Hotel Green Plaza Hakone — Hotel in Hakone

The views are unbeatable at this hotel! We stayed for 2 nights in a Japanese-Style Room With Semi Open-Air Bath. We booked early which is important if you want this style room as others in our group didn’t have this option booking closer to the travel dates.

This hotel is a great option to get away from the big cities and relax for a couple days!

Getting there/Logistics - the bus from Odawara station was straightforward, though I did ask for help at the info desk at the train station to ensure I didn’t miss it. They were very helpful and there was also someone helping while boarding the bus to tell you your stop number and ensure you’re taking the right bus. Get to the bus early as they do fill up during popular tourist seasons. We took the J line bus to Ubako and it was ¥1230 and about 45 minutes. The walk was slightly downhill to the hotel from Ubako bus stop and about 5 minutes. Leaving, we took a different bus (M line) back to Odawara station. The front desk helped coordinate this for us in combo with my google maps directions. The shuttle took us to a different station than where we arrived. The bus did get crowded after we were on. The ride to Odawara station was a little longer, maybe 50-55 minutes (it’s the last stop, one past what Google maps might tell you) and cost ¥1360.

The room - Checking in was easy and the staff is very friendly. We stayed in the Japanese-Style Room With Semi Open-Air Bath. The room is very spacious!! It is dated, which was to be expected from previous reviews. Everything was clean and well maintained despite the age. We did have to make our own beds which was simple. The bathroom is where the age is most obvious, but again everything was clean and worked well. Our room had the semi-open air private bath which was great! We had been traveling to big cities and walking a ton so this was nice to relax in directly from the room.

Food/Drinks - the staff will have you choose a dinner time at check in for the evenings you’re staying. Breakfast does not have reserved times. The food was good, not great. It is a buffet after all. There were lots of Japanese and western style meal options plus drinks and dessert. Alcohol is extra and you’ll have to get the attention of an employee to order. There is also a lounge in the lobby, but it has limited hours. If you want to have a drink after dinner, I recommend buying some from the gift shop to take back to your room or sit outside with. The gift shop hours are also limited.

Onsen - pretty much exactly as what you’ll find researching. This hotel does have tattoo stickers for purchase for those that need them. The hours for the hot spring are afternoon/evening. If you want to see Fuji from the hot springs, be sure to get there before dark.

Views - unbelievable! We got very lucky during our trip as it was rain/cloudy most of the time we were in Hakone but still got great views. I recommend going out to the garden frequently because you never know when Fuji will show up (we had the best luck early morning and late afternoon). We took the ropeway to Lake Ashi (recommend the sightseeing boat for more views!) and traveled down to the Gora area to see the open air museum. No view is better or even compares to what you’ll see from the...

2 nights here as part of a trip through Japan - 2 adults and 1 teen.||You go to Hakone for the view of Fuji, the onsen experience and the chance to get away from the cities for a few days. Obviously, you do expect a bit of a trip, its the wilderness after all, and this is definitely that as to get here you'll need to get a train to Odawara and then rely on a combo of mountain train/cable car, mountain bus/hotel shuttle or cab. When our Japanese friends shut the cable car due to even the "threat" of thunder however, expect to be sitting on a crowded bus for an hour or so and then get dropped off in the middle of nowhere and be asked to call the hotel to get the shuttle bus to come pick you up despite having switched to a data only e-sim and have no ability to phone anyone. Oh and expect Fuji to be 'over there somewhere' unless you're pretty lucky: that "threat" of thunder is almost permanent up in the tropical mountains and it's hard to have thunder without a lot of clouds.||None of this is the hotels fault obviously although some kind of warning that you might find yourself on a trackless nowhere staring at a sign warning you about bears with no phone would possibly be a good idea?||The hotel itself is like going back in time. Its old and the area is very damp and this place looks like its stood there a while and been pretty damp most of that time. The room was basic; its billed as a Japanese western room or something and says on the gumph that its got beds, tatami mats and a futon. Our 'futon' was 2 sets of what looked like padding off a sun lounger that we put on the floor. Sleeping on it was as expected. We paid for a view of Fuji but never saw even the vaguest glimpse. The bathroom was tiny - think of the sort of thing you might get on a small boat. ||The rest of the hotel was OK but the bar is only open from 2.00 - 4.30 every day for some reason none could explain? Like, WTF?? The restaurant is better described as a big school or prison canteen. Going anywhere else in the evening seemed both logistically tricky and potentially life-threatening so you're probably going to eat in and, to be fair, the food was really good - a mix of all sorts for breakfast and dinner but all tasty and its a help yourself deal so if you don't want pickled tuna for breakfast, don't have it. ||So this place gets an 'average' score. Some if it isn't their fault, some is. Hakone was worth the visit and I'm glad we did it; the trip down the mountain we could do via cable car and mountain train and it was really pleasant so, if this is how you got here and you got lucky with the weather you might well score it better because all the reasons to go here aren't really about the hotel. Which is...

2 nights here as part of a trip through Japan - 2 adults and 1 teen.||You go to Hakone for the view of Fuji, the onsen experience and the chance to get away from the cities for a few days. Obviously, you do expect a bit of a trip, its the wilderness after all, and this is definitely that as to get here you'll need to get a train to Odawara and then rely on a combo of mountain train/cable car, mountain bus/hotel shuttle or cab. When our Japanese friends shut the cable car due to even the "threat" of thunder however, expect to be sitting on a crowded bus for an hour or so and then get dropped off in the middle of nowhere and be asked to call the hotel to get the shuttle bus to come pick you up despite having switched to a data only e-sim and have no ability to phone anyone. Oh and expect Fuji to be 'over there somewhere' unless you're pretty lucky: that "threat" of thunder is almost permanent up in the tropical mountains and it's hard to have thunder without a lot of clouds.||None of this is the hotels fault obviously although some kind of warning that you might find yourself on a trackless nowhere staring at a sign warning you about bears with no phone would possibly be a good idea?||The hotel itself is like going back in time. Its old and the area is very damp and this place looks like its stood there a while and been pretty damp most of that time. The room was basic; its billed as a Japanese western room or something and says on the gumph that its got beds, tatami mats and a futon. Our 'futon' was 2 sets of what looked like padding off a sun lounger that we put on the floor. Sleeping on it was as expected. We paid for a view of Fuji but never saw even the vaguest glimpse. The bathroom was tiny - think of the sort of thing you might get on a small boat. ||The rest of the hotel was OK but the bar is only open from 2.00 - 4.30 every day for some reason none could explain? Like, WTF?? The restaurant is better described as a big school or prison canteen. Going anywhere else in the evening seemed both logistically tricky and potentially life-threatening so you're probably going to eat in and, to be fair, the food was really good - a mix of all sorts for breakfast and dinner but all tasty and its a help yourself deal so if you don't want pickled tuna for breakfast, don't have it. ||So this place gets an 'average' score. Some if it isn't their fault, some is. Hakone was worth the visit and I'm glad we did it; the trip down the mountain we could do via cable car and mountain train and it was really pleasant so, if this is how you got here and you got lucky with the weather you might well score it better because all the reasons to go here aren't really about the hotel. Which is...