Nurukawa Onsen — Hotel in Yufu

Nurukawa onsen is nicely situated at the end of the busy Yunotsubo Street and just a short walk away to Lake Kirin.||There's free parking at the premise. We arrived early and check in time was strictly 3pm so we went for walk at Yunotsubo Street. It was a saturday and the streets were packed with tourists and local japs. was a nice stroll and took lots of pictures of the quaint little shops.||There's a Totoro shop at the beginning of the street and i was like a kid in wonderland!||Yufuin Floral village was also like a mini fairytale land..||we drop by A Coop supermarket along the way and I bought so many small bottles of Sake! its so cheap there and nice!|| it even snowed a little while we were heading back which was great timing to head into the onsens!||||our room comes with breakfast only so we had to head out for dinner. The onsen does have some recommended list of places to head out to but we didnt bother to see it as we were driving so we though we'd just drive around the streets and pop into an eatery.||||Well, we were so wrong! the town is dead at night! all shops closed! we only saw a couple of restaurants opened but not what we wanted. We ended up having dinner at a local jap fast food eatery called Joyfull. food was ok not fantastic. and i was a bit grumpy at not having a nice dinner...||There's a Lawson convenience stall just round the corner of the main road.||||For the onsens, most of the baths are located near the entrance area... so its a short walk out from the rooms, yukata robes and towels are provided and family baths can be chartered for private use.. think it was about 2200yen for 60 mins for the open air bath.||||we booked a room with private bath so we had the convenience of the onsen anytime and didnt need to head outside. the onsen was spacious enough to fit 4 pax... so me and hubby had a nice relaxing time there soaking in the onsens with snow flakes falling on us....||||for the room itself, i thought usually the futons will be laid out for us but we had to do it ourselves...||||breakfast was not fantastic, jap style.. but not as appetizing as i had in other ryokans... staff also not as friendly.. they just do their work and thats it...dun make you feel welcomed...which was surprising for jap hospitality....||||we walked to Lake Kirin to have some pictures taken... there was just a slight mist above the lake waters.... the lake was not big and frankly i think it's a bit overrated? too many...

Yufuin main street and Kirinko lake were too buys and full of tourists. It was not comfortable for me to enjoy my visit. I wnated to stay longer in the vicinity so I went to onsen. Tourist info center at the station recommended this onsen which was near to the Chgall musuem and the restaurant where I planned to go. As I learned from my previous visit, hotel onsen or luxurious onsen are not open for the outside visitors after 15:00 or 17:00(depends on the cities), therefore info center gave me the only option. This is a sort of public onsen which opens all night. It was good choice to avoid mob for a moment, and relaxing, calm, etc. There is locker, costs 100 Yen, and admission was about 450 Yen per person. It is not fancy facilities but very local. Space is a bit tiny but still...

This onsen was recommended to us by the Tourist Information because we wanted to visit a day-onsen for couples.||||They have individual onsens "cabins" with outdoor views (not very much of a view, in my opinion). Also it faces the main road and you can hear cars passing by. For JPY2200 +200 (for towel) per couple, it is reasonable. BUT this is definitely not the best onsen I have been too.||||It relatively well-maintained. The next time I come back to Yufuin, I will definitely stay in a proper ryokan with...