Gæstebruger
13. juni 2023
Perhaps it's the Japanese in me, but I think if you're going to stay in an onsen (hot springs) area like Hakone, you need to stay in a ryokan. Jamie W. and I stayed in a nice one in Kyoto several years back, though that was on the higher end. Founded in 1715 as a stop on the Hakone Hachiri, this inn is over 300 years old and quite traditional like stepping back into a 1950's Yasujiro Ozu movie. We reserved a large tatami room (248 sq ft) with a private bathroom and mountain view for a reasonable ¥21,780. It was spartan by Western standards though there was a TV screen we never turned on. We also had a couple of chairs next to the window. Otherwise we slept on thin futons that laid flat on the tatami. It can be challenging on the back if you're not used to it. We were quite surprised to be informed they were not serving dinner or breakfast, the usual service at a ryokan, presumably because they had so few guests staying overnight. Unfortunately we were in an isolated area and not logistically close to the more touristed area next to Lake Ashi. We thought we'd go to bed hungry, but luckily we found the nearby Doll House Museum had a cafe that provided a hot meal. The must-do was reserving a half-hour in the private bath filled with the natural hot springs water. It was across the road from the ryokan in its own cabin. There were two discrete baths. One was the hydrogen carbonate spring which was kept at a high temperature that made it difficult to stay for more than a few minutes. The other was the sulfur spring which was comparatively cooler and consequently more relaxing.
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