3 and 4 November 2024
Located at the foot of Mount Yufu, Yufuin Onsen is one of the most popular resort towns in Japan. This small onsen town, which is less well-known than the neighbouring Beppu Onsen, has a more scenic landscape with Mount Yufu in the background, Lake Kinrin, rice fields and a tranquil river flowing through it. This was why I chose this smaller town to stay instead of Beppu, which is a city.
I had made up my mind that we should splurge on an excellent ryokan in this onsen town on our first day in Kyushu. After a red eye flight to Kyushu and a day of driving to Yufuin on arrival, soaking one’s body in the hot spring bath and enjoying the region’s best food in a kaiseki dinner is the way to go.
There are many traditional ryokans and modern hotels scattered throughout the area and most had to be booked about 3 months in advance.
I booked a stay in the very expensive, yet popular Bettei Itsuki Ryokan. Each room in this ryokan has 2 private hot spring baths - an internal hot spring bath and an outdoor or semi-open hot spring bath.
The location of the ryokan is also very convenient although Yufuin is a small and very walkable town. Bettei Itsuki Ryokan is located about 5 minutes walk to the main shopping street and 10 minutes walk to the famous Lake Kinrin.
There are 14 independent cottages with different themes and atmospheres in this highly exclusive ryokan. All cottages are different in their floor map, interior design, and building materials that we could see during the booking process. I had chosen to stay in the Yamabuki room.
Check in time was 3 PM and we arrived at the ryokan at about 4.30 PM. During check in, we were asked to confirm the timings for our dinner and also breakfast the next day. Since we had planned to explore Yufuin town and take a bath before dinner, we chose the latest available time which was 7 PM.
Once the formalities were completed, a staff helped to transfer our luggage from our car to our cottage.
The cottages are well spaced out in a large garden to ensure privacy. We did not meet other guests in the ryokan during our stay even though the place was fully booked.
We went to Yufuin Floral Village, took a brief walk around part of Yunotsubo Kaido before coming back to our room by 6 PM.
Onsen time!
Private hot spring bath (onsen) in our room.
We made good use of the indoor onsen as it was a bit too dark to enjoy the outdoor one. The temperature of the free flowing hot spring was just right. There are cold and hot water valves that we could use to tune the water temperature if needed.
Yukatas are provided in each room and we have the option to wear them for meals in the dining hall. Why not?
It was fun to put on the yukatas for photos and to show the folks back home that we are in Japan!
In some ryokans, dinner is served in the room. In this ryokan, we had to walk to the dining hall which was also the place where we did the check-in.
Building where the lobby and dining rooms are located.
A warm fire was burning in the center of the lobby. We were shown to a private room where our kaiseki dinner would be served.
Burning fire wood at the cosy and warm lobby area.
Lobby area.
A young man who speaks English was our server for the kaiseki dinner. He introduced the drinks menu which included free flow of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Alcoholic drinks include draft beer, whiskey highball, red wine, white wine and sparkling wine, Japanese sake, shochu made from potato, shochu made from wheat and liquer. Sake has slightly lesser alcoholic content than shochu, so my wife and I chose the Chiebijin sake that was offered.
The sake was served in a metal container that was the size of a soda can. The sake was easy to drink. But my wife found it a little strong. She ordered a non-alcoholic plum wine later during our meal and I get to finish her portion of sake.
The kaiseki dinner in a ryokan is something I looked forward to. Kaiseki is a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner that is equivalent to the Western fine dining where the food is artistically plated.
The first course served was the appetiser dish that came beautifully plated. The appetiser dish consists of the following elements:
- Ham with potato, sour cream and caviar (lower part of plate)
- Grilled eel and fried burdock cube with balsamic seasoning.
- Grilled scallops and turnip with caponata style sauce.
The second course called the Hassun course sets the seasonal theme. It consists of a sampler of seasonal ingredients from the mountains and seas, presented on a beautiful tray.
This beautifully plated Hassun Dish is for two persons. The yellow chrysanthemum petals on glossy black glass plate were very striking.
The Hassun dish consists of:
- Fruit with tofu dressing, crab and salmon roe served in the eye shaped bowl.
- Roast duck under marmalade sauce in the yellow plate.
- Camenbert cheese and cracker.
- Seared beltfish and stripped jack sashimi and deep-fried puffer fish (fugu) served in the long white plate.
- Monkfish liver (ankimo). This foie gras of the sea is a delicacy in Japan and is prized for its rich, buttery flavor and smooth, creamy texture.
- Creme brulee.
The fruit with tofu dressing, crab and salmon roe in the eye shaped bowl is really delicious, well balanced dish with sweet crab and salty roe. The green stuff is made from wasabi leaves.
Puffer fish or fugu is a poisonous fish that is a popular delicacy in Japan. We were reassured by our server that the fugu is expertly prepared and safe to eat. The fried fugu actually tastes like fried chicken, so it is not worth the risk to eat fugu.
Fried fugu tasted like chicken.
The Suimono was served in a delicate, lidded lacquered bowl. When we opened it, we were pleasantly surprised by the colourful picture of Mount Yufu under the cover.
The underside of the bowl cover featured Mount Yufu with its twin peaks.
The bowl contained turnip puree, deep fried silver cod and taro in broth. Thin slices of yuzu skin added acidity to the fish and yam soup.
After the soup course, we were served the Seasonal Course. It contained layered grilled spanish mackerel and eggplant with tempura of Shiitake mushroom and green chilli. The dish was garnished with yellow gingko nuts on skewers and a slice of lemon for the grilled fish.
Seasonal course for November.
Before we were served the grilled course we had a small bowl of grape fruit pudding as a palate cleanser.
Palate Cleanser – Grape Fruit Pudding
The Yakimono or Grilled Dish is Oita Wagyu Steak served in a plate with holes at the side. Steam was emitting from the holes to show that we are eating from a steam-heated plate instead of a sizzling metal hotplate that may overcook the perfectly cooked steak. High grade wagyu beef is always the highlight of a kaiseki meal and this beef from the Oita region did not disappoint.
Oita Wagyu Steak with steam coming out from holes in the plate.
The Rice dish consists of local Oita rice (Hitomebore), with assorted side dishes and miso soup. Hitomebore is a Japanese rice variety that is known for its sweetness, stickiness, and chewy texture.
Rice dish with side dishes and miso soup.
The side dishes are (from left): fish sashimi with soya sauce, braised beef in broth inside the orange bowl, yam, grilled salmon, Japanese jelly and a salty delicious stuff with slices of cucumber.
The entire meal took almost 2 hours and it was a very nice experience.
I had another soak in the indoor hot spring bath after dinner before going to bed early. My wife who skipped the after-dinner onsen was already in bed when I finished my soak.
Our room came with Western-style beds instead of futons over tatami mats, so we had a more comfortable sleep.
Early to bed and early to rise. We woke up early the next morning to take a short walk to Lake Kinrin.
During autumn and winter months, you could see the magical scene of Lake Kinrin enveloped in a morning mist, if we were lucky. It is said that the mist is actually steam coming off the lake, which contains hot springs.
We woke up at 6 AM to see the misty sunrise over Lake Kinrin.
We spend quite some time enjoying the morning at the lake and snapping lots of photo of the misty lake.
We had booked our breakfast for 8 AM during check in. We did a brisk walk back to the lobby of our ryokan as we did not want to be late. In Japan, time is equated with respect and we made it back, just in time.
A wood fire burning in the warm and cosy lobby.
Yufuin Bettei Itsuki serves an excellent American style breakfast, absolutely rare among Japanese hot spring ryokans.
We sat in a private room with views of a garden. Almost everything on the table is “made in Yufuin”, including vegetables from local farms and fresh bread from local bakeries. Even the apple juice was freshly made, probably from Fuji apples.
Western-style spread for breakfast in a private room.
Nicely decorated room with view of the garden and mountains in the background.
Three types of bread from a local bakery. We finished almost everything! It was that good.
Honey, mango puree, kiwi jam and butter that we ate with the bread. The staff recommended that we add some to the yogurt too.
Yogurt was best eaten with honey, mango puree and kiwi jam mixed in it.
A bowl of hot soup.
Main course in the breakfast was fluffy omelette, sausages, ham, quiche and fresh salad.
I made full use of the ryokan’s onsen after breakfast. Our room (Yamabuki) has a semi-open onsen. The hot spa is enclosed in a little hut located in our private garden just behind our room. The semi-outdoor onsen at the Yamabuki room. We had to walk up a few steps made of rocks to get to it.
Inside the hut is the hot spring with steam lit by the morning sun filtering through the movable wooden slats. When the slats were opened, I could see a man working on the rice fields slightly below the elevated position of our hot spring hut. I actually preferred to watch the steam swirling in the sunrays in front of me with the slats closed.
The free flowing hot spring water at this ryokan is pure and natural.
Enjoying the soak while watching the steam swirling in the sunrays in front of me.
All good things must come to an end, sadly. We had to check out by 10 AM.
End of our ryokan experience in Yufuin and ready for the next one in Kurokawa Onsen.
We left our car in the ryokan while we went to explore Yufuin’s Yunotsubo Kaido Street before driving to the next onsen town in Kyushu.
Kurokawa Onsen, here we come!
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