spring districts, the Kannawa steam bath, the other city bathhouses and the boiling “hells” you can only look at.

Safety notes

• Hot water: the ordinary bath can be hotter than you are used to. Keep soaks short and get out if you feel dizzy.
• Sand bath: you sweat a lot under the sand. Drink water before and after, and tell the attendant at once if you feel unwell.
• Floors: wet tiles and old wooden floors are slippery. Walk, do not hurry.
• Children: the sand bath is closed to children under 6.