ANA InterContinental Beppu Resort & Spa

Beppu is among the most geothermally active inhabited places on Earth: the city sits above a volcanic landscape whose hot spring output is the highest of any city in Japan by volume, producing roughly half a million tons of thermal water per day from more than 2,500 individual sources. The famous 'hells' (jigoku) — hot spring pools whose colors range from cobalt blue to blood red to muddy grey, depending on mineral composition — draw visitors from across Japan and internationally to a landscape that is genuinely otherworldly.

ANA InterContinental Beppu Resort & Spa, which opened in 2019 as a partnership between All Nippon Airways' hotel division and IHG's InterContinental brand, provides the most internationally appointed luxury accommodation that this extraordinary destination has received. The resort is positioned on elevated ground above the city, with views across Beppu Bay to the east and toward the volcanic highlands to the west, giving the property a panoramic relationship with both the urban thermal landscape below and the natural volcanic terrain above.

Onsen facilities use the local geothermal water that makes Beppu's reputation — a direct connection between the resort's wellness offering and the volcanic geology that defines the city's character. Multiple dining venues engage the exceptional produce of Oita prefecture: Bungo beef, a local wagyu variety; the freshwater fish and mountain vegetables of the Kuju highland area; and the seafood of the bay. The spa completes a wellness proposition built explicitly around the healing potential of the volcanic environment.

For travelers who want to engage Beppu's thermal landscape at the level of experience it deserves — in comfort and with professional guidance through the area's various bathing traditions and geological spectacles — ANA InterContinental Beppu provides a base that previous Beppu accommodation could not match.