Enokiya Ryokan

Super friendly reception at the desk. Then a guided tour, showing dining and breakfast room. The rooms have no shower or bath, but on the ground floor there are three onsen. In your (spacious) room you can see on a tablet whether they are occupied or not. The hotel has a lift. Dinner is all Japanese, breakfast basically too, but fortunately there were also things to eat, which were more grafted on the European Customer.

Amazing property, so modern and funky yet still retaining old world charm. 3 onsen choices. Close to the main attractions of the town. Part of a tour, stayed only one night though wished we were staying here longer. Clean and sparkling. Clothing items to wear in house gorgeous.

Yufuin was a small rural village until about 50 years ago, when two real estate developers, seeing the potential represented by the beautiful Mt. Yufudake and the hot springs, turned it into a spa town. Coming with that wave, Enokiya is thus more a hotel equipped with an onsen and dressed up as a ryokan (tatami floor, futon beds, etc), rather than a historical one with a ryokan tradition. The positives: good location close to train station and main shopping street; very large rooms (albeit a bit aged and lacking charm); fast and free WiFi; and above all, a superb service staff (especially the receptionists; the meal attendants are largely absent and forgetful). The negatives: the onsen bath!! When we visited, the men's outdoor bath was burning hot (>50 deg) one day, and both outdoor and indoor baths were just tepid the next day; the ladies' baths were lukewarm throughout the stay. The baths are also small for the size of the place. Meals are OK, although they look better than they taste.