Yufuin Onsen, Kawakami由布院玉の湯

Yufuin Tamanoyu

Yufuin Tamanoyu is a ryokan of sixteen rooms, mostly detached cottages, set in a planted woodland of oak and maple off the Yunotsubo-kaido shopping street in Yufuin, a hot-spring town in Oita. It opened in 1953 as a rest house for a Zen temple; its second owner, Kunpei Mizoguchi, was one of the men who shaped Yufuin as a quiet spa town, and the inn keeps that tone with a library-like sitting room, a bar named for the writer C. W. Nicol and country cooking in place of formal kaiseki.

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About the property

Rooms: 16
Bath in the room: Hot spring, every room
Dinner: Private dining room
MICHELIN Keys: 1
Recognition: MICHELIN Guide One Key, new in the 2025 selection
Owned by: Tamanoyu Co., Ltd. (president Izumi Kuwano)

Rooms and suites

Kihada
60 sq m (8 plus 6 tatami) · Garden view · Detached Japanese room with garden terrace · futons, no beds · for one or two · no pre-school children.
Akane, Asagi and Kuchinashi
60 sq m (10-tatami room plus 8-mat bedroom) · Garden view · Detached cottages with a tatami room, a twin bedroom and a veranda on the garden · for up to three.
Suou
60 sq m · Garden view · The only all-Western cottage: open-plan sitting room and twin bedroom · no pre-school children.
Yamabuki
60 sq m (8-tatami room plus 10-mat bedroom) · Garden view · Detached cottage, made Japanese-Western in October 2023 · close to the shop, bar and baths.
Sakura, Kouji, Mihanada and Hiwa
72 sq m (10-tatami room plus 10-mat bedroom) · Garden view · Detached cottages for up to four. Sakura (renewed July 2024) has deck chairs on the terrace · Kouji is the last on the path and the quietest · Mihanada has a sunroom · Hiwa (renewed February 2024) has floor heating and a bath with handrails and a slope · no pre-school children in Hiwa.
Toka
90 sq m · Inner garden view · Ground floor of a two-storey building · tatami room and twin bedroom, a television in each.
Hanyu
110 sq m · Inner garden view · Ground floor · tatami room and a 12-mat twin bedroom · suited to families.

Suites

Yuzu
100 sq m · Garden view · Ground floor of a two-storey building · tatami room, bedroom and a living room on the garden · bath with large glass doors to the garden.
Kuwa
110 sq m · Yufuin from the roof balcony view · First floor · the room writers such as C. W. Nicol stayed in, with a writing room off the tatami room and a living room on a roof balcony · no pre-school children.
Murasaki
115 sq m · Garden view · The inn's top cottage, renewed February 2024: 12-tatami room, twin bedroom, living room, small study on the veranda and a large terrace.
Kuhina
140 sq m · The largest, on the first floor, with the bath on the ground floor, two washrooms and two toilets · no pre-school children.

Dining and wellness

Duck and watercress hotpot
The chef's yamazato course of Oita produce
Budouya, the inn's restaurant
Oita wagyu grilled over charcoal

Budouya: Oita country cooking
Nicol's: tea room and bar lounge · tea room 1pm–5pm, bar 5pm–9pm
Wellness: Men's and women's indoor and open-air hot-spring baths, and a cypress hot-spring bath in every room; no spa or gym.

Where it is

Yufuin station: 13 min on foot
Oita Airport: 1 h 13 by bus
Fukuoka Airport: 2 h 23 by bus

Yufuin

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Q&A

Yufuin Tamanoyu releases its rooms on set dates, months ahead. Tell us your dates and our team in Japan books it for you, at the inn’s own rate. We ask for the room we would choose and look after everything else with the inn on your behalf: your preferences and requests, any special arrangement, from a celebration to a car from the station, and whatever you need before and during your stay. The price and cancellation terms are confirmed with you first.

Oita Airport, about 60 minutes by highway bus to the Yufuin station bus centre, or Fukuoka Airport, about 130 minutes by highway bus; the inn is about 13 minutes on foot from the bus centre.