Beppu Travel Itinerary: What We Did (and Loved)
Last Updated on November 10, 2025 by Kay
This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission on any purchases through those links at zero additional cost to you. Whatever I make goes to keeping this website running and I am forever grateful for the support. See my Privacy Policy for more information.
Thinking of visiting Beppu and wondering how to spend your time?
Located in Oita Prefecture, Beppu boasts over 2300 hot springs and is appropriately known as the onsen capital of Japan.
I had first visited Beppu over a decade ago when I was young and single. My friends and I had loved this famous onsen town, which is especially renowned for its “Hell” onsen, so I knew I wanted to visit again, this time with my husband and daughter. (Surprisingly, despite my husband being a Japanese national, he had never been to Beppu before!)
In this article, I’ll share what we did during our trip to Beppu so that you can have a better idea about how to plan your time in the city. Although we traveled with our child, I think almost everything in this itinerary will appeal to visitors of all ages.
Day 1
We arrived at Oita Airport (OIT) by plane from Osaka at around 10:30 AM.
Oita Airport is unbelievably cute! I love all the onsen-themed photo spots, and they also have a foot onsen (ashiyu) here as well.
We picked up our rental car and less than 30 minutes later, we were on the road. I absolutely loved driving along the coast!
Our first stop would be Beppu’s famous Hells, but since it was nearing lunch time, we decided to grab a bite to eat first.
I did a quick look on Google Maps and found a cute, highly-reviewed restaurant that looked like an old Japanese house. Called Michimichi no Yakara, it specializes in local Oita food so we thought it would be the perfect first meal on our trip.
The interior was so cozy and it was fun to look at all the little knick-knacks throughout.
The food tasted just as good as it looked. My husband got the Chicken Nanban Meal Set (チキン南蛮定食), which is basically fried chicken with a tartar sauce, while I got the Toriten Meal Set (とり天香味あげ定食), tempura-battered chicken. I am absolutely obsessed with toriten, so if you’re in Beppu, make sure to have it at least once!
Our daughter got a croquette lunch set. (Looking back, we should have just shared our meals with her but we were all really hungry, so our eyes were bigger than our stomachs.
Before you go, there are some things to note. The restaurant is closed on Tuesdays, so make sure to check their opening hours before you go! The entire menu is handwritten in Japanese, so I’m not sure whether Google Translate will be able to do a good job.
For those traveling with kiddos, the restaurant doesn’t have a children’s menu, but they do have children’s cutlery and bowls, so you can share your meal with your child. We found the portions were very generous, so sharing can be a great idea!
After lunch, we headed to the Hells of Beppu.
We spent about three hours exploring the Hells. There’s a lot to see, so make sure to read my article about the Hells of Beppu for an in-depth look at what to expect when visiting.
When we were done with the Hells, we got in the car and started to make our way to the hotel, when I noticed an adorable playground!
The playground had the cutest Oita motifs, such as monkeys and demons. My daughter really enjoyed playing here, and she would have stayed longer if my husband hadn’t been in such a rush to get to the hotel.
However, I completely understand why my husband was so insistent on getting to the hotel earlier than later — it was amazing. I think it was one of the best hotels I have ever stayed at, and I know I’ll stay here again the next time I visit the city.
I’ve written an entire article about our stay at this fantastic hotel, so feel free to read it and find out why visitors to Beppu should stay here (especially families!).
Day 2
On our second day in Beppu, we visited Umitamago Aquarium. We bought our tickets online since you get a discount if you purchase them in advance, but you can easily buy them at the aquarium as well.
I had been here with my friends over a decade ago and remembered enjoying it, and I was pleased to find out that they kept the aquarium in great condition.
Here you can learn about the local aquatic life along the coast of Oita and Beppu Bay. I find the tanks here quite stylish as well.
There’s also a fantastic dolphin show. The seats fill up quickly, so I suggest arriving at least 30 minutes before the show to secure a spot.
For an additional charge, my daughter also got to open an oyster herself and find a real pearl inside! The pearl was then secured onto a cute pink seahorse necklace that she chose herself, which made a really lovely keepsake.
They also offer more mature and elegant designs for necklaces, so adults can do this activity as well.
In total, we spent 2.5 hours at the aquarium before going to our next destination.
Takasakiyama Natural Zoological Garden
This animal park houses wild monkeys in their natural habitat.
To get there, you need to go through the Takasakiyama Natural Zoo building, which is located right next to the Umitamago Aquarium.
There is no entrance fee for the building; you can go straight inside and see information about the monkeys in the area (although it’s all in Japanese). From the second floor, head outside and cross the bridge over the road to get to the entrance of the garden.
You need to pay an admission fee to get into the area with the monkeys, which is 520 yen for adults and 260 yen for children in elementary to junior high school.
For an additional charge of 110 yen, you can take the monorail up, but it’s pretty easy to just walk there. Since we have a child, we took the monorail. The monorail also has space for a stroller if you are traveling with one.
The monkeys are pretty well cared for here and we were just in time to see them being fed. The staff gave us a detailed explanation about the monkeys, including their hierarchies and the personalities of certain ones. Note, though, that this is entirely in Japanese.
When you see the monkeys, be careful when approaching them as they are wild animals. Don’t touch them, don’t look into their eyes, or give them food.
We spent an hour at Takasakiyama Natural Zoological Garden and the museum.
Rakutenchi
Since it was around 3 PM and still early, we decided to visit Rakutenchi, an old amusement park that looks over the city. It’s been running for over 90 years, so it has quite a history, and almost everything is indeed quite dated.
All of the rides here are geared towards young children, so I don’t recommend visiting if you have teens or you’re adults without little kiddos. Instead, I suggest going to Beppu Ropeway.
If you like retro amusement parks, though, it might be worth the cost.
We could only spend two hours at the amusement park since it closed at 5 PM, but that was enough time for us to go on the attractions we wanted to ride.
Global Tower
I wanted to see a nice view of the city but we didn’t have time to go to Beppu Ropeway since it was late in the day and it would close soon. So we went to Global Tower instead.
Global Tower’s viewing platform is small and can’t accommodate many people, but it’s perfect for those who are short on time. We spent about twenty minutes here looking at the 360 views of Beppu city as the sun slowly set behind the mountains.
(By the way, if you have young kids who say they’re bored, get them to find things while looking out the window. This kept my daughter occupied!)
Afterwards, we headed to our accommodation for the night, Rex Hotel.
It’s located next to Beppu Bay and has a lovely public indoor bath that overlooks the water. I thought the onsen at Suginoi Hotel was loads better, but Rex Hotel is very affordable and the room itself is spacious, modern, and clean.
We could also see Beppu Tower from the window!
We slept well here, but I liked Suginoi Hotel better and would choose it again over Rex if budget isn’t an issue.
Although we had the option of choosing a dinner plan with our stay at Rex Hotel, we decided to eat at a restaurant in town and had made reservations a few days before our trip for Somuri Steak. This is a famous restaurant known for its local Oita beef.
The restaurant is small and quiet, and the service was impeccable. You order via a multilingual tablet, and we decided to go with a course. Note that they do not have a kids menu.
Each course came with a salad and soup, a main dish, rice, and coffee.
My husband ordered the corn potage for our daughter.
Meanwhile, I got the onion gratin soup. (Which was absolutely delicious, I would have been content with just this!)
For the main dish, my husband ordered the hamburg steak since he would be sharing it with our daughter.
Meanwhile, I got an Oita wagyu (Bungo) fillet steak, which I shared with my husband.
The meal was delicious, but my husband and I both thought that the steak was too rich for our Millennial bodies, especially since it was topped with a knob of butter. I think we would have enjoyed it more in our twenties. The accompanying veggies were amazing, though, we could have eaten an entire tray of that!
The meal was delicious, but my husband and I both thought that the steak was too rich for our Millennial bodies, especially since it was topped with a knob of butter. I think we would have enjoyed it more in our twenties.
At the end of the meal, we were each given a small bowl of fried rice. Tummies filled, we went back to our hotel
Day 3
In the morning, I decided to take a dip in the hotel’s public bath so I could see the sunrise. The view did not disappoint.
Below is a photo of what the sunrise looked like from our room, which was stunning. (You cannot bring phones into public baths in Japan, for obvious reasons, so this was the best I could do!)
Afterwards, we had a buffet breakfast at the hotel, which was pretty good, and then walked out to the bay, where our daughter enjoyed searching for seashells and looking at the waves lapping at the sand.
We checked out of the hotel at around 8:30 AM and then drove to Yufuin, a small onsen town located next to Beppu.
Read about our experience visiting Yufuin here.
Day 4
On our last day, we drove from Yufuin to Harmonyland, an outdoor Sanrio themepark.
If you’re a Hello Kitty and Sanrio fan, make sure to read about what it’s like to visit Harmonyland so you can decide whether it’s worth it.
Harmonyland closed at 5 PM, which was perfect timing for our flight back to Osaka. We drove back to the car rental shop, returned the car, and then went to Oita Airport.
We had enough time before our flight to enjoy the ashiyu (foot bath) before the gates, as well as have one last Oita meal at the airport before flying back to Osaka.