Gora Kadan

What to pack for a ryokan stay in Japan (and what the inn already gives you)

Shopping in Japan: deliver to your ryokan, collect at a konbini, send bags ahead

Jan 2, 2027 – Jan 3, 2027

Things to do nearby

Hakone: sights, experiences and seasonal events from Trip Gacha, our sister site.

Hakone

Photo credits

Hakone Kowakien Yunessun: Kounoichi / CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Sources

The real blog posts and stay reports this article draws on

Featured in our guides

Side-by-side comparisons that include this ryokan.

Best ryokan in Hakone: 10 inns compared on onsen, food and price

Ten Hakone ryokan compared from stay reports: free-flowing room baths, history, value and easy access, with the catch at each inn.

Free-flowing or recirculated? How to tell real onsen water before you book

'Hot spring' on a booking page can mean anything from water straight from the source to recirculated, chlorinated tap water in your room. What the Japanese terms mean, and which ryokan in our directory pass the test.

Ryokan easy from Tokyo: the best onsen inns within two to three hours

Fourteen real ryokan you can reach from Tokyo for one or two nights, with how to get there by Romancecar, Odoriko, Shinkansen or direct bus, which inn suits a tight budget, a private bath, history or food, and the catches Japanese guests report.

Tattoo-friendly ryokan — and how to soak in Japan when the shared bath says no

Three ryokan that openly accept tattoos, four that allow small covered ones, and eleven that ban tattoos in the shared baths but let you soak in your own room or a private bath — each inn's policy exactly as it states it, and the right room to book.

MICHELIN Key ryokan — what Japanese guests actually say

Twenty ryokan in our directory hold MICHELIN Keys in 2026. The Key tells you a stay is special; Japanese guests' reports tell you the catches — recirculated baths, uneven service, steep stairs and steeper prices.

Photo credits

Gora Kadan — the former Kan'in-no-miya imperial villa, Hakone · 663highland / CC BY 2.5
Mukaitaki in the snow, Higashiyama Onsen, Aizu-Wakamatsu · Fumihiko Ueno / CC BY 3.0

More Consensus Reports

HakonePremium

Gora, Hakone, Kanagawa — high on the slope by Sōunzan cable-car station, with the inn's own inclined lift and a call-on-arrival car from Gora Station

4.6/5

9 sources

Gora Hanaougi

強羅花扇

Twenty compact rooms, each with an open-air bath of the inn's own reddish spring, tatami corridors you walk barefoot, staff who remember your name — and one of the few Hakone ryokan that openly welcomes tattoos

Private Onsen Rooms
Tattoo-Friendly

HakoneClassic

Tonosawa, Hakone, Kanagawa — on the Hayakawa River, about 15 minutes' walk from Hakone-Yumoto Station

4.5/5

10 sources

Fukuzumiro

塔之沢温泉福住楼

A Meiji-era wooden inn where Soseki and Kawabata stayed — in-room kaiseki, a giant round pine bath, no tattoo rules, and shared toilets down the corridor

Historic Ryokan
Tattoo-Friendly

HakoneClassic

Hakone-Yumoto — across the Hayakawa river from Route 1, a 7-minute walk from Hakone-Yumoto Station (about 85 minutes from Shinjuku by Odakyu Romancecar)

4.2/5

10 sources

Hakone Yumoto Onsen Yoshiike Ryokan

箱根湯本温泉吉池旅館

A big 64-room inn wrapped around a 33,000㎡ garden that was once a Mitsubishi family villa, with six of its own free-flowing springs, seven minutes' walk from Hakone-Yumoto Station — but some rooms are dated, 'garden-side' doesn't always mean a view, and part of the Sansō wing is under renovation until January 2027

Private Onsen Rooms
Historic Ryokan

HakonePremium

Gora, Hakone — a 3-minute walk from Gora Station, the terminus of the Hakone Tozan Railway, next door to Gora Kadan

4.1/5

11 sources

Gora Kansuiro

強羅環翠楼

A Mitsubishi family's Taishō-era villa where Emperor Shōwa slept, with two private springs, a 5,000-tsubo garden and nine of 14 rooms with their own spring-water bath — but it is genuinely old, and the cheaper rooms show it

Private Onsen Rooms
Historic Ryokan

HakonePremium

Miyanoshita, Hakone — built down the side of the Hayakawa gorge, a 3-minute walk from Miyanoshita Station on the Hakone Tozan Railway

4.1/5

9 sources

Hakone Ginyu

箱根吟遊

Hakone's famously hard-to-book inn: 20 rooms, each with a terrace and open-air bath hanging over the Hayakawa gorge — but the room baths are recirculated, and 2026 reviews report long check-in waits, ageing rooms and slipping food

Private Onsen Rooms

HakoneClassic

Kowakudani, Hakone — on the slope above the Hōraien azalea garden, right by the Hōraien bus stop (about 20 minutes by bus from Hakone-Yumoto) and close to Hakone Kowakien Yunessun

4.1/5

10 sources

Hakone Kowakien Mikawaya Ryokan

箱根小涌園三河屋旅館

The 1883 inn credited with starting Kowakudani Onsen: a cultural-property main building, a 16,000㎡ azalea garden and its own spring — book a room with a private open-air bath, because the bath-less twins, lukewarm water and slow service on busy nights are the recurring complaints

Historic Ryokan
Private Onsen Rooms