Yufuin

Yufuin lies in a basin under Mount Yufu, a twin-peaked volcano that dominates every view in the town, and in autumn cold mornings fill the basin with mist that burns off through the morning. Its character was a decision: in the 1970s, when Beppu next door was building large hotels and entertainment districts, Yufuin's innkeepers went to Baden-Baden, came back and adopted a different model - small inns with their own baths, low buildings, no high-rise, planning restrictions on development, and an emphasis on quiet and countryside. It has been successful enough that the main street from the station to Lake Kinrin is now solid with shops and day trippers, which is the tension the town lives with. Lake Kinrin steams in the morning where hot springs enter it. Several small art museums and a preserved thatched hamlet, Bussanji, are nearby.

What you actually see

• Mount Yufu - a twin-peaked volcano standing over every view in the basin.
• Autumn morning mist - filling the basin and burning off through the morning.
• A deliberate model - small low inns and development limits, chosen in the 1970s.
• Lake Kinrin - steaming where hot springs enter the water.

When to go

Autumn for the mist; all year for the baths. Two days.

Honest expectations

The main street is very crowded with day trippers and is largely souvenir retail. Good inns are expensive and book out. The town has grown enough that the quiet it markets is found off the main street. Buses and trains from Hakata need booking in season.

Nearby

Beppu is east over the hills; Kunisaki peninsula is north.