Oita Travel Guide

Eight 'hells' of boiling springs in otherworldly colors: blood red, cobalt blue, milk white. The Umi Jigoku (Sea Hell) is strangely beautiful — and you can eat eggs boiled in its steam.

Japan's widest waterfall — a 120m curtain of water dropping 20m over hexagonal basalt columns shaped by ancient Aso volcanic flows. Called "East Asia's Niagara," it's most spectacular after heavy rain when the entire rock face disappears under white water.

Japan's highest pedestrian suspension bridge hangs 173m above a forested river gorge. Walk the 390m span as the canyon drops away beneath you. In autumn, the gorge becomes a blazing sea of red and orange maples — visible from both ends of the bridge.

Japan's largest highland wildflower meadow. In late summer, millions of susuki silver grass plumes sway across volcanic hills. In spring, millions of wild azaleas paint the slopes pink.

A circular peninsula where a unique fusion of Buddhism and Shinto flourished 1,300 years ago. Ancient cliff temples, stone-carved kannon statues on forest paths, and fire-walking rituals that survive unchanged to this day — and almost no foreign visitors.

A 12th-century mountain fortress perched on sheer cliffs above a river gorge — the place where composer Rentaro Taki played as a child and found inspiration for "Kojo no Tsuki," one of Japan's best-loved songs. Almost no foreign tourists ever come here.

Over 1,500 wild Japanese macaques roam free on this mountain above Beppu Bay. You walk among them on a mountain path — they ignore you completely. Babies cling to their mothers all winter.

Japan's first and most important Hachiman shrine, founded in 725 AD. The original model for 40,000 Hachiman shrines across Japan. Visit on a weekday to have it almost to yourself.

Sixty Buddhist carvings emerge from a sheer mossy rock face in a cedar forest clearing — Japan's only National Treasure-designated stone carvings. Made over 1,000 years ago, the identity of their creators and their original purpose remain a mystery.

One of Japan's three great scenic landscapes — a 36km corridor of volcanic tuff pillars, bizarre pinnacles, and dense hardwood forest. Almost unknown outside Japan, yet the autumn foliage here rivals anything in Kyoto.

Arrive before 9am to catch the valley floor wrapped in thermal mist rising from the earth. No photo filter needed. Then wander Yufuin's art galleries and cheese shops.

Yufuin's main pedestrian street, lined with farm-to-table cafes, local cheese shops, craft workshops, and a Cotswolds-inspired Floral Village. The best place in Kyushu to eat wagyu beef, drink pour-over coffee, and browse Japanese craft goods at your own pace.