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Yufuin
Yufuin is an onsen town in a green basin of Oita Prefecture, in the Kyushu region, beneath the twin peaks of Mount Yufu, with more hot-spring sources than any onsen town in Japan except Beppu, half an hour away over the hills.
Lake Kinrin, Yufuin
- Prefecture
- Oita
- Region
- Kyushu
- Journeys
- The Custom Tour of Japan
overview
Rice fields, a mountain with two peaks, and inns that keep to the scale of the valley.
Yufuin lies at about 450 metres in a bowl of farmland and wooded hills, and Mount Yufu, 1,583 metres, stands over it from every street. The volcano's two summits give it the name Bungo Fuji, after the old province of Bungo, and its slopes of grass and low trees change colour through the year above the roofs of the town. Mist gathers in the basin on cool mornings and hangs over the rice fields until the sun reaches it.
What sets Yufuin apart is a choice its people made. In the early 1970s, as resort building spread across Japan, a group of young innkeepers toured the spa towns of Europe and came home resolved to keep their valley rural. They opposed a golf course and large hotels, began festivals of music and film, and set the pattern that endures today: no high buildings, inns set apart in their own gardens and woods, many of their rooms with an onsen of their own. The result is one of the most admired ryokan towns in the country, and one of the gentlest.
The town itself is small enough to walk. A street of shops, galleries and cafes runs from the station to Lake Kinrin, and beyond it lanes wander between farmhouses and thatched inns. Yufuin repays a slow day: an onsen in the morning, a gallery, a walk by the lake, kaiseki of Bungo beef and mountain vegetables in the evening, and the onsen again before sleep.
Our tours stay overnightOur tours visit for the dayOn a Custom Tour of Japan
see and do
What to see in Yufuin
Mount Yufu
The twin-peaked volcano of 1,583 metres that stands over the basin, called Bungo Fuji. It is best seen from the edge of the rice fields, or from the garden of a ryokan turned towards it.
Lake Kinrin
A small lake at the eastern edge of the town, fed by both warm springs and cold, so that mist lifts from its surface on cool mornings. A Confucian scholar named it in 1884 for the golden scales of fish he saw flashing in the evening light, and the small torii of Tenso Shrine stands at its edge in the water.
Yunotsubo Kaido
The main street of the town, running from the station towards Lake Kinrin, lined with craft shops, small galleries and sellers of sweets and Yufuin's soft cheesecake.
Yufuin Station
A station of black timber designed in 1990 by Arata Isozaki, the architect born in Oita, with a small art gallery in its waiting hall and an open view of the mountain from the platform.
Comico Art Museum Yufuin
A museum of contemporary art designed by Kengo Kuma, clad in charred cedar and opened in 2022, showing works by artists including Yayoi Kusama and Takashi Murakami beside the rice fields.
The galleries by the lake
Yufuin has a habit of small museums. Around Lake Kinrin are galleries of glass, of folk craft and of painting, among them a museum given to Marc Chagall.
Tsukahara Plateau
An upland of grass and woods on the road north towards Beppu, with views back over Mount Yufu, and Tsukahara Onsen, one of the most acidic hot springs in Japan, its water rich in iron.
Usa Jingu
The head shrine of the Hachiman shrines of Japan, some forty thousand of them, an hour from Yufuin by car. Its vermilion main halls, built in the hachiman style, are a National Treasure.
experiences
The best of Yufuin
A ryokan of the valley
Two or three nights at one of the great inns of Yufuin, in a detached suite among trees with an onsen of its own, kaiseki served in the room, and nothing to do but walk the garden and return to the water.
The lake in the morning mist
A walk of a few minutes from many of the inns to Lake Kinrin on a cool morning, when the warm springs send mist over the water and the torii stands in it.
The cooking of Bungo
Bungo beef, river fish, mountain vegetables and kabosu, the green citrus of Oita, at the hands of ryokan kitchens that take their food as seriously as their onsen.
Two onsen towns in one journey
Yufuin and Beppu are half an hour apart and entirely different, the quiet valley and the steaming city by the sea, and a private car makes it easy to know both.
plan your visit
Yufuin on a journey through Japan
- How long to stay
- Two nights give time for the ryokan, its onsen and a walk to Lake Kinrin, and three make room for Beppu, Usa Jingu or the Kunisaki Peninsula by day.
- Getting there
- By the Yufuin no Mori express from Hakata in Fukuoka in about two hours and a quarter, or by private car from Fukuoka in about two hours. Oita Airport, an hour and a half by air from Tokyo Haneda, is about fifty minutes away by car.
journeys
Yufuin on a private journey
We bring guests to Yufuin on the Custom Tour of Japan, created around your party alone, on your dates, with your own Tour Director.
questions
Yufuin: questions answered
Is Yufuin worth visiting?
Yes, for anyone who loves ryokan. Yufuin has kept its valley rural by choice since the 1970s, and its inns, set in their own gardens with private onsen, are among the most admired in Japan.
How do you get to Yufuin from Fukuoka?
By the Yufuin no Mori express from Hakata Station, about two and a quarter hours, or by private car in about two hours.
How many nights should you stay in Yufuin?
Two nights at a good ryokan suits most journeys, and three if you would like to see Beppu and the shrines of the Kunisaki Peninsula by day.
What is the difference between Yufuin and Beppu?
Yufuin is a quiet onsen town of ryokan in a farming valley; Beppu is a city on the sea, with steam rising across its hillsides and its famous hells. They are half an hour apart and pair well.
Do Yufuin ryokan have private onsen?
Yes. Many of the best ryokan in Yufuin give each suite its own onsen, often open-air, alongside larger shared onsen in the garden.
Can you see Mount Yufu from the town?
Yes. Mount Yufu stands directly over the basin and is seen from almost every street, from the rice fields and from Lake Kinrin.
Can Yufuin be part of a private tour of Japan?
Yes. The Custom Tour of Japan is created around your party alone, on your dates, with your own Tour Director, and it can go anywhere in the country, Yufuin included. If you would rather travel independently, the Expert Japan Itinerary plans every day for you.
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Yufuin, planned for you.
Tell us when you would like to travel and what draws you to Yufuin, and we will answer with a Custom Tour of Japan created around your party alone, or, if you would rather travel independently, an Expert Japan Itinerary that plans every day for you.