Hakone Onsen Ryokan & Hotels: 7 Picks by Our Editors

Editors' comment

Every room has its own half-open-air bath, either a Shigaraki-ware tub or one built entirely of fragrant hinoki. Both are filled with natural onsen water from Motohakone, and guests decide when and how often to soak. The main bathhouse draws on a calcium-magnesium-sodium sulfate-bicarbonate spring said to have a notably soft touch on the skin. Moving between the indoor bath and the open-air bath, your view fills with the greenery of the Hakone outer rim mountains. The sauna room has a Harvia convection stove, and you can pour water over the sauna stones to raise the humidity. The cold plunge sits right beside it, with Adirondack chairs set out for cooling off in the open air.

Editors' comment

The onsen drawn from Owakudani is acidic - a crisp, mineral-rich water born of the Hakone volcano and found nowhere else. The main bathhouse has both an indoor bath and an open-air bath, where you can soak at length in the clear air of Sengokuhara. Every room also comes with its own half-open-air bath of Shigaraki ware, filled with the same Owakudani onsen water, free for anyone to use without reserve - after dark, at dawn, as many times as you like. The main bathhouse also has a löyly sauna fitted with a Finnish Harvia stove, with the cold plunge right beside it and Adirondack chairs set outside.

Editors' comment

The main bathhouse has two open-air baths. One opens toward Lake Ashi and the forests of Hakone, so lowering yourself into the water fills your view with the lake. The other looks onto a garden that changes with the seasons, showing fresh greenery in spring and snow in winter from the same spot. Because men and women swap baths, staying overnight means soaking in one view in the evening and another in the morning. The onsen is drawn from Motohakone Onsen, a calcium-magnesium-sodium sulfate-bicarbonate spring. There are also reservable half-open-air private baths and rooms with their own open-air baths, letting you use the same source water away from other guests.

Editors' comment

The property in Hakone-Yumoto has four sources of its own. That water fills the large open-air bath on the rooftop, at the top of the building, with nothing overhead to block the view - Hakone’s changing seasons come straight into sight. The alkaline simple onsen is gentle on the skin, leaving it smooth once you step out. The stone open-air bath under its garden pavilion is fed straight from the source, never recirculated. The private baths are filled with the same source water, and some rooms come with their own open-air bath. There are two kinds of sauna, dry and mist. The cold plunge sits just outside the sauna room, so after cooling down you can step straight into the rooftop air. From the very same tub, you can watch the sky change its face from night into morning.

Editors' comment

A classic hotel opened in 1878, with buildings registered as tangible cultural properties still standing today. The spa on the top floor draws on Miyanoshita Onsen, one of the seven onsen of Hakone, and from the indoor bath and half-open-air bath you look straight out at the ridgeline of the Hakone outer rim mountains. The sodium chloride spring holds heat well, warming the body from the core. The sauna room has no television or music, leaving only the scent of wood, with a single-person ceramic urn bath for cooling right beside it before you move on to cool off in the open air facing the Hakone mountains. Back in your room, all 120 rooms have baths filled with the same onsen water, so you can soak as many times as you like, night or morning, whenever suits you.

Editors' comment

The two panoramic open-air baths differ in both orientation and view. Myojo faces the slope of Mount Myojo head-on, while Sokai opens beyond the Hakone mountain range all the way to Sagami Bay. Since men and women swap baths, staying overnight means soaking in one view in the evening and another the next morning - only those who stay get to know both. The onsen is a sodium chloride spring, so warmth lingers deep in the body long after you step out. Myojo has a dry sauna, Sokai a mist sauna. Beyond the private baths of hinoki, stone, and micro-bubble water, each room also has its own open-air onsen bath, letting you soak on your own schedule, whether late at night or at dawn.

Editors' comment

Right across from Gora Station, yet through the gate lie gardens and covered walkways leading to a bathhouse set at the back. The main bath draws on two sources, a chloride spring fed straight from the source, never recirculated. You can move between the indoor bath and the large open-air bath called Kagaribi, ringed by trees. By day the open-air bath is dappled with sunlight through the leaves, by night it’s lit by lanterns, showing two different faces in a single stay. There are three private open-air baths, with no reservation and no extra charge required. Every room comes with its own hinoki open-air bath, filled with heated water. There’s also a dry sauna, a cold plunge, and a carbonated bath area called Yudokoro, so a full round of bathing is possible without ever leaving the inn.