Unzen Jigoku
Unzen Jigoku, A Boardwalk Through Steaming Sulphur Vents And Boiling Pools Above The Spa Town Of Unzen On The Shimabara Peninsula, Once A Place Of Torment In The Minds Of Local Christians. Unzen Is An Old Hill Resort Beside The 1990s Eruption Of Mount Fugen. · Unzen, Nagasaki
Unzen Jigoku, the hells of Unzen, is a field of steaming sulphur vents, hissing cracks and boiling pools on the hill above the spa town of Unzen, high on the Shimabara Peninsula in Nagasaki. A boardwalk loops through the vents in about 30 minutes, with white and yellow ground, rotten-egg gas and clouds of steam drifting over the path. The town sits inside Unzen-Amakusa National Park and has been a hill resort since foreign residents of Nagasaki came to escape the summer heat. The place has a grave past: in the 1620s and 1630s some Christians were tortured in the boiling pools, and a memorial near the vents recalls them. Nearby, Mount Unzen's Fugen-dake erupted in 1991, and a pyroclastic flow killed 43 people, among them journalists and volcanologists. It suits couples, families and anyone driving around Kyushu. It is worth the detour for the walk and the town, and not worth a long trip if you only want a quick photograph, since the loop is short.
Unzen Onsen, Obama-cho, Unzen, Nagasaki, a bus ride up the Shimabara Peninsula from Isahaya or Shimabara, Unzen, Nagasaki, Japan
The boardwalk through the vents is outdoors and has no ticket gate, so it is open around the clock in principle, but walk it in daylight, roughly 9:00 to 17:00, when shops and the egg stall are open. Some sections close when gas levels are high or in icy weather - confirm on the day. Unzen is reached by bus from Isahaya Station, about 1 hour 20 minutes, or from Shimabara; confirm the timetable, because the last bus down is early in the evening. Nothing needs booking for the walk. Book ahead for an inn with a bath if you plan to stay, particularly in autumn and on Golden Week.