reviewerid8197BD3396B520833ECDE709F1ABE3B0reviewernameajrmoorereviewtextWith that out the way I could not recommend Gora Hanauogi more My wife and I had Japan on our bucket list and I very much wanted to stay in a mountain Onsen Ryokan Images from movies and anime had painted a picture in my mind of misty mountains beautiful fall colors and outdoor hot springs Well Gora Hanaougi delivered on and exceeded my expectations nnWe spent the start of our trip in Tokyo which we absolutely loved then caught the Odakyu Romance Car into Hakone Yumoto station from there catching the Hakone Tozan Train to Gora We phoned the hotel as soon as we arrived at Gora station and they were there 7 minutes later to pick us up and shuttle us to the Ryokan nnUpon arriving at the Ryokan our baggage was whisked away to our room and we were checked in by extremely welcoming staff and ushered to the lounge where we had a lovely brown sugar and ginger tea Our hostess Kiori spoke excellent English as do most of the Ryokan staff so communication is never a problem but she loved the fact that I could communicate in basic Japanese as well After tea we were ushered into our room We stayed in the room that they describe as Japanese Style Room with Bed and Terrace with a Mountain View I was worried about exactly what the view would be like but I needn’t have worried From the door and inside the room we were treated to bright orange and yellow fall color and the mountains on the other side of the valley We stayed in room 102 and I would highly recommend you choose this room number if you stay in this room style Rooms 103 and up look directly over the roof of the hotel Still lovely views but from our room it felt like we were in the middle of the trees and mountains The beds for our room style were western beds not futons which we preferred The room was nicely sized with plenty of room to move aroundnnWe stayed at Gora Hanaougi between November 19 22 2018 Autumn and I’d guess winter as well are extremely conducive to lying in the outdoor private room Onsen bath and looking out over the chilly crisp vista Three nights was more than enough for us Fewer would be a shame but more would have been too much the food by god the amount of food but Ill get to that in a bitn nThe hotel is extremely conveniently placed to access the Hakone ropeway for access to Lake Ashinoko A quick walk 2 mins to the diagonal elevator and you arrive at the Ropeway station Cant imagine a more convenient spotnnHanaougi offers shared bath facilities as well which I tried once One indoor tiled pool one outdoor wooden bath and another outdoor rock pool All were lovely with the outdoor rock Onsen being my favorite but honestly nothing beat soaking on the deck of our room in our private bath Note the water in the room baths is very hot so best to run the cold water for a minute or so to bring down the temperature The room baths can just fit two average sized western people comfortablynnIn terms of service I guess I’ve had equally attentive and prompt service from some other hotels before Mexico and South Africa spring to mind but at Hanaougi everything felt more hmm personal As an example I developed a sore throat and cough on the second day After our hostess found this out the dinner staff spa staff and reception staff enquired after my health provided me with medication I didn’t even request it and just seemed to have a dossier on our movements preferences and status I’ve honestly never experienced that before so I was quite blown away and impressednnOkay now to the food The delicious exhausting food A lot of other reviewers mentioned a The quality of the food and b The amount of food nnLet’s start with a One or two other reviewers had mentioned that the quality of the food was not up to par for Japanese Kaiseki ie bland and lower quality compared to others they have had As I mentioned at the start we had no prior experience with Kaiseki cuisine but we were overwhelmed by the detail and care in the presentation of the different dishes Every course had it’s own plate with it’s own purpose beautifully designed and laid out The dishes as befits the region were very fish heavy however we upgraded to the beef mealplan option so for all our evening meals we either had fried beef or ShabuShabu beef More expensive but totally worth it Overall the Kaiseki was very different and novel for our western pallet but we thoroughly enjoyed it Some of the dishes were a little bland or too strange for our tastes but contrary to some of the other Trip Advisor reviews the majority were extremely tasty and beautifully made Hats off to Chef Matsumoto Also we’re foodies and we had the best fatty tuna we’ve ever experienced at Hanaougi Our hostess was at the door with a spookily intuitive sumimasen each time we finished a dish making polite conversation and giving a little history for each course Also my wife has gluten enteropathy so gluten was a big no no which can be an issue in Japan with so many soybases for meals But Hanaougi were extremely flexible and customized my wife’s menu to include nongluten options nnAnd now b The amount of food Yup having a 13 course evening meals and large breakfasts 3 days in a row does become exhausting By our last day we were definitely in the mood for some lighter breakfasts and dinners But that’s all part of the Kaiseki experience your mileage may vary nnI guess one thing if I’m being nitpicky was the massage at the Hanaougi spa It wasn’t the same style that my wife and I are used to We booked a full body massage and it was more relaxing than deep but that may be just down to style However no way I’m deducting a point because our lovely masseuse who had been passed the info that I was ill gave me an extra 15 minute massage for free And she rustled up a free face mask and cough drops for me nnSo in conclusion it’s certainly pricey but I think perfectly reasonable for an Onsen Ryokan of this quality and service Fully stocked complimentary bar different teas and coffee exquisite meals amazing views gorgeous baths prime location beautiful traditional architecture exemplary service and a spa For me it’s nobrainer 5 stars Can’t think of one major complaint Stop being indecisive go ahead and bookreviewrating50sentimentclasspositivesentimentresult09136702795652176sentimentbreakdownWith that out the way I could not recommend Gora Hanauogi moreunknown07695198My wife and I had Japan on our bucket list and I very much wanted to stay in a mountain Onsen Ryokanpositive096444714Images from movies and anime had painted a picture in my mind of misty mountains beautiful fall colors and outdoor hot springspositive09733698Well Gora Hanaougi delivered on and exceeded my expectationspositive09099583We spent the start of our trip in Tokyo which we absolutely loved then caught the Odakyu Romance Car into Hakone Yumoto station from there catching the Hakone Tozan Train to Gorapositive082260054We phoned the hotel as soon as we arrived at Gora station and they were there 7 minutes later to pick us up and shuttle us to the Ryokanpositive08079804Upon arriving at the Ryokan our baggage was whisked away to our room and we were checked in by extremely welcoming staff and ushered to the lounge where we had a lovely brown sugar and ginger teapositive099098516Our hostess Kiori spoke excellent English as do most of the Ryokan staff so communication is never a problem but she loved the fact that I could communicate in basic Japanese as wellpositive09763324After tea we were ushered into our roompositive09728589We stayed in the room that they describe as Japanese Style Room with Bed and Terrace with a Mountain Viewunknown07739377I was worried about exactly what the view would be like but I needn’t have worriedpositive093988824From the door and inside the room we were treated to bright orange and yellow fall color and the mountains on the other side of the valleyunknown063300323We stayed in room 102 and I would highly recommend you choose this room number if you stay in this room stylepositive097101676Rooms 103 and up look directly over the roof of the hotelpositive09346407Still lovely views but from our room it felt like we were in the middle of the trees and mountainspositive09601498The beds for our room style were western beds not futons which we preferredpositive09412903The room was nicely sized with plenty of room to move aroundpositive09686955We stayed at Gora Hanaougi between November 19 22 2018positive07965364Autumn and I’d guess winter as well are extremely conducive to lying in the outdoor private room Onsen bath and looking out over the chilly crisp vistapositive09745093Three nights was more than enough for uspositive09172605Fewer would be a shame but more would have been too much the food by god the amount of food but Ill get to that in a bitpositive093855315The hotel is extremely conveniently placed to access the Hakone ropeway for access to Lake Ashinokopositive094406635A quick walk 2 mins to the diagonal elevator and you arrive at the Ropeway stationpositive081471676Cant imagine a more convenient spotpositive095055306Hanaougi offers shared bath facilities as well which I tried oncepositive08137566One indoor tiled pool one outdoor wooden bath and another outdoor rock poolpositive09109233All were lovely with the outdoor rock Onsen being my favorite but honestly nothing beat soaking on the deck of our room in our private bathpositive09897417Note the water in the room baths is very hot so best to run the cold water for a minute or so to bring down the temperaturepositive098458797The room baths can just fit two average sized western people comfortablypositive0972924In terms of service I guess I’ve had equally attentive and prompt service from some other hotels before Mexico and South Africa spring to mind but at Hanaougi everything felt more hmm personalpositive0877621As an example I developed a sore throat and cough on the second daypositive09937477After our hostess found this out the dinner staff spa staff and reception staff enquired after my health provided me with medication I didn’t even request itpositive09146347 and just seemed to have a dossier on our movements preferences and statuspositive087296385I’ve honestly never experienced that before so I was quite blown away and impressedpositive097531927Okay now to the foodpositive09250794The delicious exhausting foodpositive090793025A lot of other reviewers mentioned apositive08376272The quality of the food and bpositive09807413The amount of foodpositive094427705Let’s start with apositive089621514One or two other reviewers had mentioned that the quality of the food was not up to par for Japanese Kaiseki ipositive09521731eunknown07431145bland and lower quality compared to others they have hadpositive09606044As I mentioned at the start we had no prior experience with Kaiseki cuisine but we were overwhelmed by the detail and care in the presentation of the different dishespositive09075357Every course had it’s own plate with it’s own purpose beautifully designed and laid outpositive098511535The dishes as befits the region were very fish heavy however we upgraded to the beef mealplan option so for all our evening meals we either had fried beef or ShabuShabu beefpositive098840046More expensive but totally worth itpositive098121864Overall the Kaiseki was very different and novel for our western pallet but we thoroughly enjoyed itpositive097260475Some of the dishes were a little bland or too strange for our tastes but contrary to some of the other Trip Advisor reviews the majority were extremely tasty and beautifully madepositive096985775Hats off to Chef Matsumotounknown054031366Also we’re foodies and we had the best fatty tuna we’ve ever experienced at Hanaougipositive09980269Our hostess was at the door with a spookily intuitive sumimasen each time we finished a dish making polite conversation and giving a little history for each coursepositive093935287Also my wife has gluten enteropathy so gluten was a big no no which can be an issue in Japan with so many soybases for mealspositive09804064But Hanaougi were extremely flexible and customized my wife’s menu to include nongluten optionspositive09474164And now bpositive09552754The amount of foodpositive094427705Yup having a 13 course evening meals and large breakfasts 3 days in a row does become exhaustingpositive098931223By our last day we were definitely in the mood for some lighter breakfasts and dinnerspositive098745394But that’s all part of the Kaiseki experience your mileage may varypositive08726507I guess one thing if I’m being nitpicky was the massage at the Hanaougi spapositive094853914It wasn’t the same style that my wife and I are used topositive09031747We booked a full body massage and it was more relaxing than deep but that may be just down to stylepositive08164007However no way I’m deducting a point because our lovely masseuse who had been passed the info that I was ill gave me an extra 15 minute massage for freepositive094572127And she rustled up a free face mask and cough drops for mepositive09863625So in conclusion it’s certainly pricey but I think perfectly reasonable for an Onsen Ryokan of this quality and servicepositive09846913Fully stocked complimentary bar different teas and coffee exquisite meals amazing views gorgeous baths prime location beautiful traditional architecture exemplary service and a spapositive092513156For me it’s nobrainer 5 starspositive08549324Can’t think of one major complaintunknown07575924Stop being indecisive go ahead and bookpositive08606325reviewerfakepoints80

revieweridDF5BB183421AB908AD1A57DF3D504692reviewername2SlowTerryreviewtextIt takes a while to get to the hotel but it is worthwhile nTook the Hakone Tozsn railway from Hakone Yumoto station to Gora Transfer to the cable car to Sounzan As you come out of the cable car the hotel is located about 100 yards away As we approached the hotel we were greeted by one of the staff They ushered us into the lobby where we were served tea and a confection while going over the registration As we were shown to our room the staff member explained where the bathes were located and the times they were open There are separate bathes for men and women and they alternate who uses them from evening to morning nThe room was spacious with separate toilet and shower area There is a safe for valuables and a minibarnThe one bath area had two pools one inside and the other outside The outside pool had a hot water pool and a slightly cooler poolnOutside the bath area there were massage chairs that were free to usenIn the evening we enjoyed a wonderful kaiseki dinner The server was very helpful in explaining the various dishesnIn the morning we enjoyed a very filling traditional Japanese breakfast to complete a very satisfying staynreviewrating50sentimentclasspositivesentimentresult0871740596875sentimentbreakdownIt takes a while to get to the hotel but it is worthwhilepositive096304375Took the Hakone Tozsn railway from Hakone Yumoto station to Goraunknown07373636Transfer to the cable car to Sounzanpositive096537006As you come out of the cable car the hotel is located about 100 yards awaypositive09535616As we approached the hotel we were greeted by one of the staffpositive08547088They ushered us into the lobby where we were served tea and a confection while going over the registrationpositive08021711As we were shown to our room the staff member explained where the bathes were located and the times they were openunknown042303014There are separate bathes for men and women and they alternate who uses them from evening to morningpositive093089277The room was spacious with separate toilet and shower areapositive09584802There is a safe for valuables and a minibarpositive093478614The one bath area had two pools one inside and the other outsidepositive08097121The outside pool had a hot water pool and a slightly cooler poolpositive09014003Outside the bath area there were massage chairs that were free to usepositive089400786In the evening we enjoyed a wonderful kaiseki dinnerpositive09792157The server was very helpful in explaining the various dishespositive08623028In the morning we enjoyed a very filling traditional Japanese breakfast to complete a very satisfying staypositive097780263reviewerfakepoints20

reviewerid504AAD536CE89F12B62F3A2039D4E8DDreviewernameVince611reviewtextExcellent service and food it ranks near one of the top onsen hotel we have stayed The room is nicely decorated and clean English communication will not be an issue here It was on a weekday in July and it was not crowded it has many rooms so we did enjoy the extra privacy and quietness reviewrating50sentimentclasspositivesentimentresult08206833225sentimentbreakdownExcellent service and food it ranks near one of the top onsen hotel we have stayedunknown077814263The room is nicely decorated and cleanpositive09748844English communication will not be an issue hereunknown05494084It was on a weekday in July and it was not crowded it has many rooms so we did enjoy the extra privacy and quietnesspositive098029786reviewerfakepoints20

revieweridA7682376E184BB0C58B563EE75C19C7AreviewernamejusttravlerreviewtextIt was by far the most interesting experience from the whole trip We have no words in a good way We had a total immersion in Japanese culture from wearing Yukata to experiencing Onsen from sleeping on tatami mats to enjoying 4 Kaiseki meals the high end glorious dinners and breakfasts consisting of 16 and 13 courses respectively I would be so happy if I could visit this place againreviewrating50sentimentclasspositivesentimentresult08958297550000001sentimentbreakdownIt was by far the most interesting experience from the whole trippositive093610746We have no words in a good waypositive08933681We had a total immersion in Japanese culture from wearing Yukata to experiencing Onsen from sleeping on tatami mats to enjoying 4 Kaiseki meals the high end glorious dinners and breakfasts consisting of 16 and 13 courses respectivelypositive087201536I would be so happy if I could visit this place againpositive08818281reviewerfakepoints40