I am in the process of booking my honeymoon to japan for this May (I know! We are late in getting on all this!) and I’m trying to figure out where to stay while we are in Hakone for two nights toward the end of the month. We’d like to stay in a traditional ryokan, ideally with a private bath, but also be somewhere well-situated for seeing both town and nature. Based on the research I’ve done so far, it seems like Gora is roughly where we want to be, but I’m not entirely clear on how easy or difficult it is to get from one area to another. Another consideration is that I am a vegetarian, so anywhere that can’t accomodate that is out (Gora Hanaōgi; Yaeikan).
What I’ve found so far:
Places that are currently available and that seem great but maybe too far away: Kinnotake Sengokuhara; Matzukaya Honten; Kakui No Yado Shiunso
Places that seem more convenient but might have a downside:
Gora Kansuiro: downside is the (available) rooms only have indoor private baths and it doesn’t look any of the public ones are mixed-gender or reservable – since it’s our honeymoon, my husband and I would like to be able to spend time together
Gen Hakone Gora: this looks super modern in a way that is neither what we are looking for from this experience nor our style in general
What I’m hoping for is some advice in thinking about distance/location in the area, any thoughts about the specific ryokan I’ve mentioned, or recommendations for other places to consider (Gora Kadan and Hakone Ginyu are both fully booked while we are there; Yama No Chaya only has a room one night we are there)
Additionally, the other places we will be going on this trip are Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Naoshima, and Hiroshima—if my best bet is to cut my losses trying to find what I’m looking for in Hakone and focus on one of those other locations for a ryokan stay, I’d love any advice/recs for that.
Thanks so much!
by hongostokki