Tsuki no Yado Sara — Hotel in Hakone

This newly built ryokan is exceptionally clean and well-maintained. The atmosphere inside is quiet and relaxing, and I especially loved the snack bar with its wide variety of drinks. There’s even a draft beer machine and ingredients to make your own cocktails—perfect for those who enjoy a drink or two.

The public bath is divided into indoor and outdoor sections, and there’s also a small sauna room. There are two private baths as well—when in use, a light turns on at the entrance, so you can tell when they’re available by checking if the light is off.

After soaking in the onsen, you can enjoy a free ice cream, which was a nice touch. Dinner, late-night snacks, and breakfast are all served in the restaurant, which I found to be the most convenient setup. We had sukiyaki for dinner, and our server, Shin, was incredibly friendly and attentive—making it a memorable dinner.

We also enjoyed the free drink service, sampling everything from beer to various kinds of sake. It didn’t take long before we were feeling a little tipsy! The dining time is about an hour and a half, and the last call came quicker than expected, so the meal felt a bit rushed, but it wasn’t a big issue.

Late-night ramen was also delicious and convenient—you can just head down, eat, and come right back up. Breakfast was a kaiseki-style meal, generously portioned and quite tasty.

Our room had twin double beds and a private onsen bath. The mattresses were soft and comfortable, and we slept very well. Although we didn’t get around to using the in-room onsen because we were busy enjoying everything else, this was easily the best ryokan I’ve stayed at during my trip to Japan.

I highly recommend this place for anyone looking for a clean, quiet environment—especially those who enjoy drinks and a relaxing...

I have been to many ryokan in Japan and always find them very satisfactory. This place has really put us off. ||The worst part is their service. The first point of contact at the reception hardly had any smile on his face. He didn't really seem to like us coming which we all found quite odd in Japan. ||But the real worst is their restaurant staff. The 5 of us got put in a table surrounded by 3 walls (like a box) where the staff couldn't access any side of the table except one end. During a kaiseki meal, there are many many pots and plates and bowls. After every single dish, the waitress would make us pass all our plates, pots and bowls back. Seriously after every dish. I could bear it when it was during dinner as we would need space anyway, but when it has come to near the end that we started to have dessert, she still made us pass the crockery, I said to her "can't you wait till the end then you clean up the table?" but apparently she couldn't understand and couldn't be bothered to solve my question. I got really annoyed when she made us pass the big hot pot used for sukiyaki which was still very HOT. For the whole dinner, we felt like we were doing her job, we should have asked for a day's pay.||The sleep quality is also poor, the single beds are extremely small, and the mattresses look like they come from the worst quality possible.||I also find the room smells a bit. There is a air purifier in the room that I had to keep on for the whole time.||There is a window right outside our room that was left opened, that means a lot of mosquitoes gathered outside our room. Every time we opened the door, some mosquitoes would have...

Tsuki no Yado Sara was well worth the price and value for their collection of guest services and amenities at the hotel. The hotel itself is either a 15 minute walk from the Hakone-Yumoto station or you can take that little shuttle bus for about 200 yen to the hotel. Each room has a private bath on the balcony for those who are more into “alone-sens” like my wife, versus the public onsens. There is a public onsen on the 6th floor for both men and women or you can reserve a private onsen on the same floor.||The price to stay at the hotel also includes dinner and breakfast and it was quite worth it considering the choices. For dinner you can choose between Wagyu Shabu shabu or Sukiyaki and Seafood Shabu shabu. Breakfast is a collection of traditional Japanese assortments which we were delighted with. There is also a free Ramen time between 10:30-11:00pm every night. I realized that this hotel is part of the Dormy Inn family which now makes sense why there was a free ramen, an onsen and there is even free all you can drink beer and soft drinks as well. Ice cream/popsicles are also provided at no charge making this experience an absolute pleasure for us. The balconies also have a screen door so you can leave it open at night and get a little ASMR if you enjoy the running river as white noise. We would come back again, maybe in the fall when we don’t have to worry to much about the rain as we approach the typhoon season...