3-Star Hotels in Hakone

Setting: The hotel is nestled in the mountains, offering fresh air and quiet nights. It's also near a small river and waterfall. It's also conveniently located near attractions like Hakone Shrine and Lake Ashi. Service: The staff were attentive, the breakfast was plentiful, and lunch and dinner reservations were available. Facilities: The hotel's overall decor is relatively new, and the rooms are significantly larger than similarly priced hotels in Tokyo. The hotel's indoor and outdoor hot springs are very clean, and soaking in the water while listening to the gentle cascade outside was a relaxing experience.

A nice hotel that is a little distant from the nearest restaurants, shops and attractions. There’s a shuttle bus to the local railway station, which is useful but it stops at 6:00pm so after that you have to walk. It’s not too far but it is very steep. Our room was in need of refurbishment, with a stained carpet and tired fittings. That said it had everything we needed.  The onsen was a welcome facility which was very enjoyable. The ‘free-flow’ beverages from 18:00-20:00 was also a nice touch but we weren’t made aware of it and it would have passed us by if we hadn’t heard it being offered to other guests.  Dinner was very nice but a little odd, in the sense that there was no choice and was French cuisine; it was also quite expensive. Breakfast was average with undercooked bacon, good eggs, a nice yoghurt/compote combination but no preserves to have with the (one small) croissant. Service was very good.

I would recommend everyone to experience this ryokan at least once. A huge room with a kitchen, dining room, bedroom, bathroom, toilet and a hot bath. There is no window in the room with the bath, but because the bath is hot, you don't feel the coolness, but you can enjoy the views of the mountains. Dinner and breakfast - my respects! Gigantic and filling, but in the Japanese spirit. Fans of continental breakfasts in regular hotels will be sad. The staff is friendly. They try to speak English. It is not always possible to understand each other, but they try very hard! A special plus for this!

We arrived at noon and found that check in proses was so simple, the owner sent me a pin code to open the door. The room looks exactly the same as what shows on photos, including all amenities. Rooms are clean and cozy, spacious for 4 persons event more. I love the bathtub waters adjustment for spas, and it is so relaxing. Only the hot water is a bit difficult to adjust . Toilet are separate from bathroom and provide handwash as well . We didn't cook our meal because all the stores nearby were closed at 3 pm. Make sure to bring your own food because it's not easy to find in Hakone. Easy to walk to the station and Harbor for boat tours, to the cable car and Black Eggs. Highly recommended for all types of travelers If you would like to know more, watch my channel https://youtu.be/69AEoaBs2po?si=otl8rSuvmSVddmfu

We stayed one night with our family. We booked two Japanese-style rooms. The rooms were very nicely decorated. We visited the onsen. There are three different onsen: one inside the building, one across the street, and a separate private onsen. The water was a comfortable temperature, there weren't many people there, and there were pools both inside and outside. We ordered dinner and a kaiseki breakfast: delicious and varied. You can order drinks as well. In the morning after breakfast, a staff member gave us a free ride to Gora Station, which saved us a lot of time and effort. Overall, we enjoyed our stay.

Such a great find! Calming ryokan in a peaceful part of the mountain. Staff were all super friendly and accommodating of us as tourists who didn’t speak Japanese. Every meal was delicious and the staff took time to tell us what each little dish was and even gave us some extra mini dishes to help us try different things. They were all delicious! The onsens were also very relaxing and had everything you could need. My boyfriend and I booked the private onsen our last night and looking out over the mountain at night when it was raining was a great experience. We got the Japanese style room and it was very spacious and the tatami floors were very comfortable. View over the mountains was also terrific. The ryokan shuttle took us to the nearest two train stations (Gora or Sounzan) in the morning when we requested and picked us up at the end of the day so it was very convenient getting to the ryokan even without a car. Highly recommend this stay!!

Positives 1. Large spacious and clean room. Certainly an upgrade from the smaller Tokyo city rooms we were in. 2. The medicinal tea bar was a hit with our group and an interesting touch to the hotel. 3. The public baths (onsen) were well maintained and clean. 4. The hotel provides yukata robes that you can change into. 5. Breakfast and dinner were decent and necessary judging by the limited number of eateries in the area. There is Gora Brewery just behind the hotel and a Daily Yamazaki convenience store just 1 min walk. 6. You can get to Gora Park in 1 min. Tips to get from Gora station to hotel and vice versa 1. Walking. The steep slope is really not for the faint hearted. 2. When you get off at Gora, hop onto the Tozan line from Gora and get off at Koen Shimo (1 stop). It is covered if you buy the Hakone Free Pass. From Koen Shimo, it is a straight walk to the hotel. Much easier than climbing the slope. 3. Hotel shuttle. From Gora station exit, turn right and you will see an underpass. Go through it and this is where the shuttle picks / drops. We didn’t manage to find out how to get the shuttle from Gora station, but from the hotel - you should book the shuttle in advance as it can get full especially during check out time.

Really enjoyed my stay at Root Hakone. I reached a little late (around 7:30-8pm) and the walk to the hostel was a little dark (roads on Hakone aren’t that well-lit at night due to it being a forested area). So recommend to reach earlier if you’re not that comfortable with walking in the dark alone! The accommodations were comfortable, single futon bed with lockable room doors, separated by a divider. Was initially expecting just a cubbie with a curtain so this was a pleasant surprise. There’s also a direct bus nearby to Togendai Station if you’re keen to take the sightseeing cruise and ropeway. The drinks made by the staff were also wonderful, enjoyed a cassis soda, cassis oolong and fuzzy navel at a great price. The management also gave a guide of nearby recommended places to travellers too (had the best coffee at Amaze Coffee, recommendation of the staff)! Overall would come back to stay again if I’m ever back in Hakone. A downside is perhaps the lack of availability of food options at night and no near konbini so be sure to grab some supplies at the station prior to heading over.

According to the comments, the location is very far away. It is more than 10 minutes away from Hakone Tang Station. I think the road is easy to walk and the luggage will not be too tired. Walking along the river is a different scenery. The distance is not close, but it is acceptable. Compared with some closer hotels, although it is a few minutes away, it is more cost-effective. There is a private toilet inside the Japanese-style room, but there is no shower room, so you must go to the bathhouse downstairs to take a bath. The bathing position is relatively bright, the horse oil shampoo and shower gel are easy to use, and the bathing water is hot enough. It is quite comfortable overall. The only thing is that the wind power of the hair dryer is very low, and it takes a long time to blow the hair. There is no service, except for checking in to help with the luggage for a while. There was no cleaning during the period, and no door delivery when leaving, but it is acceptable because he did not charge cleaning fees and other extra fees. The door of the room feels like a joke. It is locked, but it feels a little loose. Everything is fine, but the most unsatisfactory thing is that there is no window that can be opened in the room, and the window of the room is not equipped with curtains. The window is light-transmitting when sleeping at night, and the sunlight is very dazzling when getting up in the morning, which affects sleep.

There are pros and cons to staying here! Pros: The hotel itself is lovely, with polite staff and a clean, spacious, atmospheric room offering mountain views. The public onsen is included in the price and is quite pleasant, especially if you're lucky enough to have it to yourself, as we did (we went in the morning). The hotel also has vending machines for drinks and snacks, which is very convenient since there are no stores nearby. You can arrange to have your luggage sent to the station so you don't have to carry it yourself, but unfortunately, we missed the 10 AM deadline to book this service. Cons: Unfortunately, these left a strong impression. The hotel is located in a terribly inconvenient and remote area, really out in the sticks and difficult to access. It's far from all the attractions you travel to see – we had to take a boat to get to them – and far from any establishments where you'd want to find food. Not only are these places far away, but they also close early, open late, are overpriced, and the food isn't even tasty. We couldn't call a taxi to the accommodation because you needed to link a local phone number! We initially walked with our suitcases along the road, then took a bus. The buses didn't accept our Hakone pass, a card we specifically bought for Hakone, even though buses were supposed to be included. And the price without the card was clearly inflated – 300 yen to travel uphill for 8 minutes. Since we had another individual onsen booked elsewhere (a 20-minute drive away), after that at 9 PM, we realized the buses had stopped running. There was no chance of calling or hailing a taxi, so we had to walk back to the hotel. This meant a two-hour walk along a dark mountain road, surrounded by forest, with only occasional streetlights. We tried to hitchhike, but no one stopped, not even taxis. After an hour of walking uphill (our emotions were indescribable), about the 10th car, if not more, finally stopped, and a young Japanese couple gave us a ride back to the hotel. Overall, the hotel itself is good (it was also cold at night, we used the air conditioning to warm up, but the room was large and difficult to heat; thankfully, there were extra large blankets). However, everything else regarding the location was terrible. If you plan to stay here, make sure to plan your transportation in advance.