I recently went to Kyushu for a bike trip, and tried to find the 'Nabeyama no Yu' spring mentioned on this site. I made one wrong turn, and ended up finding a different one (Hebi no Yu) instead. While I never did find Nabeyama no yu, some people I met at this second one, Hebi no Yu, said that they liked the second one better.

Hebi no Yu was only about a 1 minute walk from the gravel road / parking, had 4 different temperature tubs (each larger than Nabeyama no Yu's), a changing hut and a toilet hut up by the parking. The hot tub was bearable, but not for a long time, and the two medium temperature tubs were ideal. The one other tub was good for beginning or cooling down in. The tubs are located beside a stream, which is also nice to cool off in. Also, at the top of the trail down to the springs, there is a perfect location to camp, complete with a firepit.

A map with a descriptions and directions to this location is here:
http://www.communitywalk.com/map/5751#101335WM3:8f10733.1;Y48131.1Zcm

and it will soon have pictures, once I get them off of my camera.

-Ben

I would like to underline the importance of printing a clear map (for example, the google map offered on the site mentionned above) BEFORE attempting to go to that onsen.

If you do not know precisely where you are going, it will be easy to get lost. Indeed, I found myself bathing in Nabeyama no Yu, while I was in fact searching for nearby Hebi no Yu...

sanji

For people travelling to Kyushu, slycker's web site on CommunityWalk is an invaluable tool. There are many onsen described there, as well as accomodations. Since interesting spots are directly located on a map, you won't get lost when searching an onsen... as I did :oops:

http://www.communitywalk.com/map/5751

sanji