Best Luxury Ryokans in Yufuin and Beppu
Beppu makes the steam; Yufuin, over the ridge, makes the calm. Oita's four catalogue stays split neatly between three intimate Yufuin ryokans and auberges and one full-service luxury hotel in Beppu. Compare both when deciding between a quiet hot-spring town and ANA InterContinental Beppu Resort & Spa.
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The old guard of Yufuin
Yufuin's reputation was built by a handful of ryokan that chose gardens and quiet over scale. Kamenoi Besso set the tone decades ago with cottages in a wooded garden, and Yufuin Tamanoyu carried it on nearby — both two- and one-Key houses that feel like private country estates rather than hotels. This is the Yufuin people mean when they say the town changed how Japan thinks about onsen.
The new arrival
The town's newest rated name works in a different key. ENOWA YUFUIN is a two-Key auberge built around its own farm and a free-flowing spring, cooking from what it grows and leaning hard into sustainability — the kind of house that tells you where Yufuin is heading next. Together with the old guard, it makes a two-night stay easy to justify.
Beppu: a full-service luxury resort
For a luxury hotel in Beppu rather than a small ryokan, ANA InterContinental Beppu Resort & Spa is the catalogue choice. It belongs in the same Oita comparison, but offers a larger resort format than the three Yufuin stays.
Luxury stays in Yufuin and Beppu
Check rates at ENOWA YUFUIN
Listed alphabetically. Prices and cancellation terms differ between them, and this page does not see either — it is worth opening more than one.
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Yufuin or Beppu for the onsen?
Beppu is bigger, steamier and famous for its "hells" — the bubbling coloured springs you visit, not bathe in. Yufuin is quieter and prettier, and where the rated ryokan are. Many people see Beppu by day and sleep in Yufuin, about 25 minutes apart.
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