Netsu-no-yu
熱の湯
Does Netsu-no-yu allow tattoos? Yes!
The name means the bath that draws heat out of the body, and it has been free to anyone who walks in since the current building went up in 1977. Cats sit outside it, and the city asks you not to feed them.
Free to enter and, by the city’s own account, open to tattooed bathers. Beppu City runs the building and prints the answer in the facility line on its onsen site; the city’s 2026 map lists Netsu-no-yu among the shared baths. There is no counter to negotiate with, only a changing room and a tub.
The bath
Open the door and the changing room is in front of you with the bathing room off to one side, tiled floor, one wide tub, and no counter anywhere to pay at. The water is a sodium chloride spring piped in and run through, hot, with white specks floating in it and a high metasilicic acid reading, which is the part the regulars talk about. Nothing is supplied except the basin, so bring soap and a towel or do without.
The building went up in 1977 on a site that used to do more than bathing. The old drinking spring stands empty on the left of it, and on the right the washing place, known locally as the lower Netsu-no-yu, is still there; both can be walked around freely.
Open 06:30 to 21:00, free, with one closing day at the end of the year for cleaning. The lot in front takes twelve cars and is paid.
What is good about it
- Free, and nothing is provided but the basin, so carry your own soap and towel in.
- A sodium chloride spring, hot, with white specks in it and a high metasilicic acid reading.
- The old drinking spring and washing place stand either side, and you can walk around both.
Getting there
On Ida lane in Kannawa, about three minutes on foot from the Kannawa bus stop, which is roughly twenty minutes from the west exit of JR Beppu STN. Twelve paid spaces in front of the door.
Beppu Daigaku STN · JR Nippo line; buses 2, 5, 7, 9 and 41 run to Kannawa from the west exit of Beppu STN
About 20 minutes by bus from the west exit, 330 yen, then 3 minutes on foot.
From the east exit the ride is about 30 minutes at 340 yen.
Where it is
Hakata STN
JR Sonic limited express 1 h 55
Kokura STN
Oita STN
✈Oita Airport
LocationBeppu Daigaku STN
What happens when you arrive
Check in and go to the bath. There is no seal to buy and nothing to declare.
How we know
Confirmed from the operator (Beppu City): its enjoyONSEN facility page and the bath’s place on the city’s 2026 tattoo-friendly map. Note the city tourism listing for this bath does not carry the タトゥー可 attribute
Read on: enjoyonsen.city.beppu-jp.com/onsen/netsu-no-yu/
TATTOOS: Allowed
The operator’s own wording on that page. Nothing here needs showing at a desk. If anyone does ask, show them this. It is the operator’s own wording.
Best for: A free bath in the middle of Kannawa, used by people who live on the lane
06:30–21:00, free, closed one day at the end of the year for cleaning. Nothing is provided beyond a basin; bring soap and a towel. The old drinking spring and the washing place still stand on either side of the 1977 building. Paid parking for twelve cars in front.
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