Cat Cafes in Yufu, Oita

Yufu, Oita

Yufuin Hogoneko Forest, known as Neko-Fore, is a rescue cat complex in a large oak wood inside Aso-Kuju National Park in Kawanishi, Yufuin, about 10 minutes by car from the Yufuin interchange. Opened in June 2024, it combines the rescue cat cafe Catete, cottages where guests can stay overnight with a rescue cat, a restaurant, a cat goods and jewellery shop and a camping and barbecue area. In the cafe, visitors spend time with rescued cats who are all looking for new homes, and adoption can be arranged on site. Visits are priced by length, from 30 minutes to four hours, each with a drink, and a free-time plan includes lunch. Young children need an accompanying adult. Car navigation does not show the forest road, so the facility advises searching for "Yuyu Life no Mori". The cafe opens Friday to Sunday and on public holidays.

• Adoptable cats

Yufu, Oita

Gallery Alice's Tearoom Cheshire Cat Forest is a cat cafe themed on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, on the ground floor of Yufuin Floral Village, the European-style shopping village near the Yunotsubo street in Yufuin. Every cat here is a Bengal, chosen for their leopard-like spotted coats, and each is named after an Alice character. Entry is a flat fee per person with a lower rate for children aged 6 to 12, who must come with an adult; children under 6 are not admitted. A visit is about 30 minutes and includes one drink from the self-service machine. Tickets are sold at the door for the same day only, and outside food and drink are not allowed. It is run by the same company as the Owl Forest and Mameshiba Cafe in the same village, and closes half an hour earlier from December to February.

• Walk-ins welcome

Yufu, Oita

Waraneko no Yado is a small hot spring inn on the hillside of Kawaminami in Yufuin, about 10 minutes by taxi from Yufuin Station, with its own cat cafe, Waraneko Cafe. The cafe is home to a group of about seven resident cats, and staff explain each cat's likes and dislikes before guests go in. Overnight guests can use the cat cafe for a flat fee in the evening after check-in and again in the early morning, and the inn's private open-air and indoor baths can be reserved for exclusive use. Visitors who are not staying can book a one-hour daytime cat cafe session, currently held on Sundays only and requiring a reservation by the previous day. Children under junior high school age are not admitted, and payment is cash only. The inn itself is closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and the cats stay inside the cat cafe room.

• Booking required