05-25-09 Soaking in Yufuin
Posted in Trip North on 06/02/2009 06:54 am by ScottToday we checked out of our hostel in Beppu and took a bus to the small resort town of Yufuin. When searching for hotels, Risa narrowed our options down to two places. One was a converted house turned b&b, and the other was a real hotel with an onsen. The hotel was only $3 more, so we went with that one. Good thing we did, because when we arrived, we learned that we were the only people staying there! That meant that we got the hotel onsen all to ourselves!
We spent the afternoon at the most famous onsen in the city, and one of the top 20 onsens in Japan, Musouen Onsen. For an incredibly low price of $7, we got a private outdoor onsen with a great view of Yufu mountain. We also could go to the much larger separated onsens. The womens onsen is 150jou, the mens is 100jou. (1 Jou is the size of a tatami mat) Musouen is fantastic. Clean, cheap, huge, great views, and they provide soap!
Yufuin is a resort town that mainly caters to older crowds. The result is that all the shops close their doors at 5:30. This bummed me out because I really wanted to get a Yufu burger for dinner, but even the restaurants are closed at 5:30! Don’t these people eat?
Tomorrow we are renting a car and taking a day trip to Mt Aso! All the guide books say to go with the JR rental car place by the train station, but we found a much better deal with the Budget rental car place. If you’re ever in Yufuin, rent a car from Budget! You get the car for 2 hours longer and for a cheaper price!
this is a quite interesting story