Yufuin with its retro streets and wonderful scenery
This onsen resort which has garnered national acclaim is an area of high quality in name and reality. Filled with agriculture thanks to the blessing of abundant pure water, delicious cuisine using fresh ingredients from the local farms can be savored at every ryokan. It all begins from the 1,583m-high Mt. Yufu and Lake Kinrin from where the hot springs and pure water originate. This is the ideal onsen region with its calm and beautiful scenery, delicious food, and tourist sites which can be visited through a leisurely stroll to ease away the day’s fatigues. If you walk straight from JR Yufuin Station, there is the boulevard known as Yu-no-Tsubo Road. There are plenty of establishments there including souvenir shops dealing in handicrafts and original goods, stylish cafés, and approximately 70 restaurants, some of which have takeout menus so that you can take that walk while noshing on something. Enjoy that 30-minute walk up to the Lake Kinrin vicinity.
Art and relaxation in that open-air bath with the superb view
Yufuin has also been dubbed Art Town with approximately 20 art museums such as the Norman Rockwell Yufuin Art Museum featuring the works of the popular American artist, the Marc Chagall Yufuin Lake Kinrin Art Museum where you can enjoy the paintings of the master of abstract art, and the Yufuin Stained Glass Art Museum which displays antique stained glass works. From JR Yufuin Station, the horse carriage is also popular as a 40-year-old tourist activity which has been moving people about through the rural landscape. It’s definitely recommended for visitors to take their time and stay overnight at one of the ryokans, but even for those who are on just a day trip, there is the Yama-no-Hotel Musouen, a 600-year-old onsen ryokan which boasts a huge open-air bath (separated into male and female areas) where you can get a great view of Mt. Yufu. There is also a bath for families at Musouen so that they can enjoy a bath by themselves only.