Audio walking guides in Beppu
Photo: 663highland · CC BY 2.5
These are self-guided audio walks around Beppu. You pick a route, put one earbud in, and the guide talks you through it stop by stop — what you are looking at, and why it is there. There is no group to keep up with and no meeting time. 10 walks covering Beppu, Kunisaki, Buried in Hot Sand, Yufuin, Usuki, Taketa, Hita, Kitsuki and more, 323 minutes of narration in total.
Start your free guideA free account is needed before a guide plays. Hear a minute first if you would rather try it than sign up for it.
Every walk in Beppu
Beppu: The Town Built on Boiling Water
Look up at the hillside and count the columns of steam. On a cold morning there will be dozens of them, rising out of gardens, car parks, roadsides…
Kunisaki: The Stone Buddhas and the Shrine That Chose an Emperor
Start with a number that most visitors find hard to believe. There are around forty thousand Hachiman shrines in Japan — more than any other kind, roughly a…
Buried in Hot Sand: How Beppu Actually Bathes
The building in front of you has a roof like a temple and a doorway like a pub, and it is the oldest working bathhouse in a city…
Yufuin: The Town That Refused the Developers
Step out of the station and the first thing you see, framed at the end of the street, is a mountain with two peaks. That is not luck.…
Usuki: Sixty Buddhas in a Cliff, and the Christian King of Bungo
In a quiet valley twenty minutes outside a small Ōita town, there is a low cliff, and carved into it are around sixty Buddhas. See if you can…
Taketa: A Ruined Castle, a Song Everyone Knows, and Water That Fizzes
You are standing on a plateau of rock, high above two river gorges that meet below, and along the edges of it there are stone walls. That is…
The Tunnel a Monk Dug, and the Man on the Banknote: Nakatsu and the Yabakei Gorge
Put your hand flat on the wall inside the passage. It is cold, it is damp, and it is not smooth. Those ridges under your palm are tool…
Hita: The Shogun's Own Town, a School That Ignored Your Rank, and a Kiln With No Electricity In It
White plaster, dark timber, heavy tiled roofs, and frontages that are wider than they look and go back a very long way. These are merchant houses, and the…
Kitsuki: The Castle Town Built in a Sandwich
Stand at the bottom of this slope and turn round slowly. You are in a street of shops and merchant houses on flat ground. In front of you…
Kujū: A Thousand Years of Grassland That Only Exists Because People Set Fire to It
Open rolling grassland, going for kilometres in every direction, with mountains standing up out of it and hardly a tree in sight. It looks like upland Britain, or…
Questions about walking Beppu
What is the best self-guided walking tour in Beppu?
It depends how long you have. Beppu: The Town Built on Boiling Water (29 minutes, 6 stops) starts at Outside Beppu station, facing the hills and is the one most people begin with. Kunisaki: The Stone Buddhas and the Shrine That Chose an Emperor covers a different part of the city in about 28 minutes. All 10 walks in Beppu are listed on this page with their length and starting point.
Do I need to book a walking tour in Beppu?
No. Every wanderaudio walk is self-guided, so there is nothing to book and no departure time. You start whenever you arrive, and you can stop halfway and pick it up the next day.
How much do the Beppu audio guides cost?
Your first guide is free. You make a free account before it plays, with an email address or a Google login, and no card. After that a single guide is $4.99, a 30-guide pass, spendable on any guides in any cities, is $29.99, and every guide in Japan is $59.99. It is a one-off payment, not a subscription.
Are these tours in English?
Yes, all 10 Beppu walks are narrated in English. Other languages are not available yet.
Can I do these walks alone?
Yes — that is what they are built for. There is no group and no guide waiting for you, so walking alone works exactly the same as walking with someone. You choose the pace and the order.