On this day, we hiked Mount Yufu. This hike is easily accessible by bus, which will take you straight from Beppu bus station to Yufu Tozanchichi bus stop. It was definitely one of the most beautiful and accessible hikes we did in Japan.

The hike started with a beautiful view of the mountains and nearby hills, featuring finely spread volcanic rocks and trees. Then, slowly transitioned into a thin forest with a rocky trail. As we were reaching the top, the trees were getting smaller and less dense. It was quite a hard hike for me. I am not sure why, but I felt a little bit dizzy most of the way up. Maybe it was a lack of food?

My advice! Not only are hiking shoes and clothes necessary for hiking. One of the most important items to think of is food and water. Make sure you have a nice, nutritious breakfast, and drink well before the hike as well.

At the top, there were two main summits; the one on the left was quite steep and dangerous, and there were a lot of passages with chains, basically gentle climbing. We attempted to go there, but I am very much scared of heights, and in the middle of the trail, I just gave up. I left my partner to go check the summit by himself. We headed the way back to the right, aiming for the other top of the mountain. This trail was also very steep, but there were no chains and you could easement get there in about 15-20 minutes. 

Finally, we reached the top and ate. I was so hungry and exhausted, we had to stop a few times on the way up because I wasn’t feeling so well. However, after we ate, I felt much better, and I was ready for the way down. We decided to take a different trail the way down. The reason for this was simply that we dislike taking the same trail 2 times; I personally find it a little bit boring. And so we continued to the right until we reached the turn. 

I have to warn you, if you attempt to do the same trail as us, be aware that the way down was very unused, quite slippery, at spots there was a climbing way down on literally vertical spots using ropes half of the way, and after a half, it was hard to find the right trail. The way was leading through a forest, but it was not marked very well, and you couldn’t see the trail under your feet. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it even more than the way up, just prepare yourself to be well aware of the possibility of getting lost, and be mindful of where you go. I would recommend you have some sort of tracking app where you can see the way in front of you as well as where you are. I used Relive and was very much okay with it. 

We finished our hike successfully, taking a bus back, having a hot shower and headed to try a ramen that was located just 2 2-minute walk from our accommodation, The Noodle Factory Life. This ramen place jumped right to the first place on my ramen list from Japan. I took a spicy ramen the some minced meat, it was amazing! I am pretty sure that the tare was made from miso and black sesame, and the spiciness came from a spicy oil on top. The noodles were amazing, and the flavours were well-balanced too. After that, the day ended fast after dinner since we were exhausted from the hike.

The next day was very tiring since I experienced another homing hangover. At this point, I really started to doubt my cardio abilities. Anyway, the day was mostly spent sleeping and resting until the evening, when we decided to go out to celebrate Halloween. 

We went to a nearby bar called Beppu Social Bar. It was very nice because they had a Halloween promotion, 100 yen for one shot until midnight. There we met a lot of great people and enjoyed our time very much. If you think about partying in Beppu, definitely check out this bar. 

The next day, we decided to visit the number one attraction in Beppu, the hells. These are hot springs that are a result of the volcanic activity of Mt. Tsurumi. These hells earned their name because they can reach up to 100 degrees!

There are about 7 different zones where you can pay 500 yen to enter each to see these hells. You can also pay a fixed amount that would let you go to see all of them, resulting in a discounted price. 

I really liked this attention, even if I was a little bit American at the beginning, but in the end, I think it was worth it. The only thing I was missing was some explanations about how these different types of hot springs form. I think if they added this, it would be just great. 

The next day, we finally decided it was time to hike Mount Tsurumi. The night before, we found a blog post talking about a hiking trail to this volcano, starting at sea level, going through the whole city of Beppu, and reaching the summit of the mountain. The whole route was supposed to take approximately 3h 50m, hiking for 12 km. The plan was to start the hike at around 9 o’clock in the morning, hiking the whole day and coming back using the lift and bus. The hike was called “One shot” and it was something that we were very much looking forward to.

Warning! Do not attempt to do the same hike without doing prior research and finishing reading the whole day 39.

The hike started at Matohagama Beach, taking us on an exciting adventure upstream. It all felt like a quest, just having a picture of a map and trying to figure out the way, while looking at beautiful scenarios of water birds living next to the river. At the beginning, the way was very straightforward (mostly because we only had to follow the river), but also a little bit confusing. It felt like the trail was not very well-maintained, and it was not updated. The trail marking was quite straightforward, so we thought that maybe it was a little too late for the hike; they simply don’t maintain it in late autumn and winter.

We continued our way, slowly passing all the big buildings, the scene before us transforming into a countryside view on the edge of the city. Then, all of a sudden, upon arrival at the edge of the forest, we stood shocked, seeing that the trail in front of us had completely collapsed into a nearby river. There was no way we could pass through there. 

Of course, this ‘little’ obstacle didn’t stop us. We decided we simply need to find a way around the trial and then just continue the way that was indicated on the map. Thanks god for my trail tracking app, as there are many tourist trails that are normally not seen on Google Maps. The plant was to go on a road for cars, walk for a few minutes and then turn right heading to our original path. 

We could be more stupid than blindly following a way through the forest to get to this road. As we arrived, we saw a 2-meter-high vertical platform built to hold this road. Guess what we did? Of course, we climbed it. You cannot imagine the face of the people driving their cars as we emerged from the nothingness of the forest… At this point, we were a little bit sceptical, but also amused by our idiocracy of going against all the obviously dangerous obstacles. 

We finally turned from the road for cars and took a strangely looking road. At the end of it, we reached some sort of god’s forgotten settlement in the middle of the forest, the thing was the path was literally just behind this settlement. We decided it would be best not to pass through there because we thought it was private property and didn’t want to cause any trouble… or end up chopped up in someone’s basement. We then decided it would be best to try to go around yet another obstacle. We chose to follow the river, jumping through it, and after a few minutes of walking, we arrived at what looked like a cascade with a waterfall. We couldn’t see how deep it was because it was surrounded by water, but we could see a bridge that was a part of the trail we needed to take in the distance. So, like idiots, we found some big rocks that we threw in the stream to be able to cross it without getting wet. We then climbed the cascade using a metal ladder attached to the construction of the cascade. We reached the top and realised that we were dealing with at least 10 meter 10-meter-high waterfall. On the other side, there was another leather, though this one was not safely attached to the construction; it was just some old junk that was installed there by someone with ropes. It looked quite dangerous, so we decided not to use it; instead, we climbed down the forest that surrounded this cascade.

Finally, we reached the damn original trail. At that time, we were still quite enthusiastic because it was quite fun to try to pass through all the obstacles. Soon, though, as we continued the trail, we noticed that this side of the path is really not well-maintained. It was fine because it wasn’t really dangerous, but it just felt weird. We were thinking, are we supposed to be here? The surroundings looked wild; there were stones and trees and beaches all around us, blocking the path, which was hard to see at all.

After the way finally started to look like a real hiking trail, we noticed this post with a picture of the fallen tree that we had seen earlier in our journey. 

It means: The Tsurumi-dake hiking trail was destroyed by Typhoon in September 2014!!!!!!!! The road in the Hotta area has collapsed, so you cannot pass through!

What the actual f***?! The path collapsed in 2014! We were hiking in 2025! That is 11 years ago! And they couldn’t let us know at the beginning of the trail, at the beach!? Why is this information not written there? Why does this trail still exist? Why are there still all the signs and the map? Why didn’t anyone remove it??? We honestly thought that maybe something had happened very recently. But now it all made sense. You cannot imagine our confusion!

Confused as we were, we continued hiking. We already spent around 2,5 hours on this path, losing a lot of time trying to go around all these obstacles. After this, the path got significantly better; unfortunately, our mood was a little bit disturbed at that point. Our only aim was to just finish what we started. 

The rest of the way was fine, but around the lift area, it was a bit badly indicated, which just added to our frustration. I don’t understand why, because this was supposed to be a more official and common trail that is still hiked by many people every day. 

We reached the summit in the next 2 hours from then, totalling with the total time 5h 30, the distance was 15.1 km and the elevation 1534m!

If you decide to go to this mountain, I would definitely recommend that you do some research first. You can hike from the lift or simply take the lift. The top of the mountain was quite windy and cold, so I would recommend you take some layers. We paid 1200 yen per person for the lift, only the way down. 

In the end, regardless of all the obstacles, it was a very fun as well as strange hike that we will definitely remember for the rest of our lives.

On this day, we arrived at a camping area called Lodge Kiyokawa. This spot is known for its treehouses. There is a possibility of a lot of activities such as renting bikes or e-bikes, saunas, rafting and BBQ. 

The location is good, especially if you have a car; without it, it might get a little bit tricky to get there. There should be a train going every hour (with occasional holes in the timetable), but then you also need to walk for about 30 minutes to get there. That’s why I would recommend it, especially if you have a car. 

As we arrived, we realised we should have bought some food, because there were no supermarkets nearby. We decided to rent e-bikes and explore a nearby city, where we bought some groceries for that evening and the next few days. The way felt like a big adventure, and even though the way was quite hilly, it was very enjoyable with the e-bikes. The way back was even more fun because it was getting dark. I feel it was such an adventure for the first day there.

Originally, we planned to do a hike to Mount Aso on this day; however, this was not possible due to the limited number of connections. Instead, we then decided to spend the day in the camp and book a sauna. There were 2 types of sauna there. One was built in, a beautiful finish sauna, and the other was these built tents that were positioned right next to the river. The idea of it was so nice, in the mountain environment next to the river. We decided to book the built sauna, which was a little bit more expensive, but it was definitely worth it. The prices for guests that were staying at the lodge were 1500 for the tent sauna and 2000 for the built sauna per person for 2 hours. For guests from outside, it was 500 yen more for each type. 

Before doing the sauna, we went to a restaurant that was located on the other side of the river. It was a very nice concept, only opens for lunch service. You could order some homemade pizza or other dishes, including a curry. The dishes were amazing, and we had a dessert as well. Definitely recommend, even if you just drive around the place.

Around 4, we had the sauna. Damn, I really needed these 2 hours of relaxation. Usually, we just dipped ourselves into a cold bath that was located next to the sauna, but we also ran to the river to cool down there. It was amazing.

After trios we had some dinner and joined a bonfire with free possibility to have some marshmallows! What a great day!

The next day, we wanted a little bit more action, so we rented the e-bikes again and biked to a nearby waterfall, called Harajirino Falls. The bike took around 1 hour and was very pleasant, taking us through huge rice fields. 

After arriving, we left our bikes next to a shopping place and took a walk around the falls. It was very beautiful. We discovered that it originated from volcanic activity! 

On the way back, we decided to bike around 2 sale breweries. We didn’t stay long since we couldn’t buy anything because of our long stay, but if you go around by car, I would recommend that you look at some of their products. 

Travel to Nabeoka was very chaotic. I didn’t check the train connections well, so when we arrived at the station, we had to wait for 2 hours until the next train to Oita arrived. Finally, we arrived in Oita and changed for a train to the Miyazaki airport direction, getting off in Nabeoka. 

We didn’t imagine Nabeoka like this at all. It is a small city that has a rather town-like vibe of a town, which made us question our decisions about this choice. But the main purpose of it was to have a convenient place from which we can visit the Takochiho Gorge.

Our impression changed right after we visited a restaurant that was recommended to us by a Japanese person. It is called Nao Chan (Chicken Nanban), and it is located close to the Nabeoka train station. They only have about 3 dishes on the menu. For us, it was an obvious choice, taking the classic. 

My advice. Do not order a tataki style chicken in any restaurant in Japan. This is a cooking technique that cooks meat and fish from the outside, but the inside is still raw! There are cases every year where people die from salmonella eating this type of chicken!

This dish jumped right to the top 5 of the dishes we had in Japan so far. It was tender, with some sort of fried egg hair on top, served with sweet and sour sauce (nanban sauce), cabbage, miso soup, tofu, rice, and some vegetables. The sauce was perfectly complementing the chicken, and it was soaking into the fried egg on top. I ended up even dipping my rice into the sauce as I didn’t have enough of it. 

After this, we headed back to the hotel (APA hotel), finished our laundry, and headed to bed. 

During the night, Nabeoka couldn’t be more as we experienced our first earthquake ever! One of my wishes when travelling to Japan was to experience this, and it came when I would never have expected it. The earthquake itself wasn’t strong at all; in fact, I don’t think we would even feel it if we weren’t lying in bed. I woke up in the middle of the night because I was feeling hot. I was turning around in bed, and then it arrived. It felt as if someone had kicked into a waterbed. It stopped as soon as it started, but it left me feeling very on edge. In other words, I almost shitted myself. I woke up my partner, but he didn’t feel anything at all, because he was deeply asleep. For a while, I thought maybe it wasn’t an earthquake because the bed moved when we turned in it, and I couldn’t see any record of the earthquake on a Japan Meteorological Agency website. But after a few minutes, they updated it, and it was max seismic intensity 3, epicentre in the Hyuganda sea, in Naobeka intensity 2. I knew it! During the night, we experienced another similar earthquake, where we could feel it both, but this time we weren’t sure until the morning, when we checked again. The same spot 2 times during one night! Naobeka, you kept surprising us on this day.

We were speculating a lot about whether we should visit the Takochiho gorge. We were aware that if we didn’t make a reservation, we wouldn’t be able to take a boat. But in the end, we decided that we would not do that anyway and only take a walk in the area to see it. In the end, it was a great decision in my opinion, because we enjoyed it a lot.

We took a bus from Nabeoka station. We were so lucky because we came well in advance and noticed a small bus station where they were selling tickets to visitors with foreign passports. This was a great deal, because we paid only 2000 yen per person instead of 1800 each way, which we would pay if we just used shiva or paid cash to the driver. All you needed to do it to take a ticket when you entered, and when you approached the driver, you would only show him the ready-made day pass. 

We took a map from the tourist information centre and planned to visit a nearby shrine, and then take a walking path through a forest behind it. This was, however, not possible since we noticed at the very beginning of the trail that it was closed. Instead, we made a compromise by halfway following the road and halfway following a walking path. 

The gorge was beautiful, even though we didn’t go and a boat, and I took a lot of nice pictures there. 

After the adventure, we decided to go out in the evening. Originally, our plan was to go to an Izakaya, a traditional Japanese bar/food. We tried in total of 3 different ones, but we were rejected from each. They said that they are full, but I have a feeling that they just really don’t want any foreigners there. After all these awkward experiences, we decided to try our first Korean in Japan. 

I have to say I had no idea about how ignorant I am in this cuisine because I had no idea what the meals on the menu were. Stressed as we were already from all our rejections, we just randomly selected some meals. It was very funny because we obviously didn’t choose things that would fill us up, and the waiter was waiting for more items to order when we were already done with the order. It was very always situation, but in the end we added one more item after the first order, and everything went well. The staff was so nice, though. They were showing us how to eat everything and being very patient with us, regardless of the huge language barrier. Since my partner spoke as much Japanese as they spoke English. In the end, this restaurant was one of our favourites, and it was also a refreshing change from the constant Japanese food. Here is the place if you want to check it out! 

Our last full day in Nabeoka, we spent in the library situated above the main train station. It is probably the frayed place there is in Nabeoka. The library is new, built in collaboration with Starbucks, so you can enjoy some coffee while spending your time there. The place is quite big and usually full of people. The atmosphere there is really unforgettable, the comfy chairs and beautiful views while you are working on your stuff are just great. I am glad we spent our last day here.