Day 6 Part 2: Hakone Ginyu

I could easily just send you to the website and call it a day. This Ryokan was the perfect ending to our trip.

While planning our trip to Japan, Sandra mentioned that she wanted to stay at a Ryokan. Click here for Ryokan definition. Ryokans in Japan come in all price ranges and are located throughout Japan.

We also wanted an onsen experience. So we searched for a Ryokan with an onsen. Sandra got keyed on Gora Kadan and showed it to me. I really balked at the price, but considering it was our 'honeymoon', I mentally loosened the purse strings a bit. As a dear colleague would say, "I'm worth it." Or in this case, WE're worth it. After doing more research on the net, I came across Hakone Ginyu, which offered a similar experience, but the cost was almost 20% less. I went with an online booking site to help bridge the gap between the mainly Japanese speaking personnel at Hakone Ginyu and myself. Here is a plug for the Ryokan Collection website. They made the process amazingly easy by interacting with the Ryokan to guarantee a reservation on short notice, gave us tips on traveling around Hakone and provided a train by train schedule from Hakone to Narita airport.

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We got off our cable car and asked for directions to the Ryokan, Hakone Ginyu. We walked down the road we were pointed to and was eventually greeted by a man standing in a driveway. He politely asked us if we were looking for Hakone Ginyu. With a slightly recessed driveway on a winding narrow mountain road, I guess this man's job is to direct traffic and pluck wandering guests off the road.

After our affirmative answer, he asked if he could help with our day packs and asked us to follow him down the driveway. We entered the property and was greeted with a scene of serenity. The iconic two chairs placed in front of a panoramic view of the mountains was just as I remembered from the website.

We removed our shoes at the entrance. They would later be returned to us when we left the next day. The flooring was almost completely made of tatami mats, with some choice areas paved with stone or wood. As with all Ryokans, you do not wear shoes when you're indoors.

We checked in and were taken to the waiting area where they served us a warm plum drink. After we finished our drinks, our luggage was shown to us (all 4 pieces that were dropped off earlier in the day at the train station). Our hostess then brought us to our room, and the luggage was brought down by a person whom we later learned was the owner of Hakone Ginyu.

Our hostess showed us around our room:

Sitting room/Bedroom
Table is moved and futons are setup after dinner.

Work Room/Dining Room
Dinner was served on this table. There is a recess under the table for your legs.


Bathroom sinks, Shower and indoor tub


Patio


Outdoor Tub

Just a plain wow. I'm one of reserved emotions, and I gotta say, this place impressed. It was AS ADVERTISED. We stayed in one of the four garden level rooms that, along with the standard dining room and tatami mat room, had an outdoor patio with a private outdoor onsen (all rooms have a private outdoor tub - upper floors have the tubs placed on the balconies). The water was heated by the underground geothermal source in the area (remember the sulfur vents from the previous post). The view from the patio was pretty good and not amazing only because it was the end of winter and some of the trees were leaf bare. The Ryokan is built into the side of the mountain so every room looked right at the opposite mountain face. I can only imagine what it would be like during the spring cherry blossom season or the fall foliage season. We missed the cherry blossoms by two weeks.


If you have a sharp eye, you would have noticed that I'm dressed in a yukata in one of the pictures. That's another thing about Ryokans. While staying there, most guests will wear the supplied yukata. They ask for your height and weight when making a reservation so they have the right size waiting for you in your room.

Sandra felt more comfortable in the pants style yukata.


I went for the full experience and wore the traditional robe style.


I wish I could say we really made use of the hot spring. But sadly, we didn't muster the courage to try the public baths - which were many times larger than the one in our room and also had incredible views. Check out the website for details. Also, the water was *HOT*. I couldn't sit in the one in our room for more than 10 minutes. And the last two minutes were practically unbearable but I stuck it out because I conceptually had to having paid for the experience. For those not used to it, the water makes you so hot, your body starts pumping blood real fast to try and bring the hot blood to the surface of your body for cooling....except your body is submersed in near boiling water! I was super sweating after I got out. And when you get out - at least when we went - it was 35F! What a rush. An experience for sure. The penultimate experience would probably be being submersed in an outdoor tub while it's snowing.

Look forward to the next two posts: Dinner and Breakfast at Hakone Ginyu. Dinner was the best meal I've had in my life. Seriously.