Kijitei Hoeiso — Local services in Hakone

Very nice relaxing one night stay to end our busy Japan trip! ||It’s about $26-$30 taxi from Odawara station, or you can take a train to a bus to get there, or two buses from Odawara to get there. We came in via Shinkansen to Odawara and after our busy travels we decided to just take a taxi to and from Odawara and we did not regret it! You can check an app called DiDi to get an estimate of the taxi price. It was pretty on par with what was quoted!||Upon arrival, you remove your shoes and are given sandals to wear while at the ryokan. You will not see your shoes again until check out. You’re seated at a beautiful window overlooking fall foliage and trees and given mochi and tea while the room is being prepared. There is complimentary coffee in this area.||You are then brought to your room which was basically a suite! We had 4 separate rooms and outside of that was a bathroom and shower room/sink in our private hallway. Two rooms are empty; one is transformed to your bed where your Japanese futon is made up at night. There are tatami mats mostly everywhere. One room has two chairs facing the outside view which was beautiful. A central main room has a tv, phone, and table where kaiseki dinner and breakfast was served.||I originally had three stipulations for my first ryokan experience- a private onsen, and a kaiseki dinner in my room, and sleeping on Japanese tatami mats with a futon. 2 out of 3 fulfilled BUT after seeing photos of the onsen here tucked away in lush green foliage adjacent to flowing water, I CHANGED MY MIND AND I DIDNT REGRET IT! I think having a onsen in your room is more akin to a hot tub. It was so relaxing and beautiful with this outdoor onsen being out in nature, with the sounds of the birds and running water, fall foliage, and stars overhead at night. The walk down was truly magical. ||You can reserve private time after 730pm for 30 minutes so that you can spend some precious moments alone, with significant other or family. FYI you cannot reserve in the morning. Let them know when checking in.||They also have an indoor onsen, I did not use it but I checked it out. Near these indoor onsen is where you should thoroughly wash and shower before getting in. There’s also a water station nearby to fill up waters.||I was able to have one private session with my husband at night. And the two other times I went, I was alone! Score!||Staff was nice and spoke good English. Tamoe helped us and she was great. As mentioned above, a second thing I wanted in my ryokan experience was the kaiseki dinner served IN MY ROOM. I saw a lot of the other ryokans were a shared experience at a restaurant. For this ryokan, we had both dinner and breakfast served in our room in our provided Japanese robes aka Yukata. We wore this the entire time we were there. It was so luxurious and amazing to have this course meal in our room. Kaiseki dinner was largely pheasant which is the National bird of Japan. I loved most dishes but I did not enjoy the pheasant cooked over a fire (chewy). Breakfast was absolutely amazing. The tofu and appetizers were so good! I’m sure there is something in each coursed meal that anyone could find enjoyable. ||There’s a lot of food and it’s brought out sequentially in courses. There’s a paper that explains what the menu items are. I liked breakfast explanation better because it came with a photo illustration with arrows. The dinner menu was a little harder to interpret since the items did not necessarily look like their description/ingredient. I would recommend making a photo menu with arrows for dinner too! Dinner and breakfast overall was an incredible experience, coursed meal, served in our rooms wearing our robes. I would attach photos here of dinner and breakfast but another reviewer I read didn’t, and I’m happy I wasn’t able to spoil the surprise for myself. ||I wish drinks were covered during dinner. We paid for oolong tea and sake. I would recommend bringing some of your own drinks for other times to avoid paying their mini bar fees. I think coffee should be included in breakfast but they charged for this. The menu said you can get it from the lounge complimentary but that was just inconvenient.||You can request extra towels. We did so since we used our room towels for the onsen.||Upon checking out, we were given our shoes and the staff helped us call a taxi. We had a wonderful time and I would recommend for anyone who wants a traditional ryokan stay with an in-room kaiseki dinner and an outdoor nature picturesque onsen. It is not the most modern place but that is the part of the charm. Everything was wonderful and our room was very large. This is not the place for you if you want the hustle and bustle. It was very quiet and we basically just relaxed and slept and wandered around the grounds a bit. I’m not sure if I could personally do two nights here because I think I would be bored. I’m not sure how far everything is. It seemed about an hour to Owakaduni (I wanted to get a black egg) so we skipped that in our itinerary. Something to take note of!||One last note: my husband and I wished we had some small gift (since tipping isn’t customary) from our home country for Tamoe who helped us throughout our entire stay with our course dinners, showing us our room etc! She was very sweet and did a great job. We wish we could have given her a token of our appreciation, so if Tamoe sees this, you were amazing...

This is a wonderful Ryokan in Hakone and one that I would highly recommend if you're looking to get that experience in Japan. -Price is comparable to other offerings in the area (30,000 jpy per person per night as of review time). Note it seems steep but the price includes a huge hotel room (the size of a suite, eg, at a western hotel), use of yukata for going around the property, kaiseki dinner and breakfast, as well as a private onsen. Only 18 guest rooms, so book well in advance. -It is far from the town center, but worth it. Access from Hakone-Yumoto is either through ryokan shuttle bus (100 jpy, least frequent) city bus (270 jpy, more frequent) or taxi (~1100 jpy, may be your only option if you miss the bus) -Service is second to none. Staff were waiting outside to welcome us when our taxi arrived. Everyone speaks decent English. -NOTE you can also reserve a PRIVATE (30-min) session in the outdoor bath for those staying in your room. HOWEVER the staff member did not inform us of this upon check in! We had read about it on google reviews (and it is listed on their website/booking websites I believe) so make sure to ask about it when you are being introduced.

The decor of the hotel is very traditional, but is obviously getting a bit dated at places - ie, stains/scratches on the walls, musty smells, etc. We could see some renovations being done as we moved about the property, so it seems like the management is working on it. However, some of the showa era design choices did seem quite contrasting. For instance, our washroom seemed to be updated with nice wood panelling and a clearly modern toilet. However, the shower/bath in the room, while large, was very clearly dated with tiling and colour choices which may have been at the peak of luxury in the 1980s. While we did not use the room's shower/bath (why would we, being at an onsen), it did affect the overall image of the place.

The dinner is an exquisite multi-course meal of local cuisine. Given that the "kiji" in "kijitei" means "pheasant", a lot of the dishes incorporated it; very unique as pheasant is not exactly a common dish. The exact meal contents vary based on the chef and what's in season. The waitress we had (a wonderful Vietnamese girl named Min) spoke both Japanese and English and explained every course as well as how to enjoy it. You can also order beer and sake (and wine, but why would you). The dining room is shared but dinner times are staggered so it can feel very private. Breakfast is a similar multi-course affair.

The public (indoor) baths are very spacious relative to the number of guests. I was the only one there 2/3 times I went. There is a great view of the outside for you to enjoy while soaking. Remember you DO need to be naked in both indoor and outdoor baths.

The outdoor bath is a little hotter compared to the indoor bath so it may need getting used to. There is no shower near the outdoor baths, so to use them, you must first shower in the indoor bath, get dressed, and then walk out to the outdoor baths. The walk takes you through the property's garden which is beautiful both at night and during the day, there are signs as well as lanterns for you to use at night. Being in the outdoor bath while listening to the sounds of crickets and the nearby river is seriously magical. I highly recommend waking up early in the morning so you have time for a second soak before breakfast (and a third soak afterwards, if you're speedy).

Overall our one-night stay at Kijitei was near perfect and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a ryokan in Hakone. My advice to the management would be to keep doing what they are doing, but add a little bit of focus on modernization. Thank you Kijitei for a wonderful stay and amazing memories!

Tips: -Book as early as you can. -Research onsen etiquette. -Wear your (complimentary) yukata while moving about the property. -Come with an open mind, culinary-wise. You may...

Very good hot spring hotel. Located uphill of the mountain. Surrounded by forests. Around 10min If you take the hotel shuttle bus from Hakone Yumoto station. About 40min-1hr walk to the station where downtown Yumoto is. Very authentic Japanese place. The hotel provides both Indoor and outdoor hot springs. You can take a sit shower in the indoor hot spring by the pool. After walking through a beautiful Japanese hallway and garden, you'll find the outdoor hot spring by a creek. Lady's and men's are separated. There is no shower at outdoor hot spring. You can reserve a 30min private hot spring time after 7pm every day. Make sure you ask the staff and make the reservation right after checkin. Staff all speak basic English. Communication is not a problem at all. There are less than 20 rooms in here. So the room is pretty spacious and you will be very well attended by all staff here. Most of the time you won't see people when you go to outdoor spring so it's basically like private to you. But if you want to soak in with your partner, make a private reservation. Tatami suite room here is like a condo, with stair case entry way, a hallway, a living room, a bedroom with closet, a makeup room, a closed balcony. Toilet is an independent room separated from the washroom and bathroom. Make sure you book the room with meals. Breakfast and dinner will be served in room. Very delicious and beautiful Kaisai ryori. Visually enjoyable dishes and food all over the table. Staff here are very hospitable. A staff who speaks very well English will great you and help you with checkin. You leave your shoes at the entryway. They will get you slippers in which you'll walk around with the hotel. When you go out, talk to the staff at front desk, they'll fetch your shoes for you, and will welcome you home when you come back. After checkin, a Japanese lady in traditional kimono will lead you to your room. Serve you tea and Japanese dessert. She will then fit you in the yukata that you will wear to walk around or walk to hot spring. She will also confirm with you the time to serve breakfast and dinner. You will sleep on the tatami in traditional Japanese covers. You can pick to sleep in the living room or bedroom. We recommend living room cuz it's more spacious and its right next to the balcony window where you can see the colorful mountain view when you wake up in the morning. A Japanese men in traditional clothe will come in at night to lay your bed on tatami for you. When you wake up in the morning, hang a door tag out there and he will come and clean your bed and make the space for breakfast. The lady will come in 30min to serve you breakfast. Had a very satisfied stay here and will definitely...