To provide a method for inexpensively and efficiently producing an alicyclic or aromatic alcohol from the corresponding acetate compound.

This method comprises 1st step wherein a reaction liquid comprising water and an acetate compound selected from the group consisting of xylylene diacetate, di(acetoxymethyl)cyclohexane, methylbenzyl acetate and methyl acetoxymethylcyclohexane is subjected to hydrolysis reaction in the presence of an acid catalyst to produce a liquid reaction mixture comprising acetic acid and an alicylic or aromatic alcohol, 2nd step wherein the alicyclic or aromatic alcohol is drawn from the liquid mixture to obtain a circulating liquid, 3rd step wherein the circulating liquid is fed to the above reaction liquid, and repeating these three steps in this order, thus obtaining the objective alicyclic or aromatic alcohol from the corresponding acetate compound.