Kawaguchiko Lakeside Hotel — Local services in Fujikawaguchiko

I had an incredible experience. I paid for a traditional-style room with a view of Mt. Fuji, and an included breakfast. I took some pictures, which are attached. The hotel staff were incredibly polite and accommodating, and can understand some English (I am unsure exactly how much as I was using the opportunity to practice my own Japanese skills). The hotel is conveniently located next to the lake with restaurants and convenience stores within walking distance, however the area has very limited public transport by Japanese standards. Because of this, the hotel offers a complementary shuttle service upon arrival and departure. The staff are caring and diligent, with remarkable attention to detail. During the complementary shuttle service the staff gave recommendations for various local restaurants, both to visit and to avoid. They also provided me with tourist information during check-in, and gave advice for the best local spots to take pictures of the mountain. There are some activities such as table soccer available in the hotel, and many attractions within town. The onsen is open in the mornings and evenings, and is seperated into men's and women's baths. It is not open-air, but I did not find this to be a problem as the water is hot, refreshing, and naturally heated. There is no bath or shower in the traditional rooms, so the onsen is your only option. Foreign guests may find onsen bathing daunting as it is communal, but the chance of running into others is rather small. Breakfast is available for a very reasonable additional fee. It is made freshly by the staff in the morning, and is of a varied traditional palate. It includes rice, green tea, water, and miso soup as standard items, as well as a nabemono one-pot dish and a bento with four different small items. The nabemono and bento items are made with different ingredients each day. Housekeeping is daily and includes a set of fresh towels, yukata, and restocking of the bathroom.

Overall, I recommend this to travellers seeking a relaxed traditional experience. It is perfect for a short rest stop between Osaka/Kyoto and Tokyo city, or an extended and relaxed stay in beautiful...

This is our first time visiting the lake area of Mt Fuji. We have booked the hotel for 5 nights during end Oct to early Nov. When we saw the great view of Mt Fuji from our room, we can’t help “wow, wow, wow”. It is worth the money booking a room with view. I enjoyed this convenience to shoot a few great time lapse movie of Mt Fuji at dawn from our room, avoiding hours of suffering from standing outside in morning chill.||||The hotel has a great location. You have everything you need within walking distance, such as bus stop, restaurants, supermarket and convenience stores. The Herb Hall is just across the road. You could walk to the lakeside in 3-5 minutes. At this lakeside, could shoot great pictures of Mt Fuji and the lakes, together with colourful autumn leaves (if season is right). The Kawaguchiko Bridge is also nearby through which you could walk to the other side of Kawaguchi Lake while enjoying great scenery, although we did not have time to try this walk. ||||Our room is a twin bed room with tatami area. It is spacious for two travellers. We slept on the tatami every night. It was so nice to smell the aroma of grass and get into sleep. ||||Lucky that we have booked their breakfast for everyday of our stay. The meal is not extravagant but well balanced, healthy, colourful and tasty. A must-have pamper to start a day.||||During our stay, we have been carefully looked after by Ms Asada (浅田 さん) and Mr Masa (正さん) . Not that they attend to every question you have about your stay, they also provided great advice and recommendation about sightseeing, transport and dinning in the lake area. We were extremely thankful for Asada San to have helped booking bus tickets to Gotemba even though she was already off duty that night. She have indeed made an extra mile in delivering us a smooth and enjoyable journey.||||We have a great stay at this hotel. Will highly recommend it to everyone...

This ryokan was awesome! Loved every minute there. We got the traditional Japanese style room. That was tons of fun. The onsen was super relaxing. Yakatas, bath robes, were provided with instructions on how to wear it. There were also instructions for the onsen, spa, and a pajama robe and toothbrushes provided. As well as drinks you could buy in your mini fridge. The tatami mat beds were very comfortable. They have slippers provided for if you don't want to be barefoot, no shoes in the hotel. My American husband's big feet didn't fit in any slippers. There are special slippers just for the bathroom! The whole place was super clean and comfortable. I highly recommend paying extra for breakfast and dinner! You have to tell them the day before for these. The food was amazing and so fancy and had so many parts to it. The staff was the best. I got the impression it might be family owned. They were all super helpful and nice and made us feel so welcome and fancy. The man didn't speak English but that wasn't really a problem and the woman spoke English pretty well. She recommended lots for us to do in the area. Also they will very helpfully pick you up and drop you off at the train station whenever you want as long as you let them know. There is a local bus that drives around the lake that is cheap and we loved doing the Arial tram only a few stops away. Takes you to the top of one of the little mountains for an excellent view of mount Fuji and a super beautiful forest hike you can do. You do have a good view of mount Fuji from the hotel though. Especially from the upstairs recreation room. In town there is plenty of fun touristy shops. We may have bought a million Kit Kats. Definitely five stars a wonderful place to go to get out of Tokyo, like two hours train ride away, and it was great to try a ryokan and an onsen and see some countryside. The view from the train is beautiful. And so different...