Lynn O.
Yelp
Stayed here for 1 night with relatives. Conveniently located right across the bridge from the Hakone-Yumoto Station and up the elevator.
This hotel is very airy and spacious in the lobby, second floor lounge and convention room.
The rooms are even quite large for Japanese standards and because this is a ryokan, each room has tatami floors with a table to have tea and enjoy the view of the river and green, lush mountains.
For dinner, we ate at Katsura and had Kaiseki, a traditional 8 course meal starting with octopus carpaccio, a light, yet complex soup, sashimi, summer vegetables, grilled eggplant with beef and cheese and tempura. For the main course, we could choose between sushi and chazuke (tea poured over fish, toppings and rice. I went with the sushi, which were smaller and neat in size and style. For dessert, we ended with a refreshing peach sherbet and watermelon.
There were other cuisine options in the hotel as well such as Chinese, Italian, French, and a bar/Izakaya.
If you're looking for more entertainment, they even have karaoke.
But besides the exquisite dinner we had, another highlight is their communal baths! Bring your yukata (robe) with you to the 2nd floor entrance to the baths, separated for men and women, and put your clothes into a basket. Thoroughly wash up in the stall area on little stools, and then take a dip in the indoor and outdoor baths. I especially enjoyed the two outdoor baths. I bet they feel even better in the winter!
The only areas that need improvement may be a little face-lift or TLC on the rooms and beds. Though this hotel was established in 1878, the last time the rooms had updates must have been over 20-30 years ago. The beds were quite hard and uncomfortable and the rooms smelled like stale smoke.
Nonetheless, it was overall a lovely place to stay and seems like a great venue for weddings and other special events!