Yufuin Akarinoyado

The restroom is outside. You can book a private onsen for 40 minutes per room. If you want to bathe, you’ll have to wait until 21:40-9:00.

We enjoyed the stay, and the location was handy for exploring on foot. There are free bicycle rentals too, first come, first served, with each rental limited to two hours. The hotel is small and has different room types, from twin rooms with hotel beds to larger tatami rooms. The onsen are mostly unavailable until nighttime, and a room usually gets one private time slot for a bath of your choice, so you can’t expect open access to the facilities. Smaller rooms also don’t include a bathroom, as other reviews mention. The rooftop bath water was colder than we expected, but otherwise we had no complaints.

There’s no flexibility if you want to bathe at a reasonable hour. The baths are all private until 9:40 at night, so if you’re in a room without a bath and can’t get a booking, you’re out of luck getting clean before then. Those rooms really have no facilities at all, not even elsewhere on the same floor. After using the toilet, you have to wash your hands in the kitchen, and you have to go there to brush your teeth too. The setup seems to aim for both a regular onsen and private bathing, but it doesn’t work well as either. There’s no rotation between baths, so the guys get the downstairs indoor one and the ladies get the nicer one upstairs. I’ve had baths at a Route Inn with more atmosphere, and the water isn’t hot either, as others have said. The “cheap” rooms aren’t even cheap. I’d choose a Route Inn instead. I wouldn’t recommend staying here if you want to use an onsen when it suits you.

The service was great. I left my tablet behind, and they were helpful and sent it to my next hotel. I stayed three nights, and the best things about the place were the three cats and the onsen.