Name: Yamanohotel Musouen
Address: 1243 Yufuinchokawaminami, Hiji, Hiji, Hiji, 879-5103, Japan
Rating: 9

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Oita Airport

Yamanohotel Musouen

Hiji

My buddy & I stayed at 山のホテル 夢想園 (Yama no Hotel Musouen) in mid-March 2023. From food to room service, everything was perfect. The food served was plated with such elegance, and tasted delicious. 

The outdoor hot spring is awesome with a magnificent view of Mount Yufu which made people want to soak in at all times. The staff is very welcoming and friendly as well. We will definitely love to visit again. 

We strongly recommend the hotel.


Strongly recommended. Superb

We stayed in a 3 room special room with irori.  Extremely generous in size.  Private outside bath, charcoal pit, the surprises kept coming.  the ladies outdoor onsen is huge with a mountain view. Several private baths you can use when free.  Food was amazing with local produce. Why stay in an ordinary onsen when you xan experience this. Highly recommended.

Top notch onsen experience

This was such a lovely experience and I’ll remember it forever. The women’s onsen was the most spectacular I have ever seen and just so beautiful; the photos really don’t do it justice. The hotel itself is fairly decrepit (all sort of rusted faded glory, the corridors look like they’ve been untouched in fifty years) - so definitely not a luxury ryokan. But it is spotlessly clean, comfortable rooms and had lovely retro styling (especially the gorgeous cafe and change rooms). The garden is to die for and makes for beautiful photos. The dinner was neither here nor there but they were great at accommodating my vegetarian request and it’s served in a lovely room. But the staff are what made it all so special - the kindest, warmest ladies you could imagine. On a practical note - Yufuin town is pretty awful (touristy and junky) so don’t bank on spending any time there. If you’re touring the area I found Michelle Mackintosh’s book “onsens of Japan” very helpful and great tips for day bathing, hotels etc. Thank you Musouen for being so charming and a wonderful memory.

A perfect stay at a special place

My friend and I booked here for a night on our way back from Beppu and we are sure glad that we did!  We had a half Japanese half western room with a nice view and plenty of space. Very traditional Japanese style inn with amazing outdoor bath options including free rental of private bathes. Food was terrific, grounds were beautiful but what really made it for us was the amazing staff. All were very accommodating, friendly and welcoming. Only challenge (for some) is a lot of stairs and slopes to go anywhere since it is built on a hillside, though that is why the views are amazing. And our futons were not comfortable....but I’m still giving it a five!

Really great stay, very friendly staff

Great experience in here. People are friendly, and the meal are tasty.
They also have several choice for Onsen, you can choose private or public. 
It almost takes 30 minute if you went to hotel by walking and enjoy the scene in Yufuin. 700-800 yen for Taxi from Yufuin station.

Feeling relax

As I went to Yufuin with my wife, we visited this hotel to take a bath. Even you don’t overnight at this hotel, you can use its bathing facilities by paying about $6. The water is real Onsen : hot springs. The bathing areas are outdoor and you can enjoy a nice view of surrounding mountains. 

Nice Onsen

Depending on where we come from, even if the journey is long, the view from the baths is just gorgeous. We didn't regret for a moment that we made the trip. A huge mountain and on the other axis of view, a beautiful group of trees in the middle of the koyo. Especially if you go there in November, you will have the beautiful daylight that lights up Mount Yufu and the red-leaved trees in the fall. The rooms are very simple and stripped down but we don't stay there, the bath call will get you out of it. The kitchen is delicious. We had a successful evening service that we loved.

Dreaming of outdoor baths

Hotel provides free shuttle transportation from station every 30 minutes from 9am to 5pm on a call basis, which is great for tourists to travel around Yufuin station area. All the service men and women are polite and sincere, and one of the service women not only personally show us the room and facilities, make up beds, but also arrange for Japanese desserts and tea service to welcome our visit. 

There are total five different kinds of exterior hot spas, 1 for men, 2 for women, 4 smaller one for family, and no reservation required. You can enjoy the stunning view of Mt. Yufu and whole Yufuin town when relaxing in the spa. 

The meal is what I think the most impressive part of the stay. Dinner and breakfast are served in Japanese style restaurant, with heater to warm your feet when dining. Instead of putting all food on the table at once, the dishes are served sequentially based on your dinning speed, and the Japanese cuisine served here is quite delicious and the food amount is sufficient. The service woman is also pretty nice and polite, and she explained to us the dish just served in Japanese and acceptable English. Breakfast is served in set instead of buffet style, but still quite sufficient even for men.

I lost my watch during spa moment, and they happen to find it and return it to me unharmed, really appreciate their efforts. During checkout, we also received a small gift from them showing their appreciation regarding our stay. In short, Yufuin is a great place for spa-lovers, and it's the one I will definitely come and Musouen will still be my first choice for accommodation.

The dinner and the service are the hightlight of Musouen

I booked this onsen hotel via the Japs website and thought I got a good deal.  One night stay with breakfast and dinner for 2 persons at Yen31,000.  Room is clean and I also got good view of the Yufuin mountain, which is really good.  Onsen is also very spacious and there are also private outdoor onsen available for private use without surcharge on a first come first serve basis.  However, when I expect everything is quite nice, the dining at this hotel was found to be terrible.  The dinner cuisine was the worst I have ever experienced, not only in onsen hotel, but in any dining venues you can imagine.  It is a Japansese traditional dinner with 7-8 courses but the food is of the lowest grade and no freshness at all.  Maybe it is due to the plan I booked is not the top priced one.  However, there is no mentioning on the variety and quality of the food when I booked.  I am not comparing it to the quality of any fair Japanese dinner.  It is even worse than the cheapest Japanese cuisine you will find in a normal restaurant for just Yen1000.  Not even one dish among the 8-9 courses is up to a fair standard.  This spoiled the original pleasant experience with the good onsen and splendid view of Yufuin mountain.  The take away of this story is do not always expect Japanese food is of good quality.  Next time when you book an onsen hotel with meals, do not go for the cheapest option offered by a hotel and you will run the risk of ruining the stay.

Remember to order better food at an onsen hotel

We are family of 3 adults to share a 8 tatami size room in early November. This room size is the smallest we have ever stayed in Japan. We stayed in 3 Onsen hotels respctively in Beppu, Kurokawa & here for our 6 day trip in Kyushu. Although the room was very small, they provided the best service & Onsen facilities. No wonder they rank so higher in the area. Our caretaker Shimono San is a young lady just moved to Yufuin for 2 months. She took good care of us during our stay. 

They have well maintained Onsen facilities. My sister & I tried the big public outdoor pool which is the biggest size I have ever visited in Japan. My husband & I found the private outdoor pool really good too.

Yamanohotel Musouen

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