Beppu Showaen

It was a beautiful and traditional Japanese style stay. The private and public onsens were a great amenity. The staff was also incredibly kind and generous - the owner of the hotel even gave us a ride to the station after we checked out. I highly recommend this place if you want a peaceful place to relax!

The terrain, the house we rented and especially the hot springs were beautiful. It is a nice place to relax. The initial reception was certainly pleasant. We could sleep well in the beds.

As others have mentioned, the staff's ability to speak English, or at least our ability to comprehend it, is limited. Ultimately this did not cause any major problems, but occasionally left us confused. And, well, we found a cockroach in our house (nr 29) at around 22:00 on the second day. This, despite keeping the house closed off to the extent of our knowledge, except for entering and exiting the front door. I am not sure how common this is around these parts, but it was a first for me. We called the staff repeatedly, but it seems they were already gone. So we had to catch the thing ourselves and release it outside. This event replaced my state or coziness with mild paranoia from that point onward. Fortunately it was the only one we found. I also hit my head a couple of times, because I kept forgetting I'm slightly taller than the front door entrance. Maybe this is not the best place for Dutch city boys.

We had our own outdoor hot spring in our room, staff was friendly, the room was spacious

The property is on a hill next to a forest - take in mind you’ll have to walk uphill. As well since it’s next to a forest there are spiders in the area

The backdrop and grounds were gorgeous, overlooking a damn and river flowing down the mountain. Very zen

The buildings were tired and needed maintenance, doesn't look like they've been updated in 30+ years. Old TVs, damp and mould in the bathrooms, uncomfortable beds. Definitely not what you'd expect given the price of the room. Unfortunately the dinner and breakfast weren't included in our booking which was the main reason we'd booked a Ryokan in the first place. We tried to add these on the day as we arrived early but they simply said it's not possible. Not great customer service, they seem to be understaffed. Be careful when selecting your booking options