Explore 3-Star Hotels in Hakone

Environment: The hotel is located in the mountains, the air is very fresh, the night is very quiet, there is a small river and a small waterfall next to it. The hotel is not far from Hakone Shrine, Lake Ashi and other attractions. Service: The service is very thoughtful, breakfast is very rich, and you can also book lunch and dinner. Facilities: The overall decoration of the hotel is relatively new, and the room area is much larger than that of a hotel in Tokyo at the same price. The hotel's hot springs are indoor and outdoor, very clean, listening to the sound of the waterfall outside the hot springs is very pleasant.

This is a very spacious place for a group of friends! Plenty of room to sit and chat or sleep peacefully without disturbing each other. There's a balcony, parking (although we didn't use it), and air conditioning and heating, which helped keep us warm. The location is great—just 5 minutes from the ski lift. There are no shops nearby, but there are a few cafes serving breakfast and dinner.

20 min uphill hike from Gora station. Or you can take cable train up hill for two stations and walk on flatland for about 8 minutes to hotel. Hotel has shuttle bus. They dropped us off on the way back. You can possibly call to pick you up at Gora station. Trip.com reservation options show you prices for one adult. It's very hard to book for 3 people to stay in one room to save money. I sent a custom request to the hotel exactly this - 3 people in one room. Trip.com charged me $270 and when I got to the hotel, they said I have to pay $300+ more for 2 more people. That was not clearly communicated to me by either Trip.com or hotel. There's a language and cultural barrier. In Japan, you pay per person - not by rooms. They scan your all passports of everyone staying - not just the person who books. With last minute notice, I had no choice but to pay more as other hotels nearby are filled up and we were very tired from 4 hours train transfers dragging our bags plus 8 minutes walk to the hotel. All in all, if trip.com room selections are not a perfect fit, I can't recommend booking this hotel. Custom messages are not recognized. Communication is lacking. You will get charged last minute without any alternatives left. For $570 a night, we could have a way better hotel in Hakone. The breakfast also wasn't memorable and you have to reserve it ahead of time. I would not come back.

Excellent! This onsen ryokan, operating for over 70 years, boasts 9 natural spring sources, a clear testament to its authentic *gensen kakenagashi* (free-flowing hot spring water) system. It's a short, convenient walk from the station. The bamboo grove at the entrance is exquisitely maintained, and we were welcomed by female staff in traditional attire. The gentleman who handled our check-in had a wonderfully distinctive charm. Our room was very spacious, with large floor-to-ceiling windows offering stunning views of the river and distant mountains – truly beautiful. We had booked a Japanese-style room with a semi-open-air private bath, including the 'one night, two meals' plan. Before dinner, an attendant came to greet us, and then the elaborate multi-course kaiseki meal was served. The entire dining experience lasted nearly two hours. While the ingredients were intricate and well-presented, it wasn't 'delicious' in a conventional way, though certainly not unpleasant. I suppose that's just how traditional kaiseki is, and I appreciate the experience. Afterwards, a staff member prepared our futon beds for the night. Soaking in the private onsen before bed was incredibly relaxing. The hot spring water was continuously flowing, and a notice on the wall detailed its composition, stating that only water was added to lower the temperature, along with chlorine for disinfection, and crucially, no circulation system was used. This is significant because many other onsen ryokans might offer beautiful gardens, attractive prices, and even private indoor baths, but a closer look often reveals they might just be using plain heated water or circulated onsen water. The impeccable service was almost overwhelming. Overall, I highly recommend this ryokan to anyone looking for an authentic Japanese onsen experience. If I were to visit again, I would probably opt out of the two meals package. The kaiseki was a unique experience, but once is enough, and there are many dining options on the walk from the station.

Take the Shinkansen from Osaka to Odawara, then transfer to the tram to Hakone Yumoto, and then take a bus to Gora. Two people dragged their suitcases and walked uphill for 15 minutes. They were exhausted. When they arrived at the hotel, they found that they could wait for the train in Gora, and it only took 5 minutes to walk. The hotel facilities are not new, and there are not many guests, mostly Japanese tourists. The hot spring is relatively small, and the water temperature is very high. You have to come out to breathe after soaking for a while. I experienced the private bath and open-air hot spring, and there were a lot of mosquitoes. The food is OK, worthy of the price.

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!

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!!

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.