Yamada Bessou
くつろぎの温泉宿 山田別荘
Does Yamada Bessou allow tattoos? In a private bath
A 1930 wooden villa eight minutes from Beppu Station where the open-air bath is never shared, and guests staying the night pay nothing for their 30 minutes in it.
The open-air bath at Yamada Bessou is only ever used privately, and for people staying the night it is free. You book a 30-minute turn, and the inn allocates slots in the order guests check in, with the last turn at 23:00. The indoor baths are split by gender and open around the clock, so those remain shared water the inn says nothing about. Day visitors pay for the same private bath, which tells you how the inn values it.
Show this at the front desk
【宿泊のお客様】・内風呂：24時間（清掃時間除く）・貸切露天風呂：1回30分 ※予約制・チェックイン順に予約可
The operator’s own wording, to show at the desk if you need to.
The bath
The open-air bath is never shared with anyone. Guests reserve a turn in the order they check in, the last one at 23:00, and it costs nothing on top of the room, while day visitors pay 1,000 yen a head for thirty minutes in the same tub or 3,000 yen for a group of up to four for fifty. It is a plain bath rather than a designed one, open to the weather, and the inn puts winter forward as the season for it.
The indoor baths are split by sex and open around the clock apart from cleaning, and their tiled floors and walls have come down with the building rather than being replaced. The two waters are not the same: the open-air bath runs on a sodium bicarbonate and chloride spring, the indoor baths on a sodium chloride, sulfate and bicarbonate one.
Day bathing is 11:00 to 15:00, 500 yen for the indoor bath, but closing days are irregular and the inn asks to be telephoned first. Bathing tax is 250 yen.
The hotel
A 1930 wooden villa on roughly 600 tsubo of ground, which the inn counts at ninety-five years old, eight minutes from the station in the Kitahama streets. Parking is free, for eight cars.
What is good about it
- The open-air bath is private every turn, and costs a night guest nothing.
- Turns go in check-in order, with the last of the day at 23:00, so arriving early buys you a choice.
- Indoor baths open around the clock, on a different spring from the open-air one.
Getting there
Eight minutes on foot from the east exit of JR Beppu STN, or three by car, in the Kitahama streets behind the seafront. Five minutes from the Beppu Kitahama highway bus stop. Eight free parking spaces.
Beppu STN · JR Nippo line; the Sonic limited express runs in from Hakata
About 8 minutes from the east exit.
Five minutes from the Beppu Kitahama highway bus stop.
Where it is
Hakata STN
JR Sonic limited express 1 h 55
Kokura STN
Oita STN
✈Oita Airport
Hotel locationBeppu STN
What happens when you arrive
Skip the shared baths and reserve the private one the way this page describes. Once the door is closed, the bath is yours.
How we know
Confirmed from official site (the hot spring page, under 利用料金 and 風呂利用条件)
Read on: yamadabessou.jp/hot_spring
Best for: A short walk from the station to a private open-air bath that costs nothing extra
The building is a 1930 wooden villa on roughly 600 tsubo of grounds, and the inn counts it at 95 years old. Two springs: the open-air bath is ナトリウムー炭酸水素塩・塩化物泉, the indoor baths 塩化物泉. Day bathers pay 500 yen for the indoor bath and 1,000 yen per person for 30 minutes in the private open-air bath, or 3,000 yen for a group of up to four for 50 minutes, and the inn asks you to phone first because closing days vary. Bathing tax of 250 yen is charged separately. The inn's own page gives the private bath's turn as 50 minutes in one place and 30 in another, so confirm the length at the desk.
Check availabilityBooking through this button costs you nothing extra and sends a small commission our way — it’s what keeps this guide free for our tattoo community, and every policy on it checked. Thank you.