YUFU-NO-OYADO HOTARU

This is the first time we visited traditional Ryokan. Hotaru is about 10 minutes drive from Yufuin station. You can call them for a pick up shuttle service. We stayed in a room with own private onsen. They do have two outdoor public private onsen, if your room doesn't come with one, you can go outside to enjoy without sharing with strangers. They also have public onsen for male and female (separate) if the private ones are occupied. As the location is away from the main area, you are very much confined to the Ryokan, not bad, for relaxation. They do have free fast wi-fi so you are not totally cut off from the outside world. Dinner and breakfast were good. Very hospitable, typical Japanese service. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I would highly recommend giving this place a try.

wonderful reception ,food, room, onsen, view of mountain, relaxing , great experience. i recommend everyone to come ton this specific onsen. we were picked up from the train station and when we finished our stay' were brought back to the stain. i was amazed that we did not have a shower in the room but next to the onsen which was outside. after sitting in the onsen i felt my body was so relaxed and hot that it was wonderful experience to take the shower outside in the cold weather of 2 degrees. did not feel cold at all.

Hotaru usually is visited by local Japanese looking for a family getaway relaxing onsen/ryokan trip. But me and my gf decided to give it a try We went there with high hopes of an amazing hot spring/onsen exprience and we were not disappointed. The room we booked came with its own private onsen and that was an option we could not miss. There was no way you could get to Hotaru on your own without a pickup from the Yufuin train station but Manager Mizoguchi-san made sure it was as easy as could be. Mizoguchi-san's hospitality was another bright point as he explained how he got his American accent from years of studying abroad. His English was perfect and that was definitely a rare scene among the Japanese hospitality industry. The room was simplistic as you expect - spacious tatami. We were led to the dining area for dinner shortly after, and I kid you not, it was one of the most enjoyable meals we ever had on a trip. From sashimi to yakitori to tempura, everything was exquisite and made to perfection. The attention to detail and excellence to whatever Japanese stood for was displayed in its entirety. In our room waiting for us were our beds set up in typical Japanese futon style. Simplistic yet effective. We cared little about anything else and jumped into the Onsen for the remainder of the night looking into the stars and sky (unfortunately there was a little rain and it was cloudy too. There are also other private/public Onsens within the property and you are free to use any of them. It was a shame that we only had planned for a night here but we enjoyed every second of our Onsen/Ryokan experience. It wasnt cheap for this experience (i recall it was around 40,000 yen for the 2 of us, but it was every Yen worth spent.