Myoban Onsen: Day-Use Hot Spring Baths & Prices (Oita)

Perched on the heights of Beppu, Myoban Onsen is known for its striking scenery of thatched roofed bath crystal huts. Inside these huts, the traditional method of harvesting mineral crystals from the spring components still continues today. Milky water scented with sulfur and open air baths overlooking the mountains captivate travelers.

Highlights

The bath crystal manufacturing technique of Myoban Onsen is designated an important intangible folk cultural asset, and some facilities let you view the interiors of the huts. Stone walls of Beppu stone are built into the steep geothermal slope, and the steam draped scenery has been chosen as an important cultural landscape known as the Beppu steam and hot spring landscape. The open air baths, made spacious by the elevated setting, offer sweeping views of Beppu Bay and the town.

Enjoying the Seasons

In winter the clear air makes a bath wrapped in steam and the scent of sulfur feel especially soothing. In spring and autumn the open air baths with their fine outlook let you enjoy the colors of the surrounding mountains. On summer evenings, soaking while watching the light sink over Beppu Bay is also lovely.

Access and Basic Information

From JR Beppu Station a bus climbs to the high ground, with inns and day use facilities scattered nearby. The water is an acidic hydrogen sulfide type and is often milky white with colloidal sulfur. Access by car is convenient, and many facilities have parking. It is also close to Kannawa Onsen.

Practical Travel Notes

The milky water has a strong sulfur scent, so those concerned about their skin can rinse quickly with fresh water afterward. The recommended time is the evening as the sun sinks, when the open air baths overlooking Beppu Bay reveal the town lights coming on. Viewing the bath crystal huts, bathing, and choosing crystal souvenirs together makes for about a one to two hour visit. The crystals are popular souvenirs as bath additives, so pick some up when you stop by. Combined with Kannawa Onsen or the Beppu hell tour, you can cover the hillside area of Beppu in a day. Budget wise, day use bathing runs from a few hundred yen into the low thousands.

A Quick Tip

Because the sulfur water is rich in minerals, a quick rinse with fresh water after your bath is gentler on the skin. The mineral crystals are popular souvenirs as bath additives, so pick some up when you visit. Since it sits on high ground, checking the bus schedule before visiting is reassuring if you do not have a car.

Practical Information for Your Visit

The main places for day-use bathing at Myoban Onsen are Myoban Yunosato, Beppu Onsen Hoyo Land, and Kakujusen, a public bathhouse run by the city of Beppu.

Myoban Yunosato

• Spring quality: A sulfur spring. In addition to the general indications, the indications specific to the spring quality are posted as atopic dermatitis, psoriasis vulgaris, impaired glucose tolerance (diabetes), epidermal suppuration, chronic eczema, autonomic nervous instability, insomnia and depressive states
• Fees: Revised from April 13, 2026, the large open-air rock bath costs 800 yen for adults (junior high school age and above) and 400 yen for children (age 4 through elementary school). This is an increase from the 600 yen and 300 yen that had been held unchanged for about 30 years. If you hold a discount voucher, after the revision it will be treated as 100 yen off for adults and 50 yen off for children from the revised price
• Private baths: The price is unchanged, from 2,000 yen per hour. Available from 10:00 to 19:00 (reception until 18:00)
• Hours for the large open-air rock bath and indoor baths: 10:00-20:00 (reception until 19:00)
• Closing days: None
• Parking: 80 spaces, free of charge. There is also parking for small and large buses
• Access: From Beppu Station take the Kamenoi Bus bound for APU (Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University) and get off at Jizoyu-mae, then walk about 3 minutes. By car it is about 6 minutes from Beppu IC, about 15 minutes from JR Beppu Station, about 10 minutes from Beppu International Tourist Port and about 60 minutes from Oita Airport
• On site: A workshop and direct sales outlet for medicinal yunohana bath minerals, made by a method designated as a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, plus a dining area
• Address: Myoban Onsen 6-kumi, Beppu City, Oita Prefecture (0977-66-8166)

Beppu Onsen Hoyo Land

• What is in the water: The signature feature is the mineral mud bath fed directly from the Konya Jigoku. The steam is mainly sulfur, making this a sulfur spring containing hydrogen sulfide gas. The analysis was carried out by the Faculty of Medicine of Kyushu University
• Bathing areas: Indoors there are colloidal baths (separate for men and women), mineral mud baths (separate for men and women) and steam baths (separate for men and women). Outdoors there is a large mud bath (mixed bathing) and a small bath (mixed bathing). There is also an underground mud bath (separate for men and women) and a colloidal area (separate for men and women)
• Bathing fee: 1,500 yen for adults, 1,100 yen for junior high school students, 600 yen for elementary school students and 350 yen for children aged 5 and under
• Opening hours: 9:00-20:00 (overnight guests may use the colloidal bath 24 hours a day)
• Payment: Cash only. Credit cards and electronic money cannot be used
• Restrictions for children: Children still in nappies cannot enter the mud baths and may use only the colloidal bath. The underground mud bath is off limits to everyone from infants through elementary school students
• Points to note when bathing: The mud bath is highly concentrated and absorbed quickly, so the facility advises moving to another bath after 10 to 15 minutes. There are handrails inside the baths
• Access: About 25 minutes by car from Beppu Station, about 15 minutes from Beppu IC, about 30 minutes from Beppu International Tourist Port and about 50 minutes from Oita Airport. It is about 10 minutes by car to the Beppu Jigoku Meguri hells tour
• Enquiries: 0977-66-2221

Kakujusen (run by the city of Beppu)

• Fee: Free of charge. You bathe after leaving an offering of your choosing in the box beneath the Jizo statue at the entrance
• Opening hours: 7:00-20:00. It closes for the year-end deep clean (date varies)
• Spring quality: Milky white water of a simple acidic spring (acidic spring). It is piped in and free-flowing, and is strongly antibacterial and strongly acidic
• Facilities: One indoor bath each for men and women, with men's and women's changing rooms and free-to-use washbasins. No soap or shampoo is provided, so you need to bring your own
• Parking: Only 2 spaces
• Access: From the west exit of JR Beppu Station take Kamenoi Bus No. 5 (APU line via Noguchibaru) or No. 41 (Safari line) and get off at Myoban, about 26 minutes and 360 yen one way for an adult. From the east exit of Beppu Station, No. 24 (APU line via Shinminatomachi and Kannawa) takes about 30 minutes and costs 440 yen one way for an adult
• Address: Myoban 3-kumi, Beppu City

How to Get Along With Sulfur Springs

The waters of Myoban are strongly acidic sulfur springs with high antibacterial power. The city of Beppu itself describes Kakujusen's water as strongly antibacterial and strongly acidic, so if your skin is sensitive it is reassuring to avoid long soaks and to keep the option of rinsing off with fresh water afterwards. As for the mud bath at Hoyo Land, the water is so concentrated that the facility even advises a maximum bathing time. This is a hot spring resort where the right approach is short, successive soaks rather than long ones.

Because Myoban sits on high ground, the car parks at the public bathhouses are small, and Kakujusen has only 2 spaces. If you are touring by car it is safer to use Yunosato with its 80 parking spaces as your base, or to take the bus from Beppu Station. Kannawa Onsen and the Beppu Jigoku Meguri hells tour are around 10 minutes away by car, so they can be combined within half a day.

Information Sources

The spring quality and indications at Yunosato, the access (Kamenoi Bus bound for APU, getting off at Jizoyu-mae), the 80 free parking spaces, the absence of closing days and the address were confirmed on the hot spring page and access page of the official Myoban Yunosato website. The revision of bathing fees from April 13, 2026 (adults from 600 yen to 800 yen, children from 300 yen to 400 yen, private baths unchanged, and the treatment of discount vouchers) comes from the notice of the price revision posted by the company. The opening hours of the large open-air rock bath and indoor baths and of the private baths, along with the private bath charges, were confirmed in the facility information on Beppu Tabi, the tourism site of the Beppu City Tourism Association. The layout of the baths at Beppu Onsen Hoyo Land, the description of the mineral mud and the institution that analyzed it, the bathing fees, the opening hours, the cash-only payment, the restrictions on children still in nappies and the age limits for the underground mud bath, and the access come from the top page, hot spring information page and access page of the facility's official website. Kakujusen's fee, opening hours, spring quality, facilities, bus routes and fares were confirmed on the municipal hot spring facility pages of the official Beppu City website. The designation of the yunohana production technique as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property (March 15, 2006) and the selection of the Steam and Hot Spring Landscape of Beppu as an Important Cultural Landscape (September 19, 2012) are based on the registration information on the Agency for Cultural Affairs' Cultural Heritage Online. Details are subject to change, so please check the official information before you set out.