Aura Tachibana — Hotel in Hakone

We stayed only 1 night in which I wish we had at least 2 nights to truly relax and enjoy. We did have a chance to walk around the hotel and down to the river before dinner -beautiful. ||We booked a "Kaze No Tachi Duluxe Room with Private Open-Air Bath" and we just loved it. The room was very large, with multiple rooms and areas, and perhaps a little outdated, but we were Ok with it as the other things made up for it. We loved our private open air balcony with our private bath - just wish we had more time to enjoy it, as we had to leave early morning the next day after breakfast. The balcony has beautiful mountain views. If you don't book a room with a private bath - just know that upon arrival you can book a private bath on the rooftop for a small fee. There is also a public sitting area on the roof top as well (with a bar during the season), there is also a public bar inside. ||They provide yukata's (casual kimomo's) to wear to your meals and/or the onsen. We wished we had known this as we would have warn ours to dinner. No worries, we made sure to wear them for breakfast. ||If you book the Kaze No Tachi , the meals are included and you eat in a separate dining room than those booking without the meals. These meals are "Kaiseki" which is a multi-course meal. There is so much food, actually too much. The courses and the presentation are amazing. Definitely not for picky eaters. Both my husband and I are foodies, and love to try different things, and I will admit, I didn't love everything. But overall, wow! It was truly an advent, just make sure to enjoy it and not rush through it. My only complaint is there are two meal times, and you don't get to pick the dinner time - they tell you at check in. We were told we were eating at the earlier time, and we wished we could have pushed it back, as we will still full from our lunch (and they do not allow you to pick your time ahead of check in). I do feel like you should be able to request your dinner time after booking, and before check in. ||We both enjoyed the public onsen and when I went both times it was completely empty. This was my first time in a public onsen and it was a great experience (note public onsens are separate males and females and no clothes are allowed)||If you are looking to get out of your comfort zone, try this traditional Japanese ryokan with the traditional meals - the experience is worth the splurge! I highly recommend...

We stayed at Aura Tachibana for two nights in a private onsen room. Check in was great and staff were polite and helpful - however the property is showing its age. Elevators are very outdated and amenities inside the room include a 18” TV that doesn’t show any channels properly although people probably aren’t coming here to watch TV why include it?

Our room did have an excellent updated couch, beds were fine (we had the western style beds). The air conditioning was a bit inconsistent alternating between too cool and too warm a bit.

Food is interesting here, you have assigned meal times for breakfast and dinner with about an hour of leeway. They will ask for your preference during your meal to choose subsequent mealtimes. The food here can be described as traditional Japanese with a fine dining feel.

For the food, there were a few too many jellies for my liking and there were generally a large number of small courses - our first night being 10 courses. You’ll need to be reasonably adventurous with your food or be very comfortable with Japanese cuisine or you’ll find it a little tough as every meal has a bunch of raw components and odd things

I did notice some repeated components through our two days here but overall I would have preferred just to do one dinner and breakfast for the experience rather than two as it was kind of more of the same.

The private onsen was a good experience even if I couldn’t completely figure out the control panel, the ability to go in and out at any time was very convenient.

For convenience, it’s about a 15 min uphill walk from Hakone-Yumoto but there’s a shuttle you can call for from the tourist information office.

There’s shuttles every half hour from the hotel back to Hakone-Yumoto but it can be a bit packed.

In summary, this place is focused on foreigners we saw very few Japanese people here. It’s a good way to experience Japanese food and onsen but for $500USD a night I expect a bit more updated interiors and property and perhaps more choice on the meals rather...

We love this onsen hotel. We stayed in mid november and booked the private onsen adult only room. Its in the new block. When reached Yamoto station, information counter is just opposite bridge (many people take bus there), ask the staff to call and the green charter bus came 5mins. Hotel entrance is located in small lane and windy, must take the charter don't attempt to walk from station. The entrance looks old but inside is modern and classy and fairly new. Don't be fooled by the old exterior look and give it a try.

Onsen: Private onsen temperature can be adjusted. The onsen water really cure my dry skin and my eczema sensitive was gone during the onsen period, its definitely authentic onsen. There is vending machines with alcohol at the adult block. Noise insulation is good, we only occasionally hear noises from the open balcony, but once we closed the doors its fine. There is a private onsen at the roof top for renting which overlook the mountain great view.

Room: It is spacious, once the futon was lay down there is still some space to walk around. I love the huge dressing room and wooden flooring is comfy. Only problem is the air-con is heater mode and we don't know how to adjust so we end up open the windows a little bit.

Dining: I don't know why there are previous not good reviews, but our experience is superb and great. We are especially pleased with the dining service staff Stacey on our first night dinner for her detailed service, she will serve us drinks etc even before we asked. The service makes a difference and I leave a thank you note to the hotel when I left. The food is great and so many choices. Its worth the money.

Service in general: Staff service is great. Although some of the staff may not know much English, they have several staff who can speak and know English and will handle our issues. During check in, guests will sit down on a table while a English rep will explain and even personally bring us to our room. Very personalised service.

Its a great experience and...