Beppu Onsen Hotel Shiragiku
別府温泉 ホテル白菊
Area photo — not the ryokan itself · Beppu city and its hot-spring steam, Oita · Japanexperterna / CC BY-SA 3.0
A big, mostly tatami-room hotel-ryokan near Beppu Station, loved for its free welcome lounge, pâtissier-made breakfast sweets and a 265-tatami free-flowing bath — but it's a 1970s tower with busy shared baths, some thin walls and a 2026 data-breach notice
Hotel Shiragiku began in 1957 as the Shiragiku-sō inn at Kamitanoyu and grew into a 12-storey main building (1973) with east and west wings; the company counts 90 rooms, and one booking site lists 45 Japanese, 15 Japanese-Western and 12 Western rooms. Its draw is food and free extras rather than seclusion. On arrival, guests drink wine, local sake and shōchū and graze on sweets in the 12th-floor lounge over Beppu Bay (15:00–17:30); after the bath there are free ice lollies, coffee and, at night, a limited homemade pudding. Dinner is a 'modern kaiseki' with French and Italian touches in the top-floor dining room, kaiseki in your room, or a private-room restaurant, Kikusaiko; breakfast is an 80-dish buffet with more than 15 pâtissier-made cakes. The two bath houses use the inn's own sodium bicarbonate spring, free-flowing with water added to cool it, and swap daily between men and women. Most recent evidence comes from booking-site reviews rather than blogs: 4.6 across 1,486 reviews on one major site (breakfast 4.9, service 4.8, dinner 4.7) and 4.54 across 1,467 on another. Guests from 2025 to 2026 praise the staff, the lounge and the breakfast sweets. Complaints: a 30-minute breakfast queue in summer 2026, tiny red worms in a washing area (September 2026), noise from next door, poor views from third-floor twins, leaves in the outdoor bath, children splashing in the bath, an ageing building, and one couple who felt ¥70,000 for two wasn't worth it. Two-meal stays usually run about ¥23,000–30,000+ per person.
Room Selection Guide
What the guests who stayed here actually recommendRecommended
Upper-floor rooms: Japanese 10-tatami (8F–9F, 45㎡) or Japanese-Western (10F–11F, 32–47㎡)
The higher floors are where the Beppu Bay and town views are; a November 2025 couple in a third-floor twin were disappointed by the view and were told the Japanese rooms go higher, so ask for an upper floor if the view matters. The standard Japanese rooms (37㎡) sit on floors 5–7, and reviewers from 2025–2026 describe the Japanese and Japanese-Western rooms as spacious and clean.
Kikumanyō spa suites (6F, 78–112㎡)
The only rooms with their own hot-spring bath — free-flowing spring water, usable any time — in five individually designed suites: three flat Japanese-Western rooms with an indoor onsen bath and two maisonettes with a hinoki half-open-air bath up a flight of stairs. Suite guests with dinner eat in the private-room restaurant Kikusaiko; they get Dyson dryers and MIKIMOTO hair care.
Request To Avoid
Third-floor twins — the Western rooms (main building, 26㎡) and Modern Japanese twins (west wing)
The cheapest rooms. The modern Japanese twins have a shower only, no bathtub (a summer 2026 guest chose one to save money and didn't mind), and the low floor means limited views (November 2025). An October 2025 guest could hear the neighbours clearly. The 4F Kicca rooms and the west-wing twins were renovated in January 2024.
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Dining Deep Dive
Breakfast Consensus
4.6/5An 80-dish Japanese and Western buffet with a live kitchen and more than 15 pâtissier-made cakes and pastries daily, served 7:00–9:00 in the top-floor Garland 12 — the inn's signature, rated 4.9 by guests on one major site, though the room is small and summer 2026 guests waited up to 30 minutes
Arrive by 15:00–17:00: the free welcome lounge (last entry 17:00) has wine, sake, shōchū, snacks and sweets, and a 2022 blogger urges checking in early — a September 2026 couple arrived too late for it. Group-tour guests are excluded. Go to breakfast early to avoid the queue. Parking is free (70 cars), and luggage is held before check-in.
Dinner Insights
4.5/5Three options: a 'modern kaiseki' blending Japanese cooking with French and Italian touches in the top-floor Garland 12 with views over the bay (two seatings, 18:00 and 19:30); creative kaiseki served course by course in your room (start 17:00–19:00); or Kikusaiko, eight private tatami rooms with tables (from ¥18,150 per person, reservation only, closed Wednesdays). Menus feature Bungo beef, Seki horse mackerel and kabosu flounder. A 2022 blogger loved the Seki isaki sushi and the Bungo beef hotpot, and 2025–2026 reviewers praise the dashi and the pan-fried fish. Critics noted only two slices of Seki aji (October 2025), no Seki aji at all on another night, and a menu that changes little year to year.
Onsen & Wellness Realities
The inn's own spring: a sodium bicarbonate spring (former 'jūsō-sen') at 50°C, about 60 litres a minute. The inn describes it as free-flowing (kakenagashi), with water added to bring the temperature down; guests describe it as slightly silky.
Two large bath houses swap daily between men and women (15:00–1:00 and 5:00–10:00). Kusu-yudono covers 265 tatami, with a hinoki gasshō-style indoor bath and a huge outdoor bath under a camphor tree over 100 years old; Kiku-yudono has a garden outdoor bath with a stone pagoda, the 'Ao no Dōkutsu' (blue-green cave) bath with bubbles, a rock bath used as a natural steam bath, and three indoor baths. There's a shampoo bar with 20+ kinds. No private (kashikiri) baths; only the five Kikumanyō suites have their own onsen. Guests love the size but call the layout maze-like and the walk long, and mention leaves in the outdoor bath, children playing in it (October 2025) and tiny red worms in the washing area (September 2026).
No policy found on the official site or Japanese booking sites — contact the inn.
Local Warnings & Nuances
- 01
Check-in 15:00, check-out 11:00 (plans can differ). Check-in is done in your room.
- 02
This is a large hotel-style ryokan in a 1970s–80s tower with banquet halls and a karaoke lounge, not a small hideaway; several 2025–2026 reviewers mention the ageing building.
- 03
In August 2026 the inn reported that malware on one PC led to a leak of guests' names, addresses, phone numbers and emails from its booking system, for reservations made up to 8 April 2026 (no card details). Be wary of messages asking for card numbers.
- 04
Families are common: 2025–2026 reviewers came with babies and primary-school children, and children got substitute dishes at dinner. Some adults found children noisy in the outdoor bath.
- 05
Breakfast-only plans are popular and leave you free to eat around Beppu Station; the lounge and post-bath snacks are included either way.
Sources
The real blog posts and stay reports this article draws on
More Consensus Reports
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10 sources
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Kitahama, Beppu, Oita — on the Beppu Bay seafront in the city centre, about 10 minutes on foot from JR Beppu Station or 10 minutes by car from the Beppu IC
10 sources
KAI Beppu
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Kengo Kuma's bayfront 'onsen town under one roof': sea views from all 68 rooms and a festival in the lobby every night — but a small shared bath, shower-only standard rooms and uneven 2026 dinners
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Fuyacho-Anekoji, Nakagyo, Kyoto — in the city centre, a short walk from Kyoto City Hall
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Kyoto's 1818 inn of writers and film stars — near-flawless service and kaiseki, koyamaki-wood baths, and no hot spring
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Photo credits: Beppu city and its hot-spring steam, Oita · Japanexperterna / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Hiiragiya — the frontage on Anekoji-dori, Kyoto · Mariemon / CC BY 3.0
Beppu Onsen Hotel Shiragiku
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