An absolutely beautiful ryokan! You get your very own house, outfitted with 2 bathes (one indoor and one outdoor), a changing room, and spacious living room and bedrooms! The mini-fridge also came with complimentary soft drinks and alcohol! The staff were also extremely welcoming, and the half-board meals (which had free-flow drinks/alcohol) were aesthetically beautiful and delicious at the same time! They also offered alternative meals for my family members that had restrictive diets, which I think is really sweet! The ryokan is located a little far from the main street, so driving here is recommended as they offer free parking for guests (first-come-first-service). Being away from the main street and the tourist foot-traffic also makes this ryokan a very peaceful place to stroll about, with a quaint pastry shop and carpentry shop near its vicinity :) Although they do not have coin laundries, there is a coin laundry outlet just behind the ryokan! And it is also a 8~10 minutes walk to Kinrin Lake!

Nothing!

Breakfast and dinner was exceptional and beyond expectations! Service was very exceptional! Thank you to our host, Irina, who spoke English and went above and beyond her duties to assist us. The location is a very short walking distance to the main shopping street, but just far enough away from the busy street, in a quiet neighborhood. We enjoyed the private onsen!

The Sakura villa could be enhanced with better lighting or fresh light colored paint to brighten the rooms. If traveling to Yufuin from Hakata by bus or train, recommend making arrangements in advance. Yufuin No Mori train tickets sell out quickly.

Exceptional service and facilities. Beautiful gardens. We were impressed by the professionalism of all the staff, including the interns. We stayed in Yamabuki for two nights and the kids loved the indoor onsen. I had a great time enjoying the private outdoor onsen which is detached from the villa. Breakfast and dinners were phenomenal! I had the best beef ever there. We were served with different menus in different private dining rooms, each room had the most terrific views looking into the garden and even Mount Yufuin afar. It’s a truly relaxing and memorable stay for our family. Thank you Itsuki Team.

The tatami area in Yamabuki had a strange smell which was a bit annoying. I guess it’s getting worn out after all these years’ usage and I hope the management team will consider changing into new mats. We have small children and thus created quite a lot of trash every day. Hope the trash bins could be larger or they come to collect the trash more frequently.

The room is big, dinner and breakfast exceed our expectations. Highly recommend this hotel. However when you book with Booking.com, if you have any complaint to them or to the hotel, they will tell you it is a partner offer and no survey can be done and they can’t do anything, they will give you the hotel’s number and tell you to contact the hotel directly, this is my experience when booking Yufuin Waremokou thru Booking.com. So be aware because you never know if it is a partner offer.

Everything was perfect. The room was even bigger than I thought it would be, and the facilities were well thought and laid out. Our kaiseki dinner was very yummy and so was the breakfast. What a generous serving size as well! Special thanks to the staff who looked after us last night, I didn't catch his name but he was from Hong Kong and explained everything to us in Cantonese which really helped my parents. They also organized taxi for us to the Yufuin bus terminal in the morning. Thank you so much for the wonderful stay, we had a really good time!

Nothing at all.

The location was great. It's a short walk from the main shopping areas, which is bit away from the train station. The onsens were great. We have one inside the house and another one on the outhouse (Yamabuki). We could adjust the water temperature so our daughter who was afraid of really hot water could enjoy the bath as well. All the staff were very attentive and polite and spoke English well. The Japanese gardens surrounding all the rooms were very beautiful. The hotel pays for the taxis from and to the Yufuin train station as well, which was thoughtful. We had the breakfast option which was delicious (alternate between Western and Japanese each day). I suggest the dining option as well as there aren't any restaurants open for dinner within a 15 minute walk (the only option was walk further to the train station or buy a bento box from the convenience store). It was raining for most of our stay and we couldn't be in a better hotel to spend inside with our children.

The exhaust fan in the living room was quite loud when turned on. I wasn't sure if we were meant to keep it on or not as it had "24 hours" marked on the switch. In hindsight, I could have called reception and found out but would be great if they can explain this in the informational booklet.

The rooms in this property are villa style. Our room was much bigger than expected, and the dressing/wardrobe has its separate room. Upon entering the room, we were welcomed by the fragrance of wood and there were umbrellas available at the entrance in case it rained. The staff can speak good english too. The dining area was at the main lobby (which is a separate building). We get to dine in a private room with view of Mt Yufu - which was a plus point. To provide variety, they offered us western breakfast on one day and japanese breakfast on the other. The bread on the western breakfast was really good too. The property is away from the crowd and I enjoyed the whole experience. Would love to visit again.

Each cottage has its own private onsen is excellent. Too bad I went during peak season and all the bigger cottages were fully booked. The cottage is just exactly the same as shown in the website photos. One nice touch was the free taxi ride. I did not know the ryokan covers the taxi fee so when the taxi driver refused to take my money I was wondering why.

The bathroom of my cottage (Ajisai 紫陽花) was separated out from the living room and everything so the layout created many trips back and forth for getting clothes and toiletry.

We spend two nights at this lovely onsen. The private onsens in our cottage were delightful, our room overlooked a rice paddy, it was so relaxing. The dinner we had was exquisite and the staff went out of their way to please. When in town we recommend visiting the nearby Comico Art Museum - a beautifully designed buidling. getting to Beppu for a day trip was easy by bus but we were so glad to sleep in the quiet town of Yufuin.

The staff was very kind and welcoming. We had a room with a private onsen and it was worth it. The rooms are very spacious and have a luxurious feel. The included dinner and breakfast are great, we had one of the best dinners during our vacation here.

The only thing would be that it would be nice if there was an option for the type of breakfast you get (based on preference).