Myoban, above the alum huts on the hillside Day-use open-air bath, swimsuits worn, mixed bathing

Yuyama no Sato Onsen

湯山の里温泉

Does Yuyama no Sato Onsen allow tattoos? Yes!

Nothing to cover

A hillside above Myoban that one man cleared and turned into open-air tubs, reached by a track that feels longer than it is. Because everyone wears a swimsuit, it is the rare Beppu bath you can share with whoever you came with.

You wear a swimsuit in the open-air baths here, which settles the question before it is asked, and the city says tattoos are allowed on top of that. The タトゥー可 mark sits on the city’s tourism listing and the enjoyONSEN page carries the same line. The owner runs it himself and publishes nothing, so the city’s pages are the record.

Illustration of Yuyama no Sato Onsen in Myoban, above the alum huts on the hillside

The bath

Roughly 400 tsubo of hillside with seven different open-air baths spread over it, and a swimsuit is worn in all of them, which is what lets you bathe with whoever you came with. The seven run from a large bath through a foot bath to a mud bath and a steam bath. Three family baths are separate: two beside the office, and one you reach by walking about 300 meters into the bamboo, where a stone tub finished in 1871 still holds the water, repaired over the years but left in its old shape. The water is given as a simple spring and a simple sulfur spring.

Open from 09:00 with last reception at 17:00 for the open-air baths; the family bath next to the office runs to 20:00. The site closes when the light goes, because the bamboo is dark well before the sky is. Adults 900 yen and children 500 for the open-air baths, family baths 1,500 to 2,500 yen an hour. Closing days are irregular, so call before you drive up. In spring you can dig bamboo shoots and steam them in the ground here.

What is good about it

Getting there

In the Myoban district above the alum huts. Buses 5 and 41 from the west exit of JR Beppu STN reach Myoban in about twenty-six minutes, and the site is up a track off the road. There is parking.

Kamegawa STN · JR Nippo line; Kamenoi buses 5 and 41 serve Myoban from the west exit of Beppu STN
Not a station walk: take the bus to Myoban, then climb.

Closing days are irregular, so telephone ahead.

Where it is

Hakata STN JR Sonic limited express 1 h 55 Kokura STN Oita STN Oita Airport Location
Kamegawa STN
Hakata to Beppu is about 1 h 55 on the Sonic, JR Kyushu’s limited express up the coast (a faster train with fewer stops and a fee on top of the fare); Yufuin is the Yufuin no Mori, about 2 h 15 inland by way of Hita, and the Yufu runs the same rails when it is full. Yuyama no Sato Onsen · map data © OpenStreetMap contributors · open in Google Maps

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 city’s own listings, the only published pages this bath has: the タトゥー可 attribute on the tourism listing and the enjoyONSEN facility page. Swimsuits are required in the mixed open-air baths

Read on: beppu-tourism.com/onsen/yuyamanosatoonsen/

TATTOO: 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 mixed open-air bath in a swimsuit, high enough to see over Myoban

Opens at 09:00 with last reception at 17:00; the family bath beside the office runs to 20:00. Adults 900 yen and children 500 yen for the open-air baths, swimsuits required. Seven open-air baths of different kinds and three family baths at 1,500 to 2,500 yen an hour. Closures are irregular, so call ahead.

Find a hotel nearby →

Booking 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.

Others in the same group

More places in the Beppu Onsen with nothing to cover

All Beppu Onsen listings →