Peachy Keen

Takegawara Onsen

In a sand bath, you are buried in natural hot sand for about 15-20 minutes. I liked it, but it would've been much better if there was a good view rather than a wall. I forgot where we stayed for the duration of our trip, but the place was a mix between a dormitory and a ryokan. Even though we were essentially in the red light district of Beppu, the place was nice enough and its' onsen were nice too. You can even reserve one of the private ones which was really sweet.

Day 2

The second day was exploring Yufuin and meeting really nice people. One lady recommended us Nurukawa  Onsen which we found by chance and was amazing, and a nice man selling wood craft made us free cat charms. 

fufufu-ing over hana yori dango

Day 3: Last Day

You can't really go to Beppu without seeing the hells (themed hot springs). There are several, but we ended up going to Umi Jigoku (Sea Hell) and Shiraike Jigoku (White pond Hell). Umi was pretty neat since the water is a cool electric blue (if you can see past the steam) and it had a neat foot bath where you can kick around huge, deformed grapefruit around. Shiraike was freakin' lame.

Boiled eggs from hell, anyone?

After we went to Beppu Kaihin Sunayu (Beppu Seaside Sand Bath) for some sand bathing next to the beach. Way better than Takegawara since it was outside and you can just stare at the ocean.

To the left you can see the sand bathers' heads...like plants

Beppu/Yufuin is a must-go for any onsen fan! After the bright lights and rush of Tokyo and Yokohama onsen hopping in Kyushu was a nice change of pace.

Tasty pic of the trip: