When we arrived at Yufuin it was after 2pm. While we had expected the town to be crowded it’s beyond our expectations on a Friday that it was like in some kind of long holidays – many cars were roaming around apart from crowds.
After parking the car nearby we dashed to Snoopy Cafe (that we had visited twice prior to covid) expecting a long queue but it turned out it had moved to a new location closer to Kinrin-ko. Due to immense crowds along the main shopping avenue we decided to have coffee right away.
Checked into onsen hotel for 2 nights – our 5th stay in Yufuin. Picked this hotel as it served western meals – time for a break. It was surrounded by a forest on the hillside with sakura blooming at about 50%. The shared rotenburo was not that spacious so after soaking in it we reserved a slot in its private rotenburo (first-come-first-served in 3 discrete huts) on next morning. Dinner and breakfast were sumptuous and delicious. It was full house in the dining hall.
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After breakfast on next morning we headed to Nagayu onsen Shidarezakura-no-sato 「長湯温泉しだれ桜の里」. It took roughly an hour via national roads. It occupies a huge area with over 2,500 sakura trees re its official website with Kuju mountains as backdrop. While some early-blooming sakura varieties were in full bloom, others have just started blooming at 10%. Apart from temporary food stalls, live performance with a lady singing old hits accompanied by a saxophone, including いい日旅立ち (“good day to start travelling”). We enjoyed it under the warm sun with light breeze at around 25C. Stayed there for about 90 min and left for lunch.
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Drove to nearby Nagayu onsen town in 10-15 min. Strolled around it including the public bathhouse. re the local board the onsen is carbonated, good for drinking and possess healing properties. However, it had a strong metallic taste – not so palatable to me.
Dropped into a local family-run shokudo ordered udon and yaki-soba for casual lunch. Menu items were inexpensive overall.
Returned to Yufuin and checked into a local small coffee house with nice internal decor playing jazz music. Apart from us only one table was occupied by a local family. We’d definitely return to this serene coffee house next time in Yufuin.
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Dinner in an Italian restaurant – our 2nd visit since Jan 2020. There were more customers so this time our table was not facing Mt Yufu. Dinner was sumptuous and delicious.
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==========> Beppu ===========>