Kuju Kogen Cottage

Perfect BBQ dinner, beautiful winter mountain view, kind staff help us enjoy the food , thank you!

Gorgeous location. We loved the outdoor onsen with amazing views! Everything was extremely clean. The buffet was plentiful and all the staff were very friendly. The nearby Guernsey Farm is a must see for delicious milk and the coffee in Chie’s cafe was incredible. The staff at Chie’s were SO friendly.

This isn’t a bad thing but travelers should know that the property is definitely rustic.

The absolute highlight of this property was the food and staff!We stayed for 2 nights and had breakfast and dinner each morning and night. Breakfast is standard continental breakfast with a good selection of Japanese dishes, but dinner shined! 1st night we had a 14 course Japanese set dinner, ryokan style, then we had wagyu beef charcoal BBQ on the 2nd night. Amazing quality!The staff are the most responsive I have ever interacted with, they always replied with a couple of hours to anything I asked them. There is are 2 onsite onsens; 1 public that's included as part of your stay, and 1 private that requires booking and an additional charge. The private onsen is suited for families, as the public onsen is divided by gender, as is typical for onsens.

The location is remote, you must drive to get here, and there are no nearby stores of any kind. If you want to buy anything, there is a small onsite snack/souvenir store, but the selection is low.The bathroom in the room is pretty bad. We visited mid-December and the bathroom does not have any heating, so it was absolutely freezing! I recommend taking your showers at the onsite onsen instead of using your room's shower (which also has zero water pressure. The shower head basically dribbles on you). The toilet handle was broken and flushing was more difficult than I ever expected.

It needs refreshing - older building - it says cottage but it is a big group place - full of chinese tourists - not our style -

I woukd say it needs a big maintenance

Beautiful, peaceful and quiet location just at the bottom of Mount Kuju. The views were just incredible and it was the perfect respite after the city. The location was perfect for us, we were able to explore Mount Kuju, Mount Aso and Takachiho Gorge. Onsens were great. Staff were friendly and welcoming, we can't wait to go back!

The bed was very firm

Good scenery and nice and helpful staffs.

The room is slightly not clean.

Kuju Kogen cottage is an onsen resort in the middle of the Kuju mountain range. On the day of check-in, the staff was very kind in allowing us to change the room to a Japanese style tatami room (they had initially given us a western style room). Booking a private hot spring bath room for me and my girlfriend was easy too (50 minutes, with an additional charge). Access to public male and female onsen rooms is included in the room charge.I loved the dinner selection, both the Yakiniku and the Japanese style option.While speaking a little japanese makes things easier, the staff can handle English speaking visitors fairly well.The views from the resort are simply stunning and I feel lucky to have been there.

The view from the cottage is amazing - beautiful views of the hills and mountains in the distance. It's worth it to view the sunset during the visit. Lovely and delicious Japanese dinner and breakfast. Friendly staffs and nice onsen (with beautiful outdoor view too).

The little rest house near the hill to view sunset was not in-use anymore. Will be great if can sit there to view the sunset.

Food was great as we requested for Wagyu beef BBQ for dinner at extra costs. Buffer breakfast had a considerable good spread but they closed very punctually at 10am. The onsen was great with view of Aso Alps if you visit before dark or early in the morning before they close for cleaning. The hotel staff were attentive as they noticed that we forgot to turn off headlights of our car after checking in and called us by the room phone to alert us! Although we stayed at the farthest block away from the main block, we were able to park our car near our block and only dragged our luggage for a short distance! We arrived after dark due to the distance of the place and was texting the hotel to inform them that we will be late for dinner. They were kind to respond and guided us to dinner first before going to the room.

The onsen did not provide shampoo/conditioner/face wash which was a surprise to us as most onsen hotels will provide such amenities. The hotel is very far away, although the drive was scenic, we ended up arriving late for dinner. It is a must to book half board if staying here. This is a ranch style hotel, and the space is huge. Staying furthest away from the main block, we have to drive to take breakfast and visit the onsen to save time walking. (We walked to the onsen in the night before and took at least 15 minutes maneuvering through the other blocks of cottages before we reached the onsen - the signs were all faded in colors and directions were not clearly shown!) Centipedes were found in the bathroom (hiding underneath the bathmat of the shower area) of the room -not sure what can be done but my daughter refused to bath in the bathroom because of this! We noted that it can't be helped as the hotel is this near to nature, but maybe room servicing team can check and clean the rooms better? (note the bathroom has no windows, so maybe the centipedes crawl in from the sewage pipes?) Overall, the room is big and spacious but the futons are too thin for the platform (unlike tatami floor, it is too hard to sleep on the platform beds with thin futons!)

Beautiful rustic surrounds with good food. Amenities were decent but not very clean.

Our bathroom reeked of stale urine. Was silly to carpet the toilet floor. The humming from the generator was particularly disturbing at night as the surrounds were so quiet.

Location is good. Their staff would communicate with me and made good suggestions for dinner.

The 4-bed room is not similar as shown in pictures.

Awesome dinner and breakfast.Fantastic view at the public onsen pool.Comfortable tatami room.Overall worth the price.

Unfornately, we have not stayed here as the hotel plan to renovate at that time so they asked us to stay other which they prepared to support. So it made us surprised because we got the perfect place that i have stayed before. Big bedroom, Big dinner course - French Style, and japapnese breakfast, Private onsen and good view.

The weather is cloud and rain when i stayed there ?

Beautiful view. Cottage style room.

The bathroom is too small and very cold (during winter).

Breakfast and dinner are quite decent

Room are little dated and room give does not have the best view although the property is only 5% occupied.

Like the views surrounding the cottage, the room is spacious and have great view. Breakfast and dinner are good, especially we have upgraded bbq dinner to Wagyu. Staff are nice, outdoor onsen and Sauna is good. Can have local beer at the restaurant near the hotel.

The facilities are a bit old, but clean.

the view

Cleanliness was very poor especially by Japanese standard. The fridge in the room smell so bad (like dirty socks) and there were stains all over the basin. The onsen facilities also not than clean

We liked every thing they provided. The outdoor onsen with magnificent sunset view was awesome. The room was clean and spacious, the heating kutatsu table was so nice. The breakfast and diner are delicious and changed many every day. The service people are very friendly and helpful.

Everything in Kuju Kogen Cottage surpassed my expectations - from the hospitality of the staff to the breathtaking view outside the window of my room! Mr Yosuke delivers exceptional service with a personal touch. For example, when he found out that we had difficulty booking a cab to get to the cottage, Mr Yosuke drove down personally to pick us up from the state. He was also very attentive to details, providing us with map and info about the Kuju mountains and arranging for taxi pick up when he found out that we were interested in hiking the mountains. The staff at the cottage were also wonderful and patient, and tried their best even though they may not speak fluent English. I love the food served, especially the bbq dinner which comprised generous chunks of quality beef. The room was top-notch, cozy with amazing views, same goes for the hot spring located within Kogen Cottage. It was a truly unforgettable stay:) We even extended our stay by one night!

The location may not be the most convenient so I would recommend this place for those who are driving.

casual place with great view of mountains from the room and onsen