Ryokan Gyokutei — Hotel in Hakone

What a magical experience! The staff really take care of you and the grounds are like a magical fairy land. We came with our kids aged 8 and 10 and they loved experiencing the culture of the place and exploring the courtyard garden. Here is what to expect:

The staff will take your bags into the room. You take your shoes off at the door and they provide slippers for you to wear if you go outside again.

We had a separate room for the luggage, a bedroom with western style beds (rather firm mattress), another room that doubled as a dinner table during the day and had floor futons for the children at night, and a living room/porch area. There was also a private bathroom with private hot spa (onsen) and shower. When you arrive, they serve tea and a snack. They provide robes including a beautiful one for my little daughter to use that she loved.

Dinner is served at either 6 or 6:30, as you request. You are at either an eastern or western style table in your room, and they bring in courses one at a time. Overall it takes about 90 minutes. The kids are mostly served the same things as the adults but get slightly fewer dishes. The food was amazing. Drinks cost extra and they have sake, wine, beer, plum wine, juice, soda. The plum wine was wonderful.

After dinner they transform the dining room into a bedroom and then leave for the night.

You can use the private onsen in your room and also the larger shared one, which is split for men and women (rotating schedule for which room is which) and has a lovely view. There are rules to read about how to use it properly: rinse off first, don’t use soap in the onsen water, sit outside the water when washing. This was really calm and relaxing and no one else was using it either time when I went in the shared one.

Breakfast is at either 8 or 830, your choice. It is served in your room in 1 course and includes fish, soup, egg, porridge, rice, and in our case yogurt too. The food was delicious.

We really enjoyed relaxing and viewing the landscape, and the kids loved exploring the grounds.

Note that because of the services provided, a staff member will be in your room preparing or washing from about 30 min before meals to about 30 minutes after. So during these times you don’t have much privacy, but it’s a lovely time to sit in the porch area and relax.

If you have a feather allergy, the duvets and pillows have feathers for the western style beds, and while you can switch to the futon-style non-feather duvet, the non-feather pillow option is not very comfortable.

The rooms are a bit dated and it can smell a little musty because it is a damp area given the hot springs. But overall the experience was amazing and it was one of the highlights of the trip for us and the kids.

Attached pic shows the floor futons during the process of making them, before the...

We stayed 2 nights in Gyokutei. It was overall a nice experience. The room was clean and old fashioned. Was a nice experience.||Just a few notes which may help other travellers decide if this accommodation is suitable for them:||1) As per the website, the ryokan is located 10 min walk from Hakone-Yumoto station, so it is very convenient. But please note that it’s located on a steep, steep slope. It’s no problem for reasonably fit people to walk up (though dragging luggage up the slope will be tedious), but may prove challenging to those who have much luggage or have mobility issues. There is baggage delivery service at the train station which will deliver your luggage to the accommodation for a small fee. We used it and it was reliable. Do note that the cut-off time for same day delivery is 12.30pm. ||2) Breakfast is served in room at 8.30am. They were pretty inflexible about the timing. We did ask if it could be later but they demurred. The staff came every morning at 8.15am to set up the table for breakfast. So, no sleeping in. ||3) Dinner is served in room at 6.30pm. Again, they were inflexible about the timing. We purchased the Hakone free pass which allowed us on most of the public transport available. However, public transportation in Hakone is pretty limited. Some of the buses come only once hourly, and some only have 2-3 buses per hour (depending on whether it’s weekday or weekend). The train from Gora to Yumoto is every 40min. Also, close to sunset, when most tourists are returning to the main train stations, there’s a very high chance one will not be able to get onto the bus if they are not boarding at the terminal stations. All the roads are single lane, windy roads, so slow traffic during sunset hours are pretty much expected. I would say most attractions are at least 30-40min away from Yumoto station by public transport. Do take this into account when deciding if you would like to include dinner...

What a fantastic experience! Our family of four (2 adults and 2 teenagers) stayed one night between our time in Tokyo and Kyoto. We wanted the traditional ryokan experience and Gyokutei definitely delivered. From check in to check out, the service was impeccable and the accommodation top notch. Both dinner and breakfast were amazing, delivered and presented thoughtfully and beautifully by staff one by one. Now this stay was not cheap but definitely worth the value you get in the experience and meals. I would call the accommodation more authentic and comfortable than luxurious. The grounds are beautiful and serene and each room / accommodation area private. We enjoyed the private onsen in our room as well as the public ones. The service is very hands on and deliberate - the assigned hostess will spend a fair amount of time coming in and out of your accommodation while delivering meals, cleaning up, setting up futons for the night, etc. If you're not used to this, it might be a bit uncomfortable but we were fine hanging out in our bedroom (your accommodation has several rooms separated by partitions) until the meals were ready. PRO TIP : the ryokan was only 10 min by foot from hakone yumato station but it does go up a steep hill. If you follow Google maps direction, it will lead you to a fork in the road with a steep stone wall in the middle. Go LEFT when you see this wall, not right. The entrance to the rokyan grounds will be on your right as you walk up this hill. All in all and amazing experience that was the highlight of our Japan trip. Highly...