由布院温泉 東匠庵 — Hotel in Yufu

The location was a little bit hard to find, it was kind of in a residential neighborhood, but we managed to find the main entrance at last. The inn was nicely decorated and quite new, we were greeted with tea and snacks and the grand view of Mount Yufuin.||||Our room is located in the end of an outdoor walkway, the room setup was nice with a separate tatami seating area, the bed area, the private onsen in our room, also there is also a ladder climbing up to a loft with two seats which can view fields outside from the windows. However the air-conditioner made a hissing sound when it was in heating mode, I ended up have to turn it off and rely on the floor heater. The staff were friendly and helpful. The two meals were both decent, it was well presented with high quality ingredients, but the taste was average to us. ||||However the biggest flaw during our stay was the private onsen in our room. The onsen hot water stopped flowing from around 10pm that night, and was not available the next morning before we check-out. The staff had explained to us that the plumbing system is broken due to cold weather. For any ryokan if the onsen hot water that does not flow continuously, that is considered at a huge problem to me; I can not believe they do not have a back-up system of some kind. We had paid good money for our stay, the room was nice and the food was ok, we did not get to fully utilize the main attraction which is the onsen. ||||Its an nice inn overall, but we were just extremely disappointed about...

Tosyan – perfect if you are looing for no interactions and good privacy||Location: it’s 30 min walk from the center city. So you will have to drive down to center city and the parking is quite expensive, 200 yen/30 mins (some place with a cap of 1000 yen). If you are looking for getaway, stay at room all day, this is the place. ||Room: every room comes with private onsen and I believe they don’t have public onsen (as they never introduced when I checked in). the only weird thing is I stay in the western room but it turns out every package that comes in this room doesn’t include breakfast (which is quite extraordinary) and breakfast is like 30min walk away. Every other room comes with half-board (mandatory). I don’t know why they did that but I only found out when I checked in that there will be no breakfast (I paid 36,000). Compared to what I paid in minamioguni, 47000 for half board private onsen, I would actually prefer minamioguni, more private, more escape from city. ||Private onsen: superb nice, overlooking the Yufu mountain (see pictures). ||Overall: perfect if you are looking for no interactions, private escape; sub-optimal if you are looking for facilities big public onsen. This is the perfect petite private...

This is one of 4 ryokans we stayed at in yufuin..and we loved it! The gentleman who picked us up at the train station with a traditonal japanese hair style and outfit was warm and friendly..spoke a little english. Soon as we arrived we were seated at the bar with a commanding view of the mountain and the antique train going by. We had the room on the first floor to the right with our own indoor wood and outdoor rock onsen as well as a large patio with the same breathtaking view. ||Dinner..amazing..fabulous..drool and picture taking worthy..every dish was perfect. Service was perfect. After dinner we just wandered around took pictures..staff nowhere in sight but as soon as i say "su ee mah sen" in a relatively small voice a staff member comes out immediately..||The same gentleman was quite helpful when i inquired about the pillow all the inns and hotels used in yufuin and fukuoka..he even called the maker and tried to find out where to buy.||It has a more traditional feel than the other more "modern" newly built ryokans..hence it was charming! We definitely want to go back or send some...