spreadyourwingsandflyy

As mentioned before in my Hakone post, while visiting Tokyo & Hakone we also went to try out an onsen (hot spring bath) 😀

About the place

We chose this place mainly because they have private baths (which we preferred since my parents weren’t too ready to try out the public ones yet xD).

Hakone Yuryo has both public and private baths and is open every day (yes, weekdays and weekends!) unless it’s closed for maintenance.

Public baths are charged by individual headcount (Adult/Child price) while Private baths are charged based on the room type with a duration of 1 hour. There are 3 different types of private baths which you can take a look at from their website (I’ll put the link further down below).
Towels can be purchased between 250 to 450 Yen while local snacks and souvenirs can be purchased from their shop. There’s also a restaurant (Irorisaryo Hachiri) and shop selling soft-serve and drinks (Hachirijyaya).
The hot spring water at Hakone Yumoto is simple alkaline.

We tried out the Hanare Yuya Kaden Type 3 (Ajisai) bath. I’ll talk more about this private bath in this post too!!

How To Get There

Hakone Yuryo is easily accessible from the Hakone-Yumoto Station thanks to its shuttle bus service that runs between the station and the onsen. This shuttle bus also stops along a few other places:

• Hakone Kitahara Toy Museum
• Wimpy Restaurant & Barbecue
• Hakone Putter Golf
• Forest Adventure Hakone

Take note that Hakone Yumoto is the last station before the shuttle bus loops back!

The free shuttle bus operates every day between 9am to 8pm (weekdays) and 9am to 9pm (weekends) with an interval of 10 to 15 minutes. It’s a 3 to 5 minutes journey up – also depending on whether the bus pick-ups/drop-offs passengers at any other stops.

You can board the shuttle bus from Level 1 of the station, near the main road. Once you head down the escalator you’ll see the pick-up point immediately!

Exit escalator to Level 1

Shuttle bus Pick-up/Drop-off point

The schedule for the shuttle bus is available next to the pick-up/drop-off point

Hakone Yuryo Shuttle Bus

Shuttle Bus stop sign with information on the schedule and route

Hakone Hitahara Toy Museum info board

Hakone Yuryo stop!

Entrance to Hakone Yuryo

Check-In

Checking in was simple since we knew which room type we wanted, the duration, etc. Communication was mainly in the simple Japanese we knew, but when we spoke in English they could roughly understand us (we relied on body language/signs for the rest xD)

Upon check-in, we were given the room key and a map showing us directions to our room. Our private bath includes rental towels and robes – which were already in the room for us so we didn’t need to collect anything else from the front desk before proceeding in. Take note that if you’re here for the public bath, towels and other items may need to be collected from the front desk before heading in!

Front Desk

Souvenir/Snacks shop (right next to the front desk)

Irorisaryo Hachiri Restaurant
(you can see it on the right after walking past the front desk area)

Hachirijyaya – Soft-serve and drinks shop

Our Private Bath/Onsen

So as mentioned above, we took the Hanare Yuya Kaden Type 3 (Ajisai) bath, a private bath that felt really close to nature with rocks and trees along the hot spring. The room was more than what we had expected – there was a “living room”, “dressing room” and small seating area next to the hot spring as well! The ambiance is great and refreshing with all of nature next to the hot spring. Really peaceful! We could hear a few tourists talking next door but that’s not a big problem of course ^_^ ~

Soap, shampoo and conditioner are available for guests to use. There were two yukatas in our room and a few large and small towels provided. Toilets aren’t within the private room so you’ll need to head out of the room to the common toilet. In the “dressing room” there’s a sink, minibar, hairdryer and also some skin care products may be available for you to try out.

Not super-clear (took these with my phone and a clip-on fish-eye lens) but here’s how the room layout was like. You can see how the shower area is next to the hot spring, and how the “living room” connects to the “dressing room”.

The “dressing room” and “living room” are both connected to the outside area (shower+hot spring) – just separated by a sliding glass door.

One hour wasn’t enough for us (it was sooooo nice and fun!!) but it was still a great experience! 😀

One more thing – if you have a Hakone Freepass, you can present it to get discounts! Check with the front desk for more information about it!

Updated rates, contact details and information on other services are all available at their English website @ http://www.hakoneyuryo.jp/english/
Do read through to also get to know about the rules/regulations of the place, as well as to know more about the facilities there!

For more information on the different types of hot springs and its characteristics or effects, or information on how to use hot spring baths or where else you can find them within Hakone, you can visit:

http://www.hakonenavi.jp/english/basics/hot-sp/rules/notes.html
http://www.hakonenavi.jp/english/basics/hot-sp/attractions/
http://www.hakonenavi.jp/english/basics/hot-sp/rules/

Explore around the site for lots of information!!

* On-site information are correct as of Apr 2015 *
* Prices, room types and other info found on their site are correct as of Feb 2016 *