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. 

 

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. 

 

 

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. 

 

 

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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