Sendou Firefly Inn — Hotel in Yufu

We travel to Yufu from Sydney in Dec 2011 and booked this hotel via internet. We were lucky to be able to understand a few japanese word otherwise booking this traditional ryokan is a daunting task as the website is in japanese and none of the staff can communicate in English. As Japanese practises you don't need to pay upfront (not even deposit). Japanese usually show very high integrity, once the customer (Japanese) booked the room they will appear on the date AND TIME they said they will arrive. We also requested to indicate time of arrival when booking.||This ryokan is about 2km to the northeast (more to the east) of Yufuin train station but don't worry the route to the ryokan guarantee a nice stroll from the train station. Many cute shops along the road so we just shop and stop for a coffee. We get lost a little but was put to the right track again by a local. Map (with hotel name in japanese) & body langauge is all you need here. ||When we arrive we were presented a welcome japanese tea and snack in the room. We choose to have tatami room for a more Japanese-style stay. The room price include traditional Japanese-style dinner & breakfast for 2. We can choose to have dinner at our own time, we had it at 7pm. The food was really eye opener for non-japanese like us and it was at least 7 or 8 courses with food keep coming will we drop. Each dishes are delicately decorated and tasted good too.||Room was warm (it was winter and freezing outside) and the sleeping quality is really good.||We enjoyed the outdoor hotspring in this ryokan as well which is included in the price. The water are clean and very relaxing, but boys / girls separated. We also requested for a family hotspring room the next day where i can enjoy some relaxing time...

We made a booking directly with the hotel (Google translate). Communication wasn’t very prompt and last email was never responded. But it was ok. Our request for ground floor room was granted. ||Room|We booked a western twin room. It was small with no cupboard, only 2 hooks. Besides this, it was clean and came with attached toilet. Bed was comfortable as well. ||Facilities |Nice public Onsen - large. A pity no view at all to speak off. I didn’t use their 5 private onsens since they were not attractive. Free beer, coffee & tea. Really pretty courtyard, especially in the evening with the kerosine lamps. In the daytime you can see there are room for improvement. ||Location |Excellent, very close to Yufuin’s major attractions like the lake, shopping street and Floral Village. Yet it is located along a quaint canal with great view of the paddy fields and mountains. Not very convenient for walking from the station though due to the non-tar road in immediate vicinity. Taxi fare was reasonable - ¥710. ||Services |Not the friendliest. Staff did bring us to our room, detouring to show us the onsens. However, quite grumpy. After check-in I asked for assistance to book a local restaurant. They won’t help. ||Food |We changed our booking from half board to no meals after our requests for some food tweaks were refused. ||Conclusion |I would return for their location, ambience, good value and the free...

Lovely little spot located near lake Kinrinko in Yufuin. It's a Ryokan hotel - Japanese and western rooms, all with attached toilets. We stayed in the Western room - a bit tiny and worn but comfortable nevertheless. Dinner, served EARLY in a common dining room, was delicious. They have public outdoor baths for both men and women but have about 5-6 private family baths. No reservation needed and no extra cost - two with stone baths, others Hinoki. All private baths have showers and come with a flat screen TV. There's a small, messy garden in the middle. Location was a bit far from the train/bus station - by foot about 15-20 mins, taxi about 5-7 mins, about 700-800 yen from train station (be sure to have the hotel's name in Japanese). Drivers beware of a small bridge you have to drive across to reach the hotel. Hospitality wise, if you have stayed in a traditional Ryokan, you will feel a difference in service here. The staff is relatively young and the place feels less formal, almost like an ordinary hotel. A note: do not attempt to phone the hotel if you do not speak Japanese. They only know one word "No". So best to correspond via email. They respond in English as well but it...