Wakakusa no Yado Maruei — Hotel in Fujikawaguchiko

This was my first traditional ryokan experience, and to be honest I did not know what to expect when first arriving. But from the moment you step off the shuttle bus you are greeted by staff and helped with your bags. The lobby is cozy and every staff member we encountered was helpful and courteous. While the staff had limited English, we had no issues at all communicating with them and checking in, riding the shuttle, or checking out.

The rooms are traditional Japanese style rooms (If you are looking for a western style room/resort, this is not the place). The room itself was very spacious and had various amenities like tea sets, hot water for tea, and a large bathroom. Room was very clean on arrival and throughout our stay. My only small complaint is that some of the fixtures of the room are a little older and have begun to show their age, but that didn't detract from the experience much for me.

For anyone expecting a resort like experience, this is not what a traditional ryokan is. There are rules in place, like scheduled breakfast and dinner times, rules for the onsen baths, and you need to be out of your room between 12-2 pm for room service. However stressful being on a schedule may seem, I never felt rushed or bothered by the scheduled times. They offer time slots of your choice for breakfast and dinner so you have flexibility day to day.

The meals were beautiful and some of the best food I had during my stay in Japan. My only criticism of the meals is that all the dishes (sometimes 10+ separate dishes) are served all at once when you arrive, so the hot foods may get cold if you don't eat fast enough. However, I still very much enjoyed every meal here. Please note that there is a lot of seafood and raw seafood, and the kitchen is unable to alter meals for any reason. If you are not a picky eater you will love it.

The views from the room and rooftop observatory were stunning, and the water from the tap (yes, I'm mentioning the tap water. The water from the taps are clean and drinkable, and you are encouraged to drink from them) is pure water from Mt. Fuji. I've never thought about the taste of water much but it makes an unbelievable difference in your teas and meals when you have such high quality water. It is better than any bottled water I've had.

The public baths were clean and enjoyable. They have 2 baths open each for men and women, and they were spacious enough to never feel crowded. If you are shy around others they also have private baths you can rent for 30 minutes at a time, but there is a separate charge for those (1000 yen I think).

I truly hope I can return some day. If you are open to a traditional experience, you will enjoy...

This onsen ryokan was amazing and by far one of the best experiences I've had in Japan. They picked us up from Kawaguchiko Station within 10 minutes of us calling them and greeted us warmly at the entrance. We booked the Nonohanatei room on the fifth floor which had a kotatsu and a private open air bath outside. It was big enough to fit two people and I think the bath water was mineral water from Mount Fuji. While that was amazing, I definitely recommend bathing in the public open-air onsen on the fifth floor. I also visited the indoor onsen, dry sauna, wet sauna, and herbal bath on the first floor. While those were all great, the open-air onsen was definitely my favorite. The dinner was amazing! If you can, I would recommend waking up at 5 - 6 AM so you can get the whole onsen to yourself. The wagyu was buttery smooth and the sashimi was incredibly fresh. We had some rosé sake and although neither of us enjoy alcohol we found it very pleasant. The man who served us dinner made sure to explain every dish to us in Japanese. He even gave my boyfriend a paper with his name in calligraphy, which he loved. When we went back to our room, the staff had already laid out our futons for us and left a very sweet 'Thank you for your patronage' note. We had fun looking through the souvenir shop. I bought a Mount Fuji keychain and postcard there.

Sadly, we could not see Mount Fuji because we went there on a foggy day. Unfortunately that was the only day available to us because this ryokan was already completely booked for the month. If you can, book it through its official site because it will be cheaper. We paid ¥74,000 (about 576 USD) for the both of us which is a great price for the location, facilities, and services. Massages were not available when we went. The younger staff can speak English, but you should definitely come knowing some basic Japanese. Our breakfast paled in comparison to our dinner, probably because our dinner was so amazing. The lastest dinner is served is 6 PM, so you might want to plan to bring some snacks or bento with you. There was a small fridge in our room. The bathroom was not soundproof at all, you can hear everything that goes on in there. My boyfriend asked for their largest yukata and it was too small for him (he's 181 cm/100 kg). He anticipated this so he brought his own yukata.

Overall, it was a beautiful experience. Though I have a few regrets, I would definitely come back to...

We had a lovely time staying at this Ryokan. The views were incredible, the onsens are great, the rooms are really nice, and the service was stellar. I would give 5 stars, but cannot as it is a bit of a shame that dinners in the hotel could not be booked for us.

My wife and I stayed here from the 2nd to 4th January - in the middle of Japanese public holidays - and enjoyed two rooms as we were not able to book the private bath-equipped room for the first night. We booked quite late (a week or two's notice) which meant selection was limited.

We were picked up by the free shuttle directly after arrival at the Kawaguchiko station, and our checkin came with tea, a snack, and a cup of sake each. The service is really stellar; they also helped with booking taxis and calling for restaurant availabilities around town.

Our rooms were lovely, with the western-style room having a view over lake Kawaguchi, and the Japanese room with private bath having a view directly on Mt. Fuji. The western-style room had more comfortable beds as the futons were a bit hard (my wife double stacked a spare futon for a more comfortable rest). That said, the view of Mt. Fuji in the morning was quite something.

The 5th floor leads to a rooftop observation point, which was amazing for viewing the sunset on Mt. Fuji.

The onsens too were fantastic. We enjoyed the scenic public baths (among which the lake view bath is amazing), a rented private bath session (also great), and our room's own bath.

Now the one disadvantage... Unfortunately the late booking led to no dinners and breakfasts being available even during the booking (not even against extra payment) which was stated on the website but still a shame. Frankly, I don't understand how a hotel cannot prepare enough dinners for all its guests with a fully stocked kitchen? This unfortunately meant we had to go look for meals outside the hotel - which during the New Year public holiday was quite tricky and meant our last dinner consisted of konbini dishes (which, to the staff's credit, they helped us heat up).

Additionally, though this actually appealed more to us, the facilities are a bit dated and feel like a time capsule to the 90s.

I would gladly return but I do hope they can be more accommodating to provide dinners for guests who are...