Cycling @ Beppu, and Travelling @ Yufuin, Takachiko Gorge, Mount Aso (Dec. 24, 2022 – Jan. 1, 2023)
So far, all our cycling trips in Japan always involved continuously cycling and sometimes camping, this is perhaps the most relaxing cycling trip that we ever had. This winter, we decided to be more layback and chose the most famous onsen town, Beppu, to spend our Christmas 2022 and New Year 2023!
I love arriving airport during Christmas! There is no Easter and Christmas holidays in Japan, so taking vacation during Christmas is like a privilege. That’s why I feel so exciting!
We took an early morning flight, in order to arrive Oita Airport early enough to ride to Beppu. Sipping Coffee at the quiet airport lounge, and watching runrise and the planes taking off felt amazing! Also, thank you for bicycle special space in front of Oita Airport.
After getting out of Oita Airport, it was a pleasant flat ride along the beautiful beach. It was cloudy but not so windy yet (mind you the following days were windy everyday!) We found a fancy-looking seafood BBQ restaurant (Kitsuki Terrace) where every car seemed to get in. We thought it must be a good one, so despite of 30min wait, we patiently waited for our early first lunch at Oita…
Our waiting was well repaid. You can choose your seafoods at the counter, and grill them at your table by yourself. Also, occasionally they serve raw oysters, but it already ran out that day. The seafood kettle rice there (Kamameshi) was also popular and a must-try!
After the full lunch, we had a lazy ride to Beppu. It was only about 40km, we arrived there by afternoon. The major chain convenience stores in Japan (7-11, FamilyMart, Lawson) all have very good machines, serve very good coffee/cafe latte at low prices, so we often take coffee breaks at convenience stores instead of coffee shops.
This was our guesthouse (Guest House Rojiura), where we stayed for 6 nights. It was the cheapest we could find at the popular Beppu city center. It was dormitory style, but very clean, new and comfortable. We spend a lot of time at their spacious common area enjoying our breakfast/dinner watching TV or using internet. It almost felt like home!
Also, even though our room had 8 beds, they all have curtains, own lamp & power outlet, lockers, plenty of freedom & privacy. I actually preferred the “mixed” room more, because the “women only” room heater was too hot, all the girls woke up too late, suitcases and clothes lying around. The boys were actually much neater. They were usually gone by early mornings.
Apparently, there were Christmas Show, Market and Firework on Dec. 24 & 25 in Beppu, and our guesthouse was just merely 10min from the seaside park, where the fireworks will be held from the sea. We could see the firework from up close! It had been cancelled for 3 years due to COVID, and finally back again. We were really in luck!
Next morning we were just wondering around Beppu train station, and suddenly found out the special bus to Yufuin was only available during weekends, and it was Sunday! So, we suddenly bought a 1day bus pass to Beppu City + Yufuin (1700yen), and popped into the bus. We chose to take a bus instead of cycling there, because Yufuin is actually 400m above ground. It takes long wavy roads up the mountain, icy and snowy in Dec. It will require studless tires and long hours to get there…
In fact, the scenery during the bus ride was quite amazing… The landscape was beautiful, and the snow made it just more impressive. Also, you could had a nice view of the whole Beppu city…
Yufuin is also famous for its hot springs. However, to me, it was more like a tourist spot full of gift shops and restaurants for a day trip. It was crowded with tourists, especially Koreans. Also, it was surrounded by Mount Yufu and a steaming hot spring lake, a nice place for relaxing day walk and tea.
At night, we were back to Beppu city. Beppu city looks so beautiful at night, not crowded like other main cities. We watched the second night firework too! To our surprise, 2 days had different programs and music. The firework was about 30min long, quite big yet not too crowded. We enjoyed our eat-and-walk at the night market too. On the way back, we passed by the oldest hot spring in Beppu — Takegawara Hot Spring. The building looked so impressive. We decided that we must go in during weekday, when it was not crowded…
We visited Takegawara Hot Spring again few days later. The old building looked so elegent. It was not so crowded during daytime. In fact, the hot spring was just a very simple hot bath. There were not even lockers or shower. Takegawara Hot Spring was famous for its “sand bath”, but it was too expensive, so we didn’t try.
We bought the 2day pass (Admission Ticket for all 7 Hells of Beppu, 2000yen) from Beppu train station office, and took our bikes to go there. There were a little uphill, but the hells of Beppu was only less than 10km from city, an easy ride. We continued to see the mountains at the background, reminded us of cycling in Nepal…
Visiting the Hells of Beppu is one of the major activities in Beppu. All the tourists would do it. Most of the Hells were within walking distance from each other, but a few were further away, so tourists usually get a 1day bus pass to visit there. These Hells each has their own unique qualities, different interesting colors of water, either steaming, bubbling or pop up like fountain. Some also use their hot springs to keep crocodiles, greenhouse, aquarium, foot baths… I got to drink hot spring water for the first time. I likes its taste! We had lunch in a coffee shop. The garden of the coffee shop also had steam coming out!
In the afternoon, we decided to ride further uphill to visit the Beppu Onsen Hoyoland. It was not one of the seven Hells of our Admission Ticket. In fact, its admission fee was 1500yen, which is quite expensive, and it is a mixed bath, no shampoo & soap allowed. However, it is one of the few places in Japan that there are natural mud bath, so we tried the mud bath. I cannot see it was pleasant, as the facility was very simple and old. The mud was not clean at all… They cannot wash the bottom of the bath, so all these hair and dirt just sink into the bottom over years… but a repeated customer lady told me not to “sit” on the mud. Obviously I wouldn’t! There were both indoor and outdoor area, but the outdoor area is in wide sight sharing with male, and not swim suit allowed! So, obviously no women were there… only men. After all muddy and dirty, we briefly washed it off, rode back to our guesthouse to have a “real shower”!
Next morning, we took a relaxing walk in Beppu city and seaside, and had breakfast at one of a chain restaurant, Joyfull. There seemed to be Joyfull everywhere in Oita. They open 24 hours, reasonable prices and high quality foods. Also, there was a chain supermarket, Youme, in Oita. We found the foods in Youme were much cheaper than any supermarkets there, so we went there daily to buy milk, yogurt and fruits. There are many farms in Oita, so the local milk and yogurt were super!
We rented a car from Beppu for one day, to visit Takachiho Gorge and Mount Aso. They are both in Kumamoto, the next prefecture, over 100km away, but we really wanted to visit them.
We heard that renting a boat across Takachiko Gorge was an interesting experience, so we did just that. It was not crowded, so we could rent a boat within 30min, even without reservation. The gorge was not so long, so the boat ride was only 30min, but the view from below was so different from the top. It was indeed beautiful. Too bad that we didn’t have time to walk in Takachiko Trail. We just had a quick lunch at a windmill, and headed to our next stop, Mount Aso.
Mount Aso is huge, and by far the most active volcano in Japan. We had to drive a long way to the peak. Along the way, the scenery kept changing from normal mountainous roads, to yellowish fields, to snowy mountain. It was freezing and very windy up there. Also, it took entrance fee for the cars to enter the crater.
Since the crater is still steaming, could explode anytime, there were many concrete shelters near the crater. The view of Mount Aso was magnificant. We saw some horses and enjoyed the amazing sunset from Mount Aso. From afar, we saw some trails and frozen lake. If we had sufficient equipments and time, it was possible to trek around and walked on the frozen lake even in winter.
Other few days in Beppu, we had visited a popular teahouse called ”Shinanoya”. They served some traditional noodles for breakfast which was very good, and also the mood inside the teahouse was very relaxing.
We also visited “Beppu Park” and enjoyed other local cuisines. Beppu Park was actually very big and included a beautiful bamboo forest.
We stopped by some local second-handed shops, and we were surprised to find many ancient items that we wouldn’t have found in the cities. Beppu must have a long history…
One night, we visited Hitparade Club in Beppu city near our guesthouse. It is a well-known club house at Beppu city center, which has its own music band and singers, play and sing 50’s-60’s live music daily. The entrance fee also includes food & drink buffet (including alcohol). Since we never really had live music before, so we decided to give it a try and had dinner there also.
The interior was actually quite impressively decorated just like 50’s. Even the waiters and singers dressed like 50’s and had that signature Elvis Hairstyle (Men’s very blow-up & gel-up hair on top). It was the first time I saw somebody with Elvis Hairstyle. Despite I’ve never heard of about half of the songs that they played, the live band & singers were very good. They continued to play different songs based on customer’s orders. In fact, the mood was so high that we saw quite some people dancing the old way! (Perhaps some of them were hired?) It typically played 10-20min every hour, then there were breaks that you can go get foods and drinks. The foods were quite basic, like curry rice, udon, salad, fried chicken and french fries, bread, etc. but good enough to make you full. We stayed long enough to watch 3 shows. It was a joyful experience!
Here is a video I found on utube for example. You can find many more videos of Hitparadise Club on utube!
After a few days of wondering, eating & shopping in Beppu, we finally packed up & left our comfortable guesthouse on Dec. 30, just before end of the year.
We were to head towards Kitahonshu airport in 2 days. We expected just about 100km along the coast, but looking carefully, some roads actually go through mountains! Nortern Kyushu was so hilly and strong wind! We found ourselves pushing our bikes into mountains, as it was 12% to 14% slope at the most hilly places… The only things to cheer us up were sometimes great view of cliffs, valleys, fields and rivers. All these sceneries would have been gone in seconds if you were driving, but since we were riding bicycles, we could have very clear view of them, enjoyed the whole environment and even the air. The countryside of Japan is so beautiful and peaceful…
I love watching reflection from stillwater. The sea around Beppu city was unbelievably clean. Not only I could see reflection of boats and sun, I could even see the stones and fishes underneath. The rivers on the way was also extremely clean and clear. The reflection of clouds, mountain and trees were just amazing!
There were many ancient graves and ruins on the way. We just passed by a few of them. These were not famous sightseeing spots, so there were nobody except us. I love ruins. They are so natural and peaceful. I don’t like man-made well-preserved structures full of tourists…
There were really nothing in between cities, not even convenience stores, but we can occasionally find some public toilets in parks. Also, the tap water in Japan is drinkable, as long as you don’t take from ships etc. because those use water stored in tanks. We took lunchbreak in empty park with roof and table, eating our snacks. It was actually not bad at all.
We arrived our next hotel in Yukuhashi city in early afternoon. So, we took a walk in this small town and looked for dinner. We found a big ancient temple built in 1495 called Jyoukiji. Althrough it was a National Cultural Heritage, there were almost no tourists there, and it was about to close the doors at evening, so we only had a quick look. The temple includes several buildings, all beautifully-built. All the details were amazing. Unlike many newly-rebuilt temples, this temple was “real” old structures. It looked especially beautiful with the sunset.
It was almost new year, so many shops were closed. We only found a big supermarket that we could wander. This supermarket called “Food Market Smile USA”. It had such a spacious sitting area, and auto coffee machine, so it would be a perfect place to take rest or have lunch. Also, many foods were cheap and well-prepared, perfect for new year dinner! Here, I even saw yogurt packed in bags (instead of containers) for the first time! Again, Kyushu is full of farms and cows. We bought local-made milk and yogurt again!
Next day was Dec. 31, end of the year. We passed by an empty temple in the morning, so we took early new year photo. It was sunny, roads were flat and wind was mild. I took time to enjoy the sunrise. We passed by some fields and large service areas. So, we bought mandarin oranges and fried shrimps, to eat at outdoor bench under the warm sun. The mandarin oranges in Japan are always juicy and sweet. They are mostly produced in winter, so now is the season, and many are produced in Kyushu, so we ate mandarin oranges almost everyday!
There were actually some sightseeing spots on the way, waterfalls or ruins, but they were all several ten km from the main road, many were high in mountains, so we had no choice but to skip them as we were travelling by bikes. Still, we could even many nice scenery and flowers on the way.
We even found a great stone-baked pizza restaurant, called “Pizzeria Fiero“, with large window facing the plain fields. It was so great to enjoy perfect Italian pizza & wine with the countryside view!
That night we arrived our hotel in Yusa City. It had a public bath inside. There is nothing better than taking a hot bath after a long day, especially this one is all empty and quiet with soft music at the background… After that, we took our bikes out to look for dinner. It was sunset time, so the sky was beautiful. We found a local chain steakhouse called “Yappari Steak“. It was quite low prices, yet the quality of steak was good. Also, you just need to order the steak, the salad/rice/soup are buffet-style and free! They also have many different steak sauces/salad dressings free to use. I chose this mixed & already-cut steak (150g) for just 1000yen.
It was finally our last day, and also it was new year day (Jan. 1)! We stopped by nearby temple in the morning. It was full of people waiting in long line just to enter. Japanese people like to visit temples during new year for good fortune, but I could never understand their patience to stand for hours in the cold & crowded places just for this purpose. Personally, I dislike crowded places & waiting in long lines.
We skipped the temple and went looking for breakfast/lunch, but most of the restaurants were closed for new year. We found a local chain udon restaurant (Sukesan Udon) open. It was full of people and we were so impressed that this udon restaurant actually opens 24 hours a day! It not only had excellent udon, but also had high-quality oden and tempura at good prices. No wonder it was so popular! We felt fortunate to have tried many good local restaurants.
It was a little early to head to airport for our evening flight, but we had nowhere else to go, so we slowly peddle to Kitakyushu Airport. To our surprise, we had to pass a very very long bridge to get there. It was such a sunny day that it was great view from the bridge. We could see perfect blue sea and even the small islands from afar. It was not boring at all!
We took our time slowly disassembled & packed our bikes in sheltered area outside the airport under warm afternoon sun, wandered around the gift shops inside the not-so-big airport. There was just a food court and a ramen restaurant.
The most impressive thing was a life-size model of an old cartoon character (Galaxy Express 999). I used to watch Galaxy Express 999 on TV when I was very young, but I haven’t seen it for ages!
Watching the night view from a flight was so romantic & peaceful, but it was always sad for me to go home, because it meant the end of my vacation… Let’s hope that my next vacation will come soon!
Below was the route we took from Oita Airport to Kitakyushu Airport. It is shown by walking mode because google map does not show it by bicycle mode.
Distance we rode: 182km
Accomodations we stayed:
Dec. 24-29: Guest House Rojiura
Dec. 30: Hotel Public21 USA (free dinner & breakfast plan available!)
Dec. 31: AB Hotel Yukuhashi