箱根強羅溫泉 金閣莊 — Hotel in Hakone

Pros: We got the room we booked. A beautiful, simple, Japanese-style room. It was very spacious, and the air conditioning was fully functional. The remote control was in Japanese; simply press the green button and set the temperature. There was the option of multiple futons in the room, so sleeping separately wasn't a problem.

The manager quickly explained everything about Hakone (cable car, Hakone Free Pass, sights, onsen) to us in good English.

A private onsen is available, and as someone who has never been to an onsen before, I personally found it very relaxing. The manager (albeit a bit stressed) immediately opened a time slot for us upon our arrival, without asking, where we could shower and go to the private onsen, and then gave us restaurant recommendations for after the onsen.

Cons: Welcome to a mountain village. The only convenience store is in Gora. It's about a 20-minute steep downhill walk from the hotel. The only way back is on foot if you don't want to spend any money. Otherwise, you can take the cable car (note: the last ride as of November 2025 is at 5:55 PM) or alternatively a taxi. We paid 900 yen for a taxi ride from Gora to the hotel. The cable car costs approximately 300-450 yen. So if you want to go to a restaurant in the evening, you'll have to find a taxi for the way back (regularly found at Gora Station) or walk back up the mountain (have fun).

The room and the hotel were dirty in a few places. The table in our room had obviously not been wiped down, and you could see several hairs on the floor. Otherwise, we found the beds and the hotel itself to be hygienic.

The manager didn't make a good first impression. When we checked in, they didn't even look at us at first; instead, they stared down at their phones for an uncomfortably long time. Then, in a slightly stressed and slightly aggressive tone, they explained to us that our booking number didn't match the one they had on file. Not something you want to hear when you've just arrived from Kamakura, sweating and exhausted, and it's starting to get dark at 4:30 p.m. (check-in time). During check-in, the manager regularly picked up her phone and complained about the guests while texting. Overall, we found the manager to be very unprofessional and downright unfriendly at times. This behavior improved over the next two days, but first impressions are often the most important, and this one was disastrous.

Please note: As far as I understand, taxis are reluctant to drive up the hill to the hotel for pick-ups. So you have to be prepared to walk down to Gora Station with your suitcases when you leave. Getting a ride from Gora Station to the hotel doesn't seem to be a problem. The other way around, as mentioned, seems to be complicated.

Pay attention to the times: There are restaurants down in Gora, but they all close around 8:30 p.m. The only convenience store closes at 10:00 p.m. This should be taken into account, given the check-in time of 4:30 p.m.

Private Onsen = Shower The hotel has a bathroom with a shower and a designated private onsen. If the bathroom is booked, you won't be able to shower. You can only use the shower and onsen if you reserve a time slot. This worked for us on two occasions without any major problems, but it's still...

Years of living in Japan and this is the worst accommodation I have seen! Starting with the worst of the problems, there were cockroaches in a traditional Japanese room where you are sleeping on the tatami floor (there was just a mattress on the floor and not futon, but I wouldn't trust either here to be clean). The room smelled of urine and the AC was broken when there was a heat advisory. (The manager seemed to know this when she let me into the room, since she said that she couldn't get anyone to work on it, but still turned it on as if eventually the room would get cooler.) With all this there was no staff around and there was no after hours number to get any assistance with these problems. It was so bad I left in the middle of the first night when I had paid for three. I told the manager I was leaving and all of the reasons why and she didn't offer any assistance or refund, even for the nights I wasn't going to use. She left me several strange voicemails saying that there weren't any problems. Before I even arrived within minutes of booking the room I was contacted to say that the room that I booked was very small without a window or AC. Since it was non- refundable the manager said I had to contact the booking agent to book a decent room for more than double the price. (The manager also said that I should have known the room was bad because of the price). In addition to all of this it was very difficult to find, but that is probably for the best so that everyone can avoid it. I told the booking agent about all of these problems and they refunded their portion of my price, but I never heard anything from the property. Save yourself the hassle and book a nice place in Hakone. There are many, but this isn't one of them (The photo is of one of the largest spiders I have ever seen, which was in the hotel. Small table included for...

I spent four weeks travelling Japan solo - Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo, Nagoya and Hakone. My stay here is the one I will remember most fondly. If I were to return to Japan, I would definitely come here again to enjoy the onsen in Hakone.

This is certainly a traditional experience, you go here to enjoy the onsen bathes, the mountain air and Hakone local sights and traditional Japanese style rooms with tatami mats and low floor beds. This accommodation nails this experience in a comfortable and accessible way.

The staff are excellent, friendly and very reasonable. They are happy to chat and share all the best ways to get around Hakone ( very important to know ).

ATMs and 24/7 konbini options are extremely limited and quite far away if you are on foot. Make sure you either bring cash, or find an ATM and plan out your night before the transport options close down for the day. Or, if you enjoy very long strenuous walking, you can either go down the mountain to Gora station and then follow the road south to get to a 24 hour Lawson with an ATM ( the Daily Yamazaki does not have an ATM ) or you can instead go south from the accommodation and go to the Yunessun and use the ATM and FamilyMart there instead.

The facilities are definitely not modern, they are a traditional experience in a mountain resort town people come to for enjoying onsen. Many of the bad reviews I have seen here do not understand this or are due to the reviewers making grave errors, being disrespectful to the staff, being dishonest or simply not...