Every trip we try to find one place to stay that is a little cut above and special. This trip, I chose Odakyu Hatsuhana in Hakone. From everything I had read, this place is one of the most sought after ryokans in Hakone with incredible facilities, five star service, fabulous onsen baths and an amazing restaurant.
Being a larger (though not large by Western standards – with only 47 rooms) it had some impressively spacious reception areas with gorgeous modern Japanese interior design. We were greeted and led to the lounge area for check-in, which was all warm tones, a fireplace and flower arrangements.
Mr K opted for a welcome beer and I chose a yuzu tea.
Our room was a Deluxe Room type A with a private bath on the balcony. The genkan was large – to the right was a closet and the toilet, and before us was a sliding pocket door the living area.
The living area had a typical western couch and an enormous day bed, huge television and sliding screens that led out to the balcony.
A dresser in the corner came well equipped with coffee machine, kettle, a teapot and cups for making Japanese tea, a marquetry box with snacks, drawers with wine glasses, drinking glass, coffee cups, and a fridge full of beer, soft drink and juices that were all included.
To the left of the genkan was the sleeping area with two double sized beds – it was a very LARGE room.
Beside the day bed was some sliding screens that rolled back to reveal the bathroom.
The private views to the gardens from the balcony were lovely – even though this was the 3rd floor, it felt like we were in a ground floor garden.
The bathroom was lovely and modern with gorgeous lighting, all modern tile, timber heated floors and sooo many amenities available.
Big waffle weave bathrobes and a sleek black hair dryer that I’m sure some Japanese blogger would approve of mightily.
Through the bathroom was the shower room – which I gotta say had *the* best shower head I have never encountered. I meant to find out what brand it is, and find out if I could get one installed in my bathroom back home!
Step through the shower and onto the balcony – this is the private bath we are going to have to suffer with for the next three days! OMG… just gorgeous!
The water in Hakone is known as simple alkaline springs, so it is soft and feels silky. Not as hot as some onsen baths, but they have provided a button to press for cold water if you find it overheating. So lush!
The water looks so inviting.
Unpack a little, shower for a bit, and then soak with a saké for a lot! I love it!
Infinity pool onsens… this is gorgeous. Though most of the garden should be orange and red by now, I didn’t mind one bit.
The marquetry box contained some mocchi and weird little local buns. Hakone mountain local treats.
The genkan closet with the toilet to the right. The layout of this room was really well thought out.
These must be very high end toilets – it would spritz, and self open as you walked into the toilet, sound running water when you sat down, and sing a little song as it was flushing. 
The closet contained, soft hanten coats, yukata in numerous sizes, samue for wearing around the room, and a small sign saying there was a dress code and that samue were not welcome in the dining room. Hoity-toity!
Before dinner we went down to the lounge for pre-dinner cocktails. The lounge is available for guest pretty much all day. There is tea and coffee, a fairly solid bar of alcoholic beverages, saké, red and white wine, champage, juices, iced tea options as well as a small buffet of savoury and sweet snacks.
The restaurant was on the fifth floor and was decorated in lush but subdued purple and gold tones.
Another full bar here servicing the restaurant, though there seemed to be price list for drinks in the restaurant… and when we opened the wine list we found out why. There is a hugely impressive cellar of foreign wines and local sakés.
The private dining room were created with timber or glass walls with beautiful designs on them.
Our meal started with an aperitif of yuzu liqueur – oddly enough served in these very familiar Swedish Kors shot glasses.
Personally boxed cypress chopsticks… the card that came with them said they were a gift and could be reused along with instructions on how to care for them.
I ordered a sakê tasting flight of local Hakone sakés – they were all excellent. Though it wasn’t cheap… possibly the most expensive tipple we had ordered the entire trip; ¥5300.
Smoked salmon and marscapone mousse; Salmon roe and French parsley; Albaone and abalone mushroom parmesean sticks.
Sashimi course – yellow tail and mackerel.
Wild Japanese red snapper and grated turnip in a bowl of carrot, bok choy, chrysanthemum and yuzu.
Roasted Kiyokawamegumi pork; Burdock with balsamic vinegar; zucchini, King trumpet mushroom. Hakone water cress; red Beniimo potato chips.
Grilled rice ball with bonito in salt, served with Japanese parsley, cracked rice, toasted seaweed, selected pickles, and wasabi.
Local clams with white wine, leek, beans, onion and chili.
Hot pot dish: Sashu beef stew with red miso, potato, carrot, onion and broccoli.
Fugu karaage (deep fried puffer fish), served with lemon and light chili.
Dinner was finished off with mango, dragonfruit and matcha gelato… it was a really delicious meal, so beautifully presented. I noticed a lot of the crockery out meal was served on showcased the rabbit and the toad of Japanese mythology – no doubt it was very deliberate that the motifs were carrying through many of the courses.
After dinner, we spent a little more time in the lounge having an after dinner drink and letting our meal settle before coming back to the room for a bath. Hatsuhana has a number of private onsens available for guest use, but we had some language issues trying to book it, so have a booking to use one of the larger spaces in the morning before breakfast.
The weather had been overcast since we arrived, but the rain had stopped and it had turned into such a beautiful evening.
That didn’t mean however, that we didn’t have a wander around and find the beer and ice-cream stash for after onsen chilling out.
In the morning we went into the building next door which housed all the onsen baths. It is connected via the long stone pathed walkway pictured above and below.
There is actually a slope car or we would probably call it a funicular to take people down to the first floor where the main public onsens are and some of the other private onsens.
This morning we had booked the Shijima bath – which I believe means ‘silence’.
The rooms smelled like beautiful fresh cut cypress. There is exposed timber everywhere, and a lovely seating area to use after your bath. Bookings are for 45 mins so that staff can come tidy up, and replenish the towels and amenities after guests have vacated the bath. We never saw any staff in these spaces – the reception gave us a keycard programmed to open the door at our allotted time, and in we went!
WoW! This bath is amazing! It is about 60cm deep, and large enough to easily accomodate six to eight people… and we have it all to ourselves!
Above us was like a 30’ ceiling with open timber rafters.
The design of these spaces is truly impressive. It is so beautiful and serene. My only hopefully constructive comment here is that while, yes I understand they are largely catering for a sophisticated Tokyo crowd with the Western classical music, I would have preferred a more Japanese ambient soundtrack. It seems incongruous somehow to be listening to what largely sounds like Muzak while enjoying this beautiful Japanese bath.
We popped upstairs to the lounge before breakfast to find ourselves in the clouds… sadly this would likely mean no views of Mt Fuji today as we spent our Saturday pottering around Hakone.
Back down in the dining room for breakfast… all the private dining rooms coming left and right off the corridor.
Carrot juice, Tamago, shrimp, Yubara, pickled plum, minced tuna, grated yam, pickles to have with rice, steamed tofu with ponzu sauce, whitebait and grated daikon radish, salad and some fruit! Delicious and so beautifully presented.
Of course when the rice was delivered, it also came with a small piece of grilled fish, and so miso soup.
Some morning photos of the reception area as we waited for the shuttle to take us to town for the day.
Hatsuhana also had a small gift shop – a little more upmarket than we have seen elsewhere. Pricey glassware and expensive marquetry items, as well as some of the local Hakone snacks that we were served in the rooms on check in.
We have a three night stay here, so for our second night we chose to find some local restaurants in town to have some dinner rather than the fine dining experience here three nights running! There is apparently too much of a good thing, though I’m not sure it’s fine Japanese cuisine that slots into that idiom so readily for me!
When we came back from town, we had some work to do and a late 10pm booking in another of the hotel’s private onsens. This one accessible via the slope car I mentioned earlier.
Minamo was the name of this onsen – which means ‘water surface’ and we would see why very shortly.
Another perfectly appointed dressing and changing area for getting ready for your bath and relaxing afterwards. They’ve thought of everything you could possibly need.
OMG the bath..! It was dimly lit, about 3x3m and 60cm deep, and stretching out before it for about 5m is a long reflection pool only a few inches deep.
Just such simple and yet stunningly gorgeous design… I went looking for a photograph of what it looked like in the day (though we thought we would try and book it again for tomorrow) and this is what I found:
It’s beautiful by day but by night it just feels like a dreamscape…
It was getting quite late by the time we finished in the bath so I thought I would go down further on the slope car to have a look at the large public use onsen – those are not for those tattooed amongst us, so I was going for a look around, but would not bathe there. The onsens swap at 3pm each day here so the men’s becomes the women’s and vice versa. Most ryokans do this swap at some designated time each day so people can see the entire facilities.
The locker room, change room, dressing tables, and showering station spaces were enormous! I swear they’ve tried to see if they can cater for the entire guest roster at any point in time.
There was a Hutti-putti verandah (I don’t know what else you would call it, a space with armchairs facing a garden where you could relax before or after your bath, and have a drink, an ice block or wait for your hair to dry. Perhaps just sit and be social if you are here with friends wanting to cool off after your bath.
A large infinity pool onsen bath that could easily accomodate a dozen people.
A huge bath made of river rocks with soft lighting and the sounds of running water were just so relaxing.
There was also a large round cypress bath under a gazebo – I’ll have to try and come back down during the day, but of course it is impossible to take pictures in these spaces if there is anyone here and they tend to be in use during the day hours.
We popped up to the lounge for a late night snack seeing we had had a late lunch and skipped dinner. There was G&Ts and some Japanese snackage and the lounge area was actually quite busy given it was now rather late.
Hakone Terimisu puddings… the last of our pudding consumptions! Strawberry for me and brandy for Mr K. They were really really good and totally deserving of their Insta-worthy reputation.
