We stayed in the beautiful town of Fujikawaguchiko for one night on our journey from Tokyo to Kyoto in September 2025, arriving in the town by train. This is a great hotel that provides breakfast. The town is filled with overpriced restaurants that do not offer anything near the level of quality of Tokyo street food, so temper expectations.
The location of the hotel is okay. About 10 min walk from the train ststion, 10 min walk from the lake, and 15 min walk from most of the restaurants. We did not have a room with view of Mount Fuji. There are hotels closer to the lake/restaurant areas if you’d like to walk less. There are also hotels and Airbnb that give you a straight view of Mount Fuji. All cost more, of course.
Check in time is at 3 pm and checkout time is at 10 am. A negative feature of this hotel and Japanese hotels in general is that they do not allow for early check in. This hotel in particular did not even allow us to check in early for a fee, it was just a flat no. Interesting business practice, as check out time is at 10 am, so I’m sure the rooms were available by the time we arrived around 1 pm.
There are two buildings at this hotel, building A and building B, both accessed from the same front lobby. Parking is provided for free, either in the outside parking lot or parking garage. Parking garage parking requires ticket validation at the front desk prior to leaving. Each building has a separate breakfast area in the lobby, and I tried both breakfasts and there were small differences. Building A had a better breakfast for my tastes, featuring yakitori (chicken) grilled on charcoal to perfection. Other breakfast items included European-style pastries (average, but good), sausage (I don’t eat pork, so can’t comment on these), a variety of tasty soups, salad, some salad toppings, an interesting melon/citrus jello (recommend), and yogurt with optional jelly topping.
The rooms are typical of Japanese hotels, super small but everything is present. The AC worked well. No weird smells.
A laundry service is present, washer costs ¥200 (USD $1.35) and dryer is ¥100 for 10 min (need 30 min for drying a large load, so USD $2 realistically).
Overall, I recommend this hotel. Adfordable, functional,...
Read moreWhat can I say about Toyoko Inn because I have a mixed experience.
We went there in January, so it was winter and it's cold up there. It was our fault that we only spent one night there, but it was also a blessing to spend only one night there.
There was no food around the hotel, or in the hotel (except breakfast). We walked around the loop and there were a good number of restaurants but they all closed. After searching for a while, we were cold and hid inside a cute shop to ask about the F&B around there. The clerk was very friendly, even gave us a hand drawn map to show the food around and the days they close. It was not that day but they were not open! The only option we had was a semi outdoor mean ramen or instant meals from Lawson (it was still far from where we stood and we didn't know what they had).
The only option that resembled some kind of food from the hotel's vending machines was canned corn. Yeah, it was not sufficient but it was decent to warm us up for a bit because we were freezing.
The room was okay, water pressure good, heater good, channel very limited, but the one I like the least, which still didn't make sense for me was the check in and check out time. We could only check in at four in the afternoon, and drum roll, the check out is ten in the morning! What is there so much time missing in 24 hours? We barely felt the hotel experience, I think the timing is very ridiculous. Most hotels do 12/2 or 12/3, other areas in Japan usually 11/3 at worst, not 10/4! As the result, we barely had the time to do anything beside taking the stroll during sunrise and froze our behinds doing so.
But there is one great thing about Toyoko Inn that I love. They provide free transport. Go to their website and do the booking. We had the free transport and the amazing thing was they still pick and send us even though they were no other customers. The driver was very nice, the staff were great, we are very thankful for the transport since it was a significant distance between the hotel and Otsuki station.
The check-in and out process was smooth, there were ample of self service baggage area, the...
Read moreTraveling as a couple with two suitcases (28” and 24”) and two hand-carry luggages, we embarked on a roughly 20-minute walk to the bus station.
Adjacent to it stood a bustling tempura restaurant (Hoto Tempura), perennially crowded during lunch and dinner hours, while opposite sat a comforting ramen food truck (Kaneyuki), especially delightful in the springtime.
Arriving early at around 11 am, we were provided with the room cards but informed that non-members could only check in after 4 pm. Despite being issued the card, we were directed to store our luggage in lockers to explore Fujikawaguchiko until check-in time.
The room (Economy Double Room) offered basic amenities but was a bit snug for our luggage sizes. The 28” had to lean against the main door for access, while the 24” had to be opened at the foot of the bed.
Fortunately, the bathtub was slightly larger than usual, preventing accidental collisions with the toilet door in the relatively spacious area. Moreover, the WiFi performed well, facilitating video streaming and photo/video uploads.
// edited on 16 March 2024
We stayed here for 3 days and 2 nights, but I wrote this review on the first day of my stay.
We found the bed to be quite firm, and the pillow was low and also quite hard. Unfortunately, there were no extra pillows in the room.
The walls of the room are not very thick, so while we couldn't hear people talking in neighboring rooms, we could hear their alarms in the morning.
They do provide a safe in the room, but it's too small to fit a 13-inch laptop. This is something to keep in mind if you plan to bring your laptop while traveling.
Breakfast is included and served in both building A and B, depending on your breakfast preference. We opted for freshly baked bread and salad.
We also had a view of Mount Fuji from our room on the 6th floor of building B. Sadly, the sun was very strong, so we had to keep the blinds closed while we were inside.
You can also find a complimentary shuttle service to Kawaguchiko Station; refer to the timetable posted at...
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