Yufuin Yunotsubo Street

湯の坪街道

The main street running from Yufuin Station toward Lake Kinrin, lined with gift shops, sweets, Kinsho croquettes and B-speak roll cakes, with Mount Yufu as the backdrop. It is Japan’s best-known hot spring town walking route.

Yunotsubo Street is a walking street about 1 km long, starting at JR Yufuin Station and running toward Lake Kinrin, directly facing the 1,583-metre Mount Yufu. It is the commercial heart of this hot spring town. In the 1970s, operators of ryokan such as Kameno-i Bessō and Tamanoyu led Yufuin away from large-scale development, toward a path of “greenery, tranquillity and open space.” Today the street is lined with small, refined shops: B-speak, a famous roll-cake shop run by the Mujintō Sanso inn, with limited daily quantities that often sell out by morning; Kinsho Croquette, serving freshly fried beef croquettes that are the classic street snack; the cheesecake from Yufuin Milch; Yufuin pudding; a honey specialist; a tofu shop; Oita specialties such as yuzu kosho and smoked products; and theme goods shops featuring Ghibli, Snoopy and Kiss Cat. At the end of the street, Yunotsubo Yokocho is a retro alley-style shopping lane. There is also Floral Village, a small themed village in the style of England’s Cotswolds. Around the street are small museums, including the Yufuin Art Museum, the Marc Chagall Yufuin Kinrin-ko Art Museum and the Kyushu Automobile History Museum. Several inns offer “day-trip hot springs,” allowing visitors to bathe without staying overnight for about 800 to 1,500 yen. The Yufuin Station foot bath on the platform (160 yen) and the station building itself, designed by Arata Isozaki, are also worth seeing. A horse-drawn sightseeing carriage (about 50 minutes from the station) or a rickshaw is a traditional way to tour the area. Getting there: the street starts just outside Yufuin Station. It is about 25 minutes’ walk to Lake Kinrin. From Beppu Station, the Kameno-i bus takes about 50 minutes to the bus terminal in front of Yufuin Station. Allow 2 to 3 hours, including Lake Kinrin. Notes: Daytime tour groups are very numerous and the main street is crowded, so try the parallel side streets. Most shops close around 5 to 6 p.m., and it is very quiet in the evening. Parking is difficult on busy summer weekends. “Yufuin” is not a typo for “Yunofuin”: both spellings are in use. The town district is officially written as Yunofuin, while the hot spring and station use Yufuin.

Yufuin Yunotsubo Street

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