Ryokan in Hakone
Hakone is a valley, not a town, and almost every bed in it is a ryokan with dinner included. Pick the hamlet first. The ryokan follows.
Last checked September 3, 2026
Hakone-Yumoto for one night and an early train out: it's where the Romancecar arrives and everything is on foot, while Gora and Sengokuhara are for a private bath, at the cost of one more connection up the valley. Expect half board almost everywhere, and a price quoted per person.
How a Hakone ryokan works
The valley runs on the ryokan. It is the standard product here, not the upmarket option, and four things about it catch out almost everyone comparing it with a hotel.
- Range
- ¥15,000–40,000
- About
- $95–254
- Includes
- dinner, breakfast
- Dinner slot
- 6 to 7:30 p.m.
- Booking opens
- about 6 months out
Our own order of magnitude, not a price feed. Dollar at this month's rate.
The price is per person, and dinner is in it
A ryokan quotes its price per person, with dinner and breakfast included. Two travelers pay close to double, not the same amount split. A room-only rate barely exists in Hakone: the valley runs on half board, from the simplest house to the most expensive one.
Dinner is at a set time, and it does not wait
You choose your dinner slot when you book, usually between 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and check-in is expected before it, and if you arrive late you lose a dinner you have already paid for. The valley's small trains and buses stop early in the evening: aim to be at the ryokan by mid-afternoon, not at dusk.
Shared bath or private bath
Every ryokan here has hot-spring water. What changes is who you share it with. The shared bath is the norm and the cheaper way in. A private open-air bath, either in the room or booked by the slot, is what most people searching for Hakone are after, and it books out first, so if a private bath is the point of the trip, look at Gora and Sengokuhara: that's where most of them are, one connection further up than Yumoto.
Which hamlet
Hamlets are strung up the valley along a mountain railway, a funicular and buses, and “staying in Hakone” means nothing until you have picked one. Yumoto is the arrival station, all on foot. The busiest, and the least spectacular. Miyanoshita, two stops up, has the oldest houses and the historic baths. Gora is the end of the mountain line and the start of the funicular, with ryokan hung on the slope and a lot of stairs. Sengokuhara and Lake Ashi are the open plateau, bus only, and the side Mount Fuji shows from when the sky allows.
How to choose one without a name
We never recommend an address. Four questions do most of the work: shared or private bath; which hamlet fits your arrival time; a dinner slot you can actually make; and whether the price you are looking at is per person or per room. Then filter the listing by those, and let the photos do the rest.
See ryokan in Hakone on Trip.comFiltered on ryokan only. Prices there are per room; divide by two to compare with the per-person figures above.
Where to put your bags in the valley
Bottom to top, in the order the mountain railway serves them.
| Hamlet | Who it suits | What to expect | Getting there |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hakone-Yumoto | One night, late arrival | Romancecar terminus, everything on foot from the station. The liveliest spot in the valley, and the least spectacular. | Odakyu Romancecar from Shinjuku, about 1 h 25 |
| Miyanoshita | Old houses, historic baths | Two mountain-railway stops above Yumoto, on the road to the pass. Few addresses, often the oldest in the area. | Mountain railway from Yumoto |
| Gora | Private bath, museums | Where the mountain railway ends and the funicular begins. Plenty of ryokan on the slope, so plenty of stairs. | Mountain railway, terminus |
| Sengokuhara and Lake Ashi | Views, quiet, few shops | Open plateau where everything is by bus. This is the side Mount Fuji shows from, weather permitting. | Bus from Gora or Yumoto |
Journey times are the operators' own, with no connection or waiting time, so check the day's timetable before you set off: night trains and airport buses run to a different grid.
What else there is, and at what price
Three kinds of bed, and the ryokan is the only one with any depth of supply.
Ryokan
The norm hereDinner at a chosen time, shared or private bath. Half the price is the dinner. Covered in full above.
See ryokan in Hakone on Trip.com →Hot-spring hotel
A fewOld houses converted to nightly rates, where you can sometimes eat elsewhere. Useful if you don't want to be at the table at 6 p.m.
See hotels in Hakone on Booking →Guesthouse and pension
Rare, but it existsA handful of simple places around Yumoto, no meals, at prices that have nothing to do with the rest of the valley.
See guesthouses in Hakone on Booking →Where to book
No single site shows all of Japan. We explain who gives access to what, and which one fits your case.
Which site to choose for your case →A ryokan is priced per person, dinner and breakfast included, so for two the amount close to doubles instead of being shared, and a no-meals rate is almost impossible to find in Hakone.
Weekends go early, autumn weekends earliest. Booking opens about six months ahead, and that is when a Saturday in November gets taken.
When ryokan and train bookings open
The valley has few rooms and Tokyo is an hour and a half away: weekends go early, especially in autumn.
| Stay | Ryokan | Trains |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2026 | Feb 27 · open | Aug 1 · open |
| Oct 2026 | Mar 29 · open | Sep 1 · open |
| Nov 2026 | Apr 29 · open | Oct 1 · closed |
| Dec 2026 | May 29 · open | Nov 1 · closed |
| Jan 2027 | Jun 29 · open | Dec 1 · closed |
| Feb 2027 | Jul 30 · open | Jan 1 · closed |
| Mar 2027 | Aug 27 · open | Feb 1 · closed |
| Apr 2027 | Sep 27 · closed | Mar 1 · closed |
Last checked August 6, 2026. No guarantees: a single property can open a little earlier or later.
How the opening calendar works, and why an empty calendar is not a full one: inns here open their rooms about 6 months ahead, train seats go on sale exactly 1 month ahead, and nothing at all exists before those two dates. Search earlier and the page comes back blank.
The night in Tokyo, before or after
The Romancecar leaves from Shinjuku. Where you sleep in Tokyo decides what time you get to Hakone.
Where to stay in Tokyo →Bookings for your dates open on a fixed date. We write that day.
Say you're after the cherry blossoms in April 2027: ryokan inns open around October. On the day, you get an email, you book, and it's done.
Tanuki Trip never books and never takes payment on your behalf, and the links to booking platforms on
this page are plain search links rather than partner links, so nothing here changes what you end up
paying or what we write about it.
You book it yourself, wherever you want.