Hakone Is Five Different Places — Choose Your Ryokan by What You Actually Want to Do

The most practical base, and the one to book if you are arriving from Tokyo with luggage. Hakone-Yumoto is where the Romancecar arrives and where the loop begins, so staying here means you are not carrying bags up the mountain and back. Tenseien is a large, long-established property with an unusually good bathing complex — a rooftop open-air bath with a view over the valley, and a garden with a waterfall — which is a lot of hot spring for the price. It is popular as a day-use bathhouse too, so as a staying guest you get the run of facilities most inns cannot match. Around 4,000 domestic reviews. Best if you want one uncomplicated night and a full day on the loop, rather than a remote retreat.

The choice if the lake and the Fuji view are what brought you here. It sits on the shore of Lake Ashi at Moto-Hakone, the far end of the loop, in gardens that are themselves a destination — the azaleas in spring are among the best in the region. This is the postcard side of Hakone: the sightseeing boats, the lakeside walk to the torii gate standing in the water, and the Narukawa Art Museum next door. Being an Odakyu property, it fits neatly with the Free Pass and Romancecar. It rates around 4.5 out of 5. The trade-off is distance: Moto-Hakone is roughly an hour from Yumoto, so either arrive with light luggage or use a delivery service.

The one to book if the idea of a communal naked bath is what is holding you back — or if you simply want the hot spring to yourself. Every room has its own open-air hot spring bath, so you can bathe privately, at any hour, with a view over the gorge, and the tattoo question does not arise. There is also a dramatic infinity-style public bath if you do want the full experience. At around 4.7 out of 5 it is the highest rated property in this guide, and the standard of food and service matches. It sits mid-loop near Gora, so the museums and the ropeway are close. This is the expensive option here by a wide margin, and it is the one people book for an anniversary.

The pick for a day that is more water park than contemplative soak. Guests get unlimited entry to Yunessun next door — a hot spring complex where you wear a swimsuit, with outdoor pools, slides and a run of novelty baths — and to Mori no Yu, the traditional naked bathing side. That combination is genuinely useful for overseas visitors: you can spend the afternoon somewhere no etiquette anxiety applies, then try the conventional hot spring in the evening. There is a large buffet rather than a formal kaiseki, which suits anyone who would rather not sit through a nine-course dinner. Rated around 4.4 out of 5. It is lively rather than serene — choose it on that basis.

The modern alternative, for anyone who wants Hakone without the full traditional ceremony. Recently rebranded as a design hotel, it trades the formal ryokan template for a contemporary one — the aesthetic is restrained and current, and breakfast is a highlight rather than an afterthought. Its position in Miyagino, between Gora and Sengokuhara, is quietly one of the best on this list for getting around: the museums, the ropeway and the grasslands are all within reach without committing to either end of the loop. It rates around 4.6 out of 5, though on a smaller number of reviews than the established properties here. Choose it if a nine-course kaiseki in a yukata is not what you came for.

The base for the side of Hakone that is about art and open country rather than hot spring towns. Sengokuhara is a high plateau holding the Pola Museum of Art, the Hakone Glass Forest, the wetlands botanical garden, and the silver grass fields that turn gold in autumn — a genuinely different landscape from the wooded gorges below, and the part of Hakone most day-trippers never reach. The property sits in forest and is designed to feel like a retreat rather than an inn, which suits two people who want to walk during the day and be somewhere quiet at night. Rated around 4.4 out of 5. Sengokuhara is bus-dependent, so factor that into your plan.