Kawakami, Yufuin, Yufu, Oita — beside Lake Kinrin

Kamenoi Bessou

Name: Yufuin's century-old forest retreat: Japanese guests rave about the space and the baths, and are more measured about the food
Item: Kamenoi Bessou
Rating: 4.4
Author: OKU

亀の井別荘

4.4/5Japanese Guest ConsensusAggregated from 6 Japanese guest blogs and stay reports

Area photo — not the ryokan itself · Mount Yufu from Yufuin Station · Kitayama / CC BY-SA 4.0

Japanese Guest Consensus

Yufuin's century-old forest retreat: Japanese guests rave about the space and the baths, and are more measured about the food

Kamenoi Bessou began in 1921 as a villa built by Kumahachi Aburaya, the figure behind Beppu's rise as a resort, and today it is a ryokan of six Western-style rooms in the main building and fifteen cottages set across a 30,000㎡ forest garden beside Lake Kinrin. The Japanese accounts agree most strongly on the atmosphere: one reviewer's verdict was simply that 'the space is the best thing about it', another that the appeal is 'the air within the grounds'. The cottages come with their own baths of source-fed simple alkaline hot spring water, and the two large baths, Hoshi-no-yu and Kusa-no-yu, swap between men and women each night. Meals are served in the cottage, built around Oita wagyu. That is where opinions divide: one well-travelled ryokan blogger found nothing memorable beyond the beef and suggested booking breakfast only and eating out, and a returning guest felt the presentation had become more subdued since a change of head chef. Other honest caveats: the famous name raises expectations that a quiet, low-key inn doesn't always meet for the price, older buildings can mean cold corridors, and the lake just outside draws crowds of day-trippers — though the grounds beyond the thatched gate are for guests only.

Overall Score4.4/5

Cuisine

4.1

Onsen Privacy

4.6

Tranquility

4.4

Hospitality

4.5

Room Selection Guide

What the guests who stayed here actually recommend

Cottage no. 16 (Japanese room with open-air bath, 70㎡)
An 8-tatami main room plus a 5-tatami anteroom, with both an indoor and an open-air bath of continuously flowing source water — the combination a December 2023 reviewer credited for the inn's biggest strength, its sense of space.
Hyakuban-kan (special Japanese-Western cottage, 120㎡)
The largest cottage, sleeping up to six, with a private cypress open-air bath separated from the indoor bath by glass. A June 2020 couple paid ¥176,000 including tax and service and described it as luxurious time 'full of privacy'.
Cottage no. 3 (Japanese living room + Western twin bedroom)
Chosen for its layout: a tatami living and dining room for both meals and a separate bedroom with twin beds, plus a hinoki bath of hot-spring water and a private garden with a view of Mount Yufu.

Request To Avoid

Main-building Western rooms, if you want a private bath
The main-building rooms are the value option (from about ¥53,000 per person according to one Japanese guide), but the private in-room onsen that most reviewers love comes with the cottages. The baths and food are otherwise the same.

Know which room you want?

Check live rates and availability for Kamenoi Bessou.

Official Site

Dining Deep Dive

Breakfast Consensus

4.3/5

Served in your cottage, with a choice of Japanese (grilled fish, miso soup, sashimi, vegetables) or Western (a fluffy omelette) — both with freshly baked bread; one guest chose a seared Oita wagyu shabu as the Japanese main

If food is your priority, one experienced ryokan reviewer suggests booking with breakfast only and eating dinner in town — the rooms and baths are the reason to stay here.

Dinner Insights

4.0/5

Kaiseki served in the cottage, centred on Oita wagyu. A 2020 menu included salt-grilled young ayu, charcoal-grilled Oita wagyu, and soba with tempura, and the cottage fridge was stocked with complimentary sake and sparkling wine. Reviewers praise the beef but describe the rest as competent rather than memorable, and a guest who returned in 2018 felt the presentation had become more subdued since the head chef changed.

Onsen & Wellness Realities

Water Type

Simple alkaline hot spring, colourless and odourless, from four sources on the property, run as continuously flowing baths in the cottages and the shared baths. Guests describe it as leaving the skin smooth; one found the in-room bath a little hot.

Privacy & Atmosphere

Cottages have their own indoor and, in some, open-air baths. The two large baths — Hoshi-no-yu, with one outdoor bath, and Kusa-no-yu, with two including a round tub — swap between men and women at midnight, so guests can try both.

Tattoo Policy

Not addressed in any source we read. Cottages with their own onsen baths let you bathe privately without using the shared baths.

Local Warnings & Nuances

01
The inn sits right by Lake Kinrin, one of Yufuin's busiest sights, so expect day-trippers outside — but only guests may pass beyond the thatched gate into the grounds.
02
It's quiet by design: the TV is low-key and there's little to do at night, which one Japanese guide notes some guests find dull for the price.
03
Older buildings show their age in places — reviews mention cold corridors on the way to the toilet and old gas heaters.
04
On the grounds are a teahouse, Tenjō Sajiki, which becomes Bar Yamaneko in the evening, and a shop, Kagiya, selling local crafts and food.
05
Guests arriving by train can send luggage ahead through Yufuin's 'Yufuin Chikki' service and find it waiting in the room; the inn is about 20 minutes' walk or a short taxi ride from Yufuin Station. An in-room 60-minute aroma massage cost ¥13,000 in 2020.