a bit far from all the sightseeing spots

very clean and nice food

Stayed in November 2022

The accommodating nature and friendliness of the staff along with the authentic meals.

Stayed in October 2022

Walking from villa to the restaurant

The onsen and food was wonderful !! And the staff spoke English very well

Stayed in November 2022

The hotel is pretty old, and some areas look haunted. Don't watch the Ring before coming.

The staff was incredibly helpful and kind. The baths felt amazing. The beds were so comfortable. I loved everything about it!! It was in such a beautiful location. We were able to get some nice pictures in the yukatas they lend you. We got the Annex room and it was amazing. Really spacious.

Stayed in November 2022

gorgeous rooms and amazing staff!! best experience during our trip!

Stayed in November 2022

The accommodation was perfect. I can't imagine what could be improved when it was one of the most outstanding accommodation experiences I've ever had.

I was surprised at how much fluency in English there was among the staff here! My husband and I are newly learning Japanese, so having English support during our stay was so helpful.

Stayed in October 2022

the old style traditional hotel and history of it

Stayed in October 2022

The annex where we stayed which was 45 years old was a bit worn in parts . The meals were fine but not spectacular as we anticipated . We were asked when we checked in at 4 if we wanted a Japanese or Western breakfast. We chose a Japanese breakfast but changed our mind after dinner (7 pm). They said we could not change it for the next day. Also the dinner service was very early and so was breakfast. By the time we checked in and had to check out at 10, we barely had time for the onsen because we had to be at the meals so early. We just felt we could have stayed in a super luxurious place for the price (it was VERY expensive) . Also, it was hard to find and out of the way from anything else so we had to take a taxi .

It was historical and authentic . The room was very nice especially with the outdoor private onsen .

Stayed in June 2025

There was an issue with booking.coms booking as I booked for 1 adult 1 child but the property demanded an extra payment on arrival. There was no empathy for this or me being alone with my son and possibly without a room, no willingness for the property to communicate with booking.com or take any responsibility, or even meet half way. Waited three hours for resolution, spent ££ on calls to booking without any help and was forced to pay £150 that I hadn't expected. We were tired sweaty and had no access to toilet or water. We had planned to visit Yunesson which was included, before dinner but we didn't even get a chance. I paid the extra after being threatened which obviously made us so uncomfortable, but there didn't seem to be any alternative. This really impacted the mood and made me feel so upset and stressed. Please double check ages of children before booking, you must book for adults if you child is over 2 years old. Book direct, do not use third party

The food, the rooms, everything was beautiful and relaxing

Stayed in May 2025

Not great value for what you pay. The meals were substandard which was disappointing as we expected so much more. Not one dish was memorable and it was easily the worst place we stayed and the worst food we had in our 3 weeks of travelling around Japan. Most Staff seemed to be new and not trained properly. We wish we had either skipped this area or spent a lot more money to stay at another property.

The private onsen was nice to have as part of our room. The beds were comfortable.

Stayed in June 2025

Our corner room was spacious for two people with separate living room and bedroom. Dinner was served in a small common dinning area. At breakfast and dinner time, the dining area became very busy with people and trolleys which we rarely experienced in other traditional family-run ryokans. The menu for our vegetarian dinner was quite disappointing. The staff also had trouble introducing the dishes to us. This is a ryokan with history but it seems to have lost its charm and authenticity.

Stayed in March 2025

The hotel is quite dated and could do with upgrading to add standing showers to the bathroom in every room, although we appreciate this might not be possible given the historic nature of the property. We enjoyed a wide range of food in the 6 cities we visited during this trip, but unfortunately we found the food at this hotel quite bland and disappointing - we did not feel it matched the price we paid.

My husband and I booked the Hakone Kowakien Mikawaya Ryokan for 2 nights in May 2025 as part of our honeymoon trip. The hotel is very traditional, offering a unique experience from the in-house private onsen to wearing yukatas down to breakfast and spectacular views across the mountains from the upper floor rooms. Hakone offered a relaxing break away from the lights and buzz of the main Japanese cities we visited. The staff were also very friendly and helpful, particularly arranging our onward luggage forwarding. We would recommend getting the free pass and doing the Hakone loop (you can get unobstructed stunning views of Mount Fuji from the cable cars on a clear day), booking a cycling excursion, and checking out the Hakone Open Air Museum which rivals some of the best art galleries we’ve been to in London, New York, Paris and Madrid and has interactive exhibits.

Stayed in May 2025

We booked the Villa with the terrace with a view and the private onsen thinking it was the nicest solution and we found ourselves in a structure with no view with mold on the walls, dirty and freezing even though we had the air conditioning on all night. The onsen water in the Villa is so hot that we couldn't stay inside. The staff is terrible: they resisted carrying our bags to the room even though the Villa is outside the structure. We had agreed, via booking before leaving, to have dinner and breakfast the next day at certain times based on the arrival and departure times but they didn't want to respect them. I had to add a bed in the villa and they made me pay more than 300 euros for a futon left on the floor. To get to the station they offered us a taxi when we then saw that there was a wonderful minibus service that served the entire area. All the common areas are left to rot. The breakfast is truly terrible and nothing like the one described.

nature around

Stayed in April 2025

Feels a bit touristy and old but not in the most charming or authentic way. Yukatas in our room felt overused.

We liked the open air bath in our room and the gardens around the ryokan.

Stayed in April 2025

The ryokan is very cold You have to choose in advance the meal time (for breakfast we had 2 alternatives: 7 or 8, both seemed too early for us) The private onsen was semi outdoors, I thought that is was the one outdoors from the pictures with the great view, but no For us, did not worth the price

Qualitative food Nice view Private and public onsen Traditional

Stayed in April 2025

The property is very old and outdated, it was very cold in all the common areas, the onset is moldy, no soundproofing in room .

Stayed in March 2025

It’s a little outdated. I couldn’t get a massage because the masseuse had the day off. So that means they have only one masseuse.

The property is very authentic. The landscape is beautiful . The staff is excellent.

Stayed in March 2025

The shuttle service from the station to the airport is not well organized. The driver was very rude, and the service is in common with other hotels, so the shuttle filled in 2 minutes and some people didn't get in. On the other way around, it worked fine, from the hotel to the station. The hall that takes you to the onsen is kind of crooked, with walls covered in mold, but aside that, the onsen was not bad.

We enjoyed the typical Japanese dinner, and we could choose between Western breakfast and Japanese breakfast. Staff have been really nice during the check in and check out process. The room was amazing, and so the dining room and the lobby.

Stayed in March 2025

Food quality is not what was expected

History of the building

Stayed in March 2025

The ryoken was not that amaizing. I was expecting something luxury for the price I paid.

The location and the nature.

Stayed in February 2025

We booked a villa, but we didn't expect the room to be so cold. There's AC in the bedroom and living room to release some heat. However the bathroom and corridor everywhere was so cold, it was difficult to move out of the bedroom, and I had to wear my down jacket to go to the bathroom. I left my oral-B electric toothbrush on the bathroom sink and the battery was drained overnight. I was shocked and suddenly realized that the battery could be drained very fast in a cold condition. We are from Canada and we are very used to indoor heat, we just felt so cold in the villa, luckily we had indoor onsen, the only way to warm ourselves. I loved Hakone and would like to return, but I really believe it would be a much better experience in a warm season.

People are friendly and helpful, service is great. The ryokan traditional breakfast and dinner experience was impressive and memorable. I can see lots of effort full of details, I even kept our menu (nicely printed) for personal memory.

Stayed in February 2025

It was so cold - in the corridors and the room needed heating on the whole time. The evening food was good however the non Japanese breakfast was cold - even after we sent it back once. The staff are lovely but for the money spent this did not meat our expectations.

The location

Stayed in February 2025

Old facility - toilet smell bad. No indoor shower. Very old facility inside the room…

The staff are helpful

Stayed in January 2025

The public bath is a disappointment so as the way we were charged for a third occupant of the villa!

It looks better on the booking .com than physically on site. The public bath was a disappointment. The private bath in our villa was quite good except that the charges for the additional one person (from 2 to 3 in the villa) was too much (S$580 for two persons and S$390 for the additional person) even though I have alerted the ryokan way in advance!

Stayed in January 2025

Bath "tub" was dirty, tiles had stains. Water from the tap into the bath was yellowish. We didn't dare to use. Staff were polite but messed up our meal arrangements twice ( wrong time. Then the next day a wrong course, serving regular course instead of a shojin course), for a 2 nights' stay.

Location, 1 bus stop away to the main bus stop where the many bus routes ply, making it quite accessible to many locations / attractions in the area.

Stayed in December 2024