Seaside Hotel Mimatsu Oetei

The room was great, and the location was convenient. The Pacific Ocean was right behind the room, and there was a convenience store at the entrance. It's a typical Japanese onsen hotel, not too crowded, and the Japanese food was good.

I was a bit worried about the room and environment before I went, but after checking in, I found everything to be fine. It was a Japanese-style tatami room with an ocean view, and both dinner and breakfast were very abundant. The only thing I was dissatisfied with was the weather; it poured rain the day I went! Beppu isn't very big, and all the attractions are accessible by bus! Service: You absolutely must choose the breakfast and dinner package to experience a Japanese-style set meal. Facilities: Soaking in the onsen at night and in the morning, there was absolutely no one else around, giving you the feeling of having the place to yourself. Especially going for a dip in the open-air onsen in the morning was truly delightful!

The room was great, and the hotel facilities were decent. The Japanese dinner and breakfast are worth trying for the experience, though the taste was just average and the portions were small. It's about a 15-minute walk from Beppu Station to the hotel. Coming from Oita Airport, it was quite a distance. Most Japanese hotels have an 11 AM check-out, which is fine, but this hotel's check-out is even earlier at 10 AM. You basically have to pack up and leave right after breakfast, which wasn't very convenient. Surprisingly, the kids' meal tasted better. Don Quijote is super close, about a 7-8 minute walk.

It's a bit far from the JR station. There's a free luggage delivery service, but the timing didn't work for me, so I had to drag my luggage to the station myself. The environment is nice, right facing the ocean. You can't see the sunset, but you can catch the sunrise. The air conditioning turned off, and I woke up in the middle of the night sweating. I set an alarm to wake up early to go to the open-air onsen on the top floor to watch the sunrise and take a dip. In the evening, the onsen floor was quite dirty with a lot of hair due to the crowds, but it was cleaned in the morning. The tatami room always had a slight odor, which is to be expected from an older hotel. Both breakfast and dinner were nothing special, just so-so. Dinner was slightly better, but breakfast was a bit disappointing. In the evening, someone set off fireworks across the way, which was quite nice. There were a lot of Japanese guests, especially on weekends, traveling with friends, family, or colleagues. The biggest advantage is probably the direct ocean view for sunrise; otherwise, the price is quite reasonable.

I booked this hotel specifically for the private onsen in the room. When I first turned on the water, there was a strange smell, and I noticed some floating particles, which was quite off-putting. However, I later realized it was the natural sulfur smell of the hot spring, and the particles were inherent to the onsen water itself (as explained in the brochure), which put my mind at ease. The hotel environment is fantastic. The breakfast and dinner menus were different each of the two nights, which was wonderful. The food alone made it worth the price; it's the best value-for-money onsen hotel I've ever stayed at. It was my favorite part of the entire Kyushu trip! I definitely want to come back again in the winter.

The breakfast and dinner portions were generous, and the menu changed daily. The hotel's bathrooms are a bit dated. I booked a semi-open-air bath room, room 606. My only complaint is that the room entrance faces the elevator directly, which can be a bit noisy.