Yufuin Rikka
B · 7 / 10right inn, right place
A six-room Yufuin inn with a private onsen bath in every room that the one member who stayed found unbeatable for the money; it runs far less per night than neighbours like Enowa, Gekkoju or Sanso Murata, and Japanese reviewers think extremely highly of it. He would call it quality and high-end and is not sure it qualifies as luxury. KI-NRT has not stayed himself, so the account comes from that single visit and from acquaintances of his, and with six rooms it is tough to book.
Scores
Food 4 / 5
All meals are served in private dining rooms, and zander86, the one member who has stayed, enjoyed the breakfast spread here most of the three Kyushu ryokans on his trip (Amanosato and Sanso Tensui were the others). Nobody in the thread has written about dinner from their own table, but KI-NRT relays that several acquaintances who stayed recently called the fusion cuisine top-notch.
Bath 4 / 5
Each of the six rooms has its own onsen bath, and from some of them you look at Mt. Yufu while from others you do not. KI-NRT hears that Ichiban has the most unobstructed view of the mountain, so ask for that room if the view matters to you.
Service
Meals are served in private dining rooms, and otherwise nobody in the thread has written about the service here.
Room
There are only six rooms, each with an onsen bath; zander86 called the inn quality and high-end but did not describe his room, and nobody else in the thread has.
Place 3.5 / 5
Rikka is in Yufuin with Mt. Yufu as the backdrop, on what KI-NRT calls a very crowded list of top properties in the area (Sanso Murata, Zakuro, Enowa, Gekkoju Yufuin, Bettei Itsuki and others), and whether you see the mountain depends on which of the six rooms you get. Nobody in the thread has described the grounds.
Getting there
- Fukuoka — 2h10, 0 transfers. Reverse of: Ltd Exp back toward Hakata (~2h10).
- Kagoshima — 3h10, 1 transfer. Kyushu Shinkansen Kagoshima-Chūō→Hakata (~1h20), ~4-min platform transfer, then the JR 'Yufu' Ltd Exp Hakata→Yufuin (~2h15). ~3h11 total, all-rail.
- Nagasaki — 3h, 0 transfers. Reverse of: By car (~210 km, raw ~2h25 per NAVITIME; budget ~3h): Yufuin IC → Oita Expwy → Tosu JCT → Nagasaki Expwy → Nagasaki IC (~¥5,060). Budget 3h+ in January — the Yufuin IC–Hita IC stretch (~45 km) is an official winter-tire-regulation zone (last winter: 7 days of regulation, 2 of closure); past Hita it's plains, and the Nagasaki Expwy has no regulated section at all. (Transit: Ltd Exp 'Yufu'→Hakata ~2h15 + 'Relay Kamome'/'Kamome' via Takeo, ~3.5h total, 2 changes — 2026-07 audit; rare January snow on the Kyudai line's pass.)
- Kumamoto — 2h25, 1 transfer. Reverse of: Ltd Exp 'Yufu'/'Yufuin-no-Mori' Yufuin→Kurume (~1h40, ~5/day), Shinkansen Kurume→Kumamoto (~25 min). Scenic alt: the Kyushu Ōdan bus through Kurokawa/Aso, one seat, ~4h15, 3/day. By car ~2.5h via the Yamanami Highway.
- Tokyo — 4h, 1 transfer. Fly to Yufuin: Tokyo→Haneda (~30 min), HND→Oita (OIT) ~1h30 nonstop (frequent ANA/JAL/Solaseed; 2026-07 audit vs flightsfrom/sakuratravel timetables), then a pre-booked FIXED-FARE taxi straight to the inn (~55 min, ¥18,320 incl. tolls — Oita Taxi Assoc., say '定額で') — no bus-schedule or shuttle sync. (Budget alt: airport bus→Yufuin Stn ~55 min, 6/day, ¥1,550pp + the inn shuttle — Enowa's needs reserving ≥3 days ahead.) Far saner than the ~5h45 all-rail haul.
- Kanazawa — 6h, 3 transfers. Airport bus Kanazawa→Komatsu + KMQ→Fukuoka (~1h40) into Hakata, then Ltd Exp 'Yufu'/'Yufuin-no-Mori' Hakata→Yufuin (~2h10). ~6h door-to-door. (Oita is Yufuin's own airport but has no Komatsu flight — Hakata is the gateway.)
Sources
FlyerTalk review by zander86 #544 · Ikyu 4.89 / 5 · #545 (thread mentions)