Yuu Hotel Ubon Ratchathani — a Café in the Lobby of a White Boutique Block Downtown
If you want a central Ubon base you can walk everywhere from — and a decent coffee in the lobby first thing in the morning — Yuu Hotel Ubon Ratchathani is the name turning up most often in recent reviews. It opened as Bua Boutique Hotel before rebranding to Yuu, and it's a six-storey white block on Uparat Road done up in French-colonial style, with blue-and-white Willow-pattern plates lining the walls. What guests keep coming back to mention is the café in the lobby — which makes its own ice cream in ten flavours — and the location, a 2-minute walk from Thung Si Mueang park.
Yuu Hotel is a six-storey white building on Uparat Road that first opened in 1995 and was reworked under the Yuu name (it was previously Bua Boutique Hotel). There are 38 rooms done in a French-colonial register — cream plaster walls, moulded cornices, chandelier lighting, and walls hung with blue-and-white Willow-pattern plates throughout. Most rooms come with a private balcony; some have a hammock to lie around in, and a few are built with a loft level reached by a rope ladder — design touches you rarely find at this price point in Ubon.
What sets Yuu apart is the café in the lobby. A full espresso machine, porcelain cups lined up on the counter, and the smell of roasted coffee that hits you as you walk in the door. The signature is homemade ice cream made on-site in ten local flavours. There's also an Italian restaurant called Spago run by an Italian chef, and breakfast comes in both Thai and Western versions, plated on the pretty Willow china that guests routinely end up photographing for social media.
"Coming down to the lobby in the morning, ordering a coffee, looking at the china on the walls — it doesn't feel like a normal provincial hotel at all. More like a stylish little café that happens to have rooms upstairs."
On the rooms, guests consistently call them spotlessly clean and charmingly decorated. Several room types have a painted landscape mural above the headboard, plaid bed runners, and vintage furnishings. Design Doubles sit on the 2nd floor, while Premier Doubles and Premier Twins are on floors 4-5 at around 21 sqm. Worth flagging up front: rooms are not large — the focus here is design over square metres — so if you're travelling as a family, look at the Double Family Suite, which gives you more room.
The location is genuinely walkable. It's a 2-minute walk to Thung Si Mueang, the central park where the Candle Festival procession is held, and a short walk further to Wat Si Ubon Rattanaram, Wat Suthatsanaram, and the night market. The hotel lends out bicycles for free, which makes cycling around the old town easy, and parking is free too — handy if you're driving in. That kind of proximity gives Yuu an edge over the out-of-town hotels where you end up calling a car for everything.
The Trip.com score sits at 9.6/10 from 93 reviews, which is high for a 3-star property. Cleanliness (9.8) and service (9.6) score strongest, and staff on both the front desk and the café side draw particular praise for being warm and easygoing. The honest feedback from lower-rated reviews flags traffic noise from the road out front, since the hotel sits on a busy street, and a few guests noted that in-room Wi-Fi can be weak — real limitations worth knowing before you book.
On price, Yuu starts around ฿1,100/night for a Design Double on weekdays. Rates climb during the Candle Festival in July and rooms fill very fast, because the hotel sits right next to Thung Si Mueang where the festival takes place — if you're planning that period, book several months ahead. Outside of that, booking 1-2 weeks ahead is usually enough, though with only 38 rooms it can sell out quicker than you'd expect.
The bottom line: Yuu Hotel works best for travellers who want a central Ubon stay with real character, walkable to everything, without paying much for it. The draw is the boutique design and the in-house café, not the room size or a full set of facilities. If you value atmosphere and location over floor space, it's one of the best-value options in the city — just go in knowing the rooms are compact and the street carries some noise.
Summary from Booking & Agoda
- ✓ Genuinely charming design — boutique styling throughout
- ✓ Café in the lobby — good coffee, excellent homemade ice cream
- ✓ Warm, easygoing staff at both the front desk and the café
- ✓ Central location, 2-minute walk to Thung Si Mueang
- ! Sits on a busy road — some traffic noise
- ! In-room Wi-Fi weak in places
- ! Design-led rooms are on the compact side
- ✓ Rooms spotlessly clean — cleanliness scores 9.8
- ✓ Private balconies, some with a hammock
- ✓ Varied breakfast plated on pretty Willow china
- ✓ Free bicycles and free parking
- ! Only 38 rooms — sells out fast during festivals
- ! No swimming pool
- ! Lower street-side rooms noisier than the interior ones
- 💡If you want the quietest room — request a higher floor (4-5) on the interior side away from Uparat Road when booking → lower street-side rooms catch traffic noise morning and evening
- 💡If you're a group or a family — the 21 sqm Premier/Design rooms can feel tight → choose the Double Family Suite for more space at the time of booking
- 💡If you're coming for the Candle Festival (July) — the hotel sits right by Thung Si Mueang where the festival is held, so rooms fill fast and rates rise → book several months ahead, don't leave it late