JPN: Yufuin Kotobuki Hananosho

2900-5 Yufuincho Kawakami, Yufuin, Oita, Japan

All these while, I'd always been wanting to book a hotel room with private open-air hot spring bath. My prayer was answered as I chanced upon Yufuin Kotobuki Hananosho (3*), an accommodation that's located close to Yufuin railway station, while doing my trip research. Opened in 1995, the hotel has got 50 guest rooms.



My BFFs and I reached the hotel a few minutes past noon to drop our luggage first as we could only check in to our room at 2.00pm, a relatively early timing for a Japanese hotel.


My name looks jarring on that board.
We came back to the hotel at around 5.00pm after exploring Yufuin.

Enjoying the tranquil atmosphere of the lobby area~


There's a tea bar, but I didn't see any staff there throughout my stay.

After getting our key and retrieving our luggage, we went up to our room on the second floor.



Asahi beer, anyone?
Welcome to our spacious Japanese style room!

I believe the maximum capacity for the room that we booked is 5 pax.


Thank you for the crackers seasoned with yuzu (a species of aromatic Asiatic citron)!


Prior to the stay, the hotel sent an e-mail to ask about our gender for them to
prepare the yukata, a type of traditional garment.

We were certainly grateful for the amenities made available in the washroom.

I love the facial moisturising cream provided by the hotel.



Words can't express how much I really enjoyed my soak in the open-air bath.


Pikachu and Melon would also like to feel warm as the temperature outside was 6 degree Celsius.

Unwinding from the year's worth of muscle knots and stress~
Meals are served at the one and only restaurant located on the first floor. Hop on to my food blog to see what was served for dinner and breakfast the next day.


Why do you look so sad?

After dinner, we spent some time walking around inside the hotel building.



Till date, I've never actually sung karaoke in Japan.
There's a small room on the first floor near the gift shop with two vending machines selling drinks and cigarettes each.

Keep calm and "Drink Cigarette"!

As we tried to find our way to the public bath, we walked through a corridor lined with posters of Noh, a major form of classical Japanese performance that has been around since the 14th century. The hotel hosts such performances in September every year.

The corridor may be rather creepy for some.



Though we didn't try the public bath, we did take a quick look inside. I couldn't take any photos, of course.

The male public bath is given the name Yama No Yu (lit. Mountain Bath),
while the female public bath is called Hana No Yu (lit. Flower Bath).



In the morning, something caught my eyes as I happened to look through one of the windows along a corridor. What's a cow statue doing up there?


Anyway, Mount Yufu can be seen from the room.



I felt so sad when I had to return the key at the reception desk and said goodbye to the hotel


Thank you for the warm hospitality!

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