During your Japan planning, you may have come across the small town of Yufuin (湯布院町) in Yufu City of Oita Prefecture. It’s one of the areas on Japan’s southern Kyushu Island.
Yufuin is a small hot spring (onsen) town and has plenty of things to do. It’s a mix of tourist attractions, arts and cultural experiences, beautiful landscapes, and even outdoor adventures on Mount Yufu. It’s also convenient to visit as a day trip from Fukuoka, Oita, and Beppu via public transportation.
So, if you’re debating whether to visit this area, Justin and I share our top reasons why you should add Yufuin Town to your itinerary.
We had 1 full day including an overnight stay in Yufuin and loved our experience. After staying in Fukuoka’s Hakata for a few days, it was nice to visit a quieter town and just relax.
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Yufuin is a hot spring (onsen) town.
Yufu City is recognized as a “National Health Onsen Resort” due to the 800+ hot spring sources and releasing 41,000 liters of water per minute in total.
If you love visiting the hot springs, then Yufuin should be high on your travel bucket list!
We love spending at least 1 night at a ryokan (guesthouse) with an onsen. Relaxing in the public bath and hot spring at the end of the day is truly heavenly. Our skin feels so smooth after a soak.
This town has a handful of places to consider if you decide to stay overnight. Depending on the accommodation, there are shared and private onsens available.
The ryokans may also have breakfast and dinner included in the price so you can try the local cuisine.
Click here to see Yufuin accommodation options on Booking.com
Check availability for Yufuin on Agoda here
Our Recommendation: Yufudake Ichibo no Yado Kirara
We stayed at Yufudake Ichibo no Yado Kirara for 1 night. It’s located on a hillside slightly outside the main town area.
What we loved about this place was that our room had our own private hot spring! It was super convenient to hop into the onsen at any time.
We’ll have a blog post about our stay at Kirara soon.
Check out availability for Kirara here on Booking.com
Click here to see availability for Kirara on Agoda
Note: If you cannot spend the night in Yufuin, consider staying at Beppu. It’s a large hot spring town with more ryokan options, so accommodation prices are slightly cheaper than in Yufuin.
Check out availability for Beppu accommodations here on Booking.com
Click here to see availability in Beppu on Agoda
We stayed in Beppu for one evening on our first trip to Kyushu Island. We didn’t stay at an onsen, so we will return to try one on a future trip.
It’s a cute town that is very walkable.
As you know, we love walking around and exploring and Yufuin town fits this criteria.
The main town area is flat so it’s suitable for everyone to walk. Many attractions are within a 20 to 25-minute walk from the Yufuin Station, the main starting point for any itinerary.
Yunotsubo Kaido Street is a central location with attractions, shopping, restaurants, and cafes. While the streets are slightly narrow, there aren’t too many cars and large buses that pass by. You will need to stand off to the side whenever a vehicle comes.
Yufuin has adorable souvenir shops to buy snacks and gifts.
Yufuin Floral Village is one attraction that looks like you’re on a Harry Potter Movie set. It’s a mini recreation of England’s Cotswold area and it’s an adorable place (albeit very small.) There are animals here so kids will like this attraction.
You’ll also see fun character shops such as Miffy and Snoopy!
The beautiful Kirin Lake is another highlight of this town and you can walk around the lake at a leisure pace.
It’s not too crowded.
Compared to the larger cities of Fukuoka and Kumamoto, Yufuin doesn’t have the huge Disneyland crowds. It’s a nice reprieve from the larger cities. Visiting on the weekdays will have fewer crowds.
Once the day trippers leave, the town is super quiet. So it’s the perfect destination to just unwind at night and early in the morning.
The beautiful rice fields
We visited Yufuin at the beginning of June and on our way to our ryokan, we passed by many rice fields on Sangu Street. It was gorgeous seeing the young rice plants sprouting from the ground.
The backdrop of Mount Yufu at 1,584 meters (5,197 feet) high made the view extra special.
I love seeing rice fields on my travels and the ones at Yufuin were just planted on our visit.
Outdoor adventurers will enjoy climbing Mount Yufu.
Mount Yufu (also known as Mount Fuji of Bungo Area or Bungofuji) is easily seen from town. The cone-shaped mountain top with the two peaks is a unique feature.
Hiking Mt Yufu is doable with some preparation and training. The summit is at 1,584 meters (5,197 feet) high. It’ll take between 2-3 hours one way to reach the top from one of the trails. You’ll get the chance to see the seasonal flowers and viewpoints along the way.
We recommend reading this Yufuin Hiking Map guide for more details.
We haven’t had a chance to hike Mount Yufu, so we’ll do that on a return trip.
Yufuin is gorgeous with the rice fields and Mount Yufu views
We have a couple of blog posts to help you prepare for your hike:
Art lovers will enjoy the architecture and art museums.
Yufuin has a few iconic buildings such as Yufuin Station and Yufu City Tourist Information Center.
Yufuin Station was designed by a local Oita architect, Arata Isozaki, who won a Pritzker Architecture Prize, a world’s architecture award in 2019.
Shigeru Ban, another Pritzker Architecture Prize winner, designed Yufu City Tourist Information Center. The Y-shaped pillars and wooden beams provide the building an open and contemporary look.
For those who like museums, here are two to check out:
- Comico Art Museum is a contemporary art museum in the main area of Yufuin town. Enjoy the eclectic artworks of Yayoi Kusama, who is famous for the pumpkin art with black dots, and Takashi Murakami, who is well-known for the colorful smiling flowers. We visited this place for an hour and enjoyed most of the artwork. We’ll have a blog post about the Comico Art Museum soon.
- Yufuin Stained Glass Museum is another museum to visit if you like stained glass. We didn’t know about this place until after we left Yufuin, so we’ll visit on a return trip.
The delicious local cuisine
The town has plenty of dining options to try the local cuisine.
- You will see Oita Bungo Beef on a stick. This grilled beef is an Oita specialty and it’s on the fattier side.
- There are huge grilled crab meat as a snack. I think they’re large imitation crab meats though.
- Soba is another specialty. The noodles are made from buckwheat flour and pure natural water. It’s served either cold or hot. We recommend the soba at InakaAn 田舎庵 as the noodles were springy and delicious.
- Soft serve ice cream is everywhere in town. You can choose flavors such as milk, matcha, strawberry, and honey with a piece of honeycomb.
It’s easy to get to Yufuin for a day trip by bus or train.
Japan’s public transportation system is convenient to use, which is why many people visit Yufuin for the day from Fukuoka Hakata, Kumamoto, Oita, or Beppu City.
We have a blog post that covers how to get to Yufuin by bus or train here.
Final Thoughts
We highly recommend that you visit Yufuin if you have the chance. It’s a lovely place to visit to relax and stay overnight at an osen. We wouldn’t hesitate to return again!
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