Ryokan in Hakone

Hakone's ten reviewed ryokan sit in four areas along the Hakone Tozan line. In Hakone-Yumoto, Yoshiike Ryokan is a 7-minute walk from the station and KAI Hakone about 7 minutes by car up the old Tōkaidō road; neither offers a pick-up. In Tonosawa, Fukuzumiro (about 15 minutes' walk from Hakone-Yumoto Station) and Ichinoyu Honkan (5 minutes by bus) share the Hayakawa river, and Hakone Ginyu hangs over its gorge, 3 minutes' walk from Miyanoshita Station. Kowakudani has two: Mikawaya, by the Hōraien bus stop about 20 minutes by bus from Hakone-Yumoto, and Mizunoto, in woodland a steep 15-minute walk from Kowakudani Station, with a free shuttle from 14:00 to 17:00. Up in Gora, Hanaougi and Kadan send cars to Gora Station, and Gora Kansuiro is a 3-minute walk away. Ginyu, Yoshiike, KAI Hakone and Mizunoto have chloride springs; the other six use alkaline or weakly alkaline water.

The five premium inns are Gora Hanaougi, whose 20 compact rooms all have a free-flowing open-air bath; Gora Kadan, a former imperial villa that shines in its source-fed suites but gets mixed 2026 reviews for standard rooms; Gora Kansuiro, a Taishō-era Mitsubishi family villa with free-flowing water from two wells of its own, though only nine of its 14 rooms have a bath and the cheaper ones are old and draughty; Hakone Ginyu, whose 20 gorge-view terrace baths are recirculated, with long check-in waits and ageing rooms reported in 2026; and KAI Hakone, reopened in 2025, with river views from every room, a free teahouse and a yosegi class, but one heated, chlorinated semi-open-air tub per shared bath and showers only in standard rooms. The five classic inns trade polish for history or value. Fukuzumiro, a Meiji-era wooden inn, serves kaiseki in the room and has free private baths, but only one room has its own toilet; Ichinoyu Honkan, a budget inn founded in 1630, wins on price and a kinmedai dinner with free drinks, but has no lift and no showers in the shared baths; Yoshiike wraps 64 rooms around a 33,000㎡ garden and says every bath is free-flowing, though the Sansō wing is dated and partly under renovation until January 2027; Mikawaya, from 1883, is best in its ten open-air-bath rooms, as bath-less twins and slow service draw complaints; and Mizunoto, Kyoritsu Resort's 87-room inn opened in 2006, offers two springs, three free private garden baths and freebies up to late-night ramen for about ¥18,000 to over ¥30,000 per person with two meals, but service is patchy, dinner slots go fast, and only room types named 'onsen' have spring-water baths.