Yukai Resort Unzen Onsen Unzen Toyokan

My room was nice, spacious, and comfortable, with a lovely lake view. Staying in a hotel with tatami was a great experience for a tourist, though getting up from the floor was hard on my knees, and I’m not that old. The building layout was strange and confusing. Elevators A, B, and C don’t all go to the same places. A is by the lobby, while B and C go to the restaurant, and you can’t get to A from either of those.

The hotel is extremely old and outdated. I wouldn’t recommend the rooftop open-air bath. The brochure said a day-use ticket cost 700 yen, but the price on site was 1,000 yen. Staff explained that it was because there were more guests that day, which I found unbelievable. If you’re not staying overnight, I’d go to a different hot spring.

I wouldn’t recommend staying here yet. The food and drinks were all great, but the buffet dining setup was chaotic and could feel intimidating if you haven’t done an Asian buffet before. It’s every person for themselves. The staff were super friendly, and their English was the best I’ve come across in Japan. They could use more help in the dining area, though. The staff are good but overworked. The rooms desperately need renovation. They feel tired, almost like a haunted, abandoned hotel, and must have last been redone over 30 years ago.

We had to leave a day early and find another hotel after a thoroughly unpleasant stay. On the first floor, our room filled with extremely strong sulphur fumes from the nearby volcano overnight, even with every window closed. It was hard to breathe, we got almost no sleep, and we ended up running the air conditioning full blast and leaving the hallway door open to clear the smell. The hotel has around 500 rooms and was extremely busy, so there wasn’t really anyone available to discuss the problem. Checkout was through a self-service computer, and we couldn’t get help. Later, the hotel didn’t respond when we tried to contact them for some kind of resolution, or even an apology. Even setting that aside, we didn’t enjoy the place. It’s far too large and crowded, and dinner and breakfast buffets felt like a zoo. Japanese people are usually polite and courteous, but with over 100 people at a buffet it became a bit of a free-for-all mess. Our level-one room was also old and tired. There weren’t any real redeeming qualities.