Overview

Umino Hotel Hajime places you beside Beppu Bay in the Kitahama area of Beppu. You stay close to the sea, around 15 minutes on foot from Beppu Station or about five minutes by taxi, with Beppu Kitahama bus stop only a short walk away. This location makes it easy to explore the city while returning to a calm oceanfront base after each outing.

The hotel changed its name from Umi Kaoru Yado Hotel New Matsumi to Umino Hotel Hajime in 2023, after the completion of renovated seaside rooms and the seventh-floor Asahi-no-Yu bath area. The atmosphere blends the feeling of a long-running Beppu ryokan with practical hotel comfort, so you can enjoy hot spring bathing, sea views, and easy city access in one stay.

Beppu Bay shapes much of the experience. You can choose a sea-view room, soak in a room bath supplied with hot spring water, or visit the upper-floor public bath for wide views over the water. The hotel works especially well when you want a Beppu stay that keeps you close to the station, restaurants, Takegawara Onsen, Beppu Tower, and the wider Beppu sightseeing route.

Accommodation

Umino Hotel Hajime has 35 rooms across the third to sixth floors. You can choose between sea-view rooms and city-view rooms, with Japanese-style rooms, twin-bed rooms, Japanese-Western rooms, and rooms with private hot spring baths available.

The sea-view Japanese-style twin room with observatory bath gives you a spacious Japanese-style layout with two beds and a private hot spring bath facing Beppu Bay. Large windows frame the water, so you can enjoy the view from both the room and bath. This room suits you when private bathing and a strong ocean view matter most.

The sea-view Japanese-style room with ceramic bath places a ceramic tub beside the windows, creating the feeling of bathing between the sea and sky. The sea-view Japanese-Western room with open-air bath gives you beds, Japanese-style space, and a semi-open-air bath overlooking Beppu Bay. The sea-view Japanese-style room with open-air bath gives you a more traditional tatami layout with a private outdoor-style bath and the scent of the sea close by.

You can also choose simpler sea-view rooms without private open-air features. The sea-view Japanese-style twin room places two beds on tatami flooring, allowing you to relax without shoes while still sleeping in a bed. The sea-view Japanese room gives you a classic tatami stay, with futon bedding and a calmer old-style feeling.

City-view rooms include a Japanese-Western room with two beds, a spacious Japanese-style room suited to families or groups, a Western twin room, and a Japanese-style room that works for solo travel, business use, or a simple Beppu stay. These rooms do not give you the same bay-facing scenery, but they offer practical layouts and easy access to the hotel’s baths and facilities.

Room amenities include towels, hairdryer, toothbrush set, razor, shower cap, hair ties, cotton buds, hairbrush, skincare items, men’s grooming items, body soap, shampoo, conditioner, air conditioning, television, refrigerator, and Wi-Fi. Rooms with baths use natural hot spring water supplied from the source.

Dining

Meals at Umino Hotel Hajime focus on ingredients from Oita and the surrounding region. Dinner may feature seasonal dishes using seki-aji horse mackerel, seki-saba mackerel, fugu, and Bungo beef, all ingredients closely connected with Oita’s food culture.

The dining style depends on the plan you select. Meal-inclusive stays include dinner examples shown by the hotel, with the actual dishes changing according to the season and ingredient availability. This allows the kitchen to adjust the meal around what is fresh at the time of your stay.

Breakfast is also served on site and follows a Japanese-style approach. You can start the morning with a satisfying meal before walking to the station, visiting Beppu’s hot spring districts, or continuing towards the Hells of Beppu and other sightseeing areas.

The hotel is also close to central Beppu, so you can explore nearby restaurants, cafés, izakaya, and seafood spots when you book a room-only stay or want to eat out during part of your trip.

Onsen and Wellness

The seventh-floor Asahi-no-Yu is one of the hotel’s main features. This upper-floor bath area includes a large observation bath, an open-air bath, and a sauna with views over Beppu Bay. In the morning, you may see the sun rise across the water, matching the bath’s name, Asahi-no-Yu.

The hot spring water is classified as a sodium bicarbonate and chloride spring. The source temperature is listed at 56.3°C. The hotel lists bathing qualities for neuralgia, joint discomfort, digestive concerns, skin conditions, women’s health concerns, sensitivity to cold, and general health support.

Asahi-no-Yu opens in the early morning and again from the afternoon until midnight. The bath gives you a broad view of the bay below, making it a rewarding place to soak after walking through Beppu or travelling around Oita.

Room baths are also supplied with hot spring water. This is especially important when you choose a sea-view room with an observatory bath, ceramic bath, semi-open-air bath, or open-air bath. You can enjoy the same Beppu hot spring culture with more privacy and without following the public-bath schedule.

The hotel also offers YU-WAKU family bath use through selected guest rooms with views. These are room-based private bathing spaces that can be reserved for a set period and used for bathing, resting, workcation time, small gatherings, or quiet relaxation. Bedding is not provided for this use, and outside food and cooking are not allowed.

Guests with Tattoos

You cannot use Asahi-no-Yu, the shared public bath, if you have tattoos. This rule applies to the public large bath, open-air bath, and sauna area.

You can use the hot spring bath inside your room when you book a room with a private bath. The hotel also offers room-based YU-WAKU family bath use, where selected guest rooms with hot spring baths can be reserved privately.

Facilities

Umino Hotel Hajime includes the seventh-floor Asahi-no-Yu public bath area, an open-air bath, a sauna, guest rooms with hot spring baths, YU-WAKU family bath rooms, a restaurant, banquet room, ice machine, water cooler, water heater, and parking. Wi-Fi is available, and the hotel renovated its Wi-Fi and communication cables in 2022 to support smoother internet use in rooms.

The basement fitness room is available from check-in until check-out for those aged 16 and above. You need to bring your own indoor shoes and workout clothing, as the hotel does not rent these items. The fitness space is not supervised, so you use the equipment with care.

All areas of the hotel are non-smoking except designated smoking spaces on the fourth and fifth floors.

Activities

You can begin the day with sunrise from Asahi-no-Yu, return to your room for a quiet rest, then walk into Beppu for sightseeing or food. Beppu Station, the downtown area, and Beppu Kitahama bus stop are all close enough to keep your days simple.

Takegawara Onsen is one of Beppu’s best-known public bathhouses and sits within easy reach of the hotel. Beppu Tower, Kitahama Park, local restaurants, cafés, and shops are also nearby. From Beppu Station or local bus routes, you can continue to Kannawa, the Hells of Beppu, steam-filled streets, sand baths, and other parts of Beppu Hatto.

When you want a slower day, you can stay close to the hotel. Soak in your room bath, visit the upper-floor public bath if you do not have tattoos, use the fitness room, or reserve a YU-WAKU family bath room for private bathing and quiet time.

Additional Features

Check-in begins at 3:00 p.m., and check-out is by 10:00 a.m. The hotel is about 15 minutes on foot from Beppu Station, about five minutes by taxi from the station, and about five minutes on foot from Beppu Kitahama bus stop.

Umino Hotel Hajime suits you when you want Beppu Bay views, natural hot spring water in room baths, an upper-floor public bath with a sea view, and easy access to Beppu’s station area and hot spring culture. Choose a sea-view room with a private bath when you want the strongest combination of privacy, ocean scenery, and onsen time.