I Looked Into Hakone Gora Karaku

As a side project from my hocance (hotel + vacance) research, I've been looking into a series of hot spring inns that seem reachable without a car. Since I'm a paper driver with no plans to load camping gear into a car, how the access to the inn works is always something I'm curious about each time.

This time, I looked into an inn called Hakone Gora Karaku, located in the Gora area of Hakone. I came across mention that every room apparently comes with its own open-air bath, and I thought this might suit indoor types like me too, so I decided to look into it.

The Short Version

Every room apparently comes with its own private open-air bath, and on top of that there are even panoramic communal baths and private reservable baths, so this looked like an inn where you could enjoy the hot springs without ever leaving your room.
As for Rakuten Mobile signal, my actual measurement this time came back with a C rating, so I'll be upfront about that.

I've summarized the details below.

What Kind of Inn Is Hakone Gora Karaku?

Hakone Gora Karaku is a hot spring inn located in the Gora area of Hakone Town, Ashigarashimo District, Kanagawa Prefecture, and it's apparently run by ORIX HOTELS&RESORTS. Looking at the official site, it seems the address used to be www.gora-karaku.jp, but now it appears to redirect to a new official website.

As for room rates, even the rates page on the official site didn't list specific figures in the body text — it seems you have to run an availability search with specific dates and conditions to see them. I did confirm there are three rate structures — room only, room with breakfast, and room with two meals — but I wasn't able to confirm the actual prices for this article. The standard check-in time seems to work the same way: I couldn't find it clearly stated in the official site's body text, and it looked like each plan has its own individual time listed instead (some plans allow early check-in, while others assume check-in from 5:00 PM). If this matters to you, the safest bet seems to be checking via the official site's availability search with your specific dates.

Reservations can apparently be made through the availability search form on the official site, as well as by phone. It also seems possible to book through several travel booking sites, such as Jalan net and Rakuten Travel.

Komorin

This setup where prices aren't shown right away seems pretty common with ryokan websites. For someone like me who wants to look things up the moment I get curious, it was a bit frustrating.

A Luxurious Setup With In-Room Baths, Communal Baths, and Private Baths All Included

The guest room building appears to be split into two wings, East and West. In the East Wing, the Karaku Room (with open-air bath) comes in three Japanese-style and two Western-style rooms, five in total, each about 57.8 square meters with a capacity of two people. Both the East and West wings also have Deluxe Rooms with open-air bath (in Japanese-style and Western-style versions), and the West Wing also has a Universal Room (about 56.1 square meters) featuring an open-air bath fitted with a transfer platform. In any case, the fact that every single room comes with its own private open-air bath seemed like the clearest defining feature of this inn. All rooms are apparently non-smoking. That said, the total number of rooms wasn't listed in the official site's body text, so I wasn't able to confirm it for this article.

The amenities also seemed well-stocked, and the following appear to be included:

Bedding: Original beds with Serta pocket coil mattresses
Bath-related: Hair dryer, body scale, bathrobe, shampoo, conditioner, and body soap
Loungewear: Yukata, samue (work clothes), and pajamas
Other: Air purifier with humidifying function, nano steamer, electric kettle, coffee machine, and tablet
Aroma: Apparently an original blend of rose geranium, cedarwood, and orange

There appear to be two types of panoramic communal baths. Soukai consists of an indoor bath, an open-air bath, a mist sauna, and a powder room, while Myojo consists of an indoor bath, an open-air bath, a dry sauna, and a powder room. Both seem to be open from 5:00 AM to 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM to midnight, with the men's and women's baths swapped on a rotating basis. The water is described as sodium chloride hot spring water. There was also a notice stating that guests with tattoos cannot use the baths, so if that applies to you, it's probably worth checking in advance.

On top of that, there also appear to be three types of private reservable baths: Hinoki no Yu, made of cypress wood; Iwa no Yu, which integrates Hakone rocks and a garden setting; and Silk no Yu, a microbubble bath (this one apparently isn't actual hot spring water). Each costs 5,000 yen per hour (tax included) and comes with free soft drinks and domestic natural water. The number of available time slots per day also seems to be fixed for each bath, so if you want to use one, it's probably wise to book early.

The lounge called AWAI seems to be split into two parts: a free-flow time from 2:00 PM to 8:00 PM and 7:00 AM to 11:00 AM, and a paid bar time from 8:00 PM to 10:30 PM. What kind of drinks or light snacks are served during the free time wasn't stated in the official site's body text, so I couldn't confirm that for this article. The property also has a Japanese restaurant and a grill restaurant on-site, so it looked like there were a few dining options beyond leaving your room.

As for parking, I was able to confirm that there's parking reserved for guests along with EV charging facilities, but the number of spaces and any fees weren't clear from the official site's body text. This doesn't really affect me since I don't drive, but if you're heading there by car, it might be worth checking in advance.

Rakuten Mobile Signal Conditions

When I checked the location of Hakone Gora Karaku using the official "My Area Coverage Simulation" tool, the overall rating came back as C. This C rating is the result I got after measuring once, then fixing a script issue and re-measuring, so I'm sharing it here as-is.

I took the C rating to mean this probably isn't a result I can call good. As for in-room Wi-Fi, it wasn't clearly stated on the official site's room pages, so I couldn't confirm whether it's available in every room for this article. Perhaps because Gora is located in a mountainous area, connectivity felt like something worth checking before your stay.

Komorin

Honestly, that C result is a number that concerns me a bit. Since I don't know how far the in-room Wi-Fi actually reaches, I feel like it's probably best to avoid relying on connectivity during your stay.

See Rakuten Mobile Details

What About Nearby Sightseeing and Food?

On the official site's page about how to spend your time at Karaku, there were theme-based suggestions using the in-house facilities — for anniversary trips, girls' trips, mother-daughter trips, couples, and so on — but I couldn't find any introduction to nearby sightseeing spots or restaurants. So I can't offer definitive information about the surrounding area in this article.

As far as reference information I came across goes, there was mention that Gora Park and the Hakone Open-Air Museum might be within walking distance, along with mentions of a nearby restaurant serving deep-fried tofu cutlet, a restaurant serving 100% buckwheat soba, and a teppanyaki restaurant — but none of this was confirmed on the official site, so it's probably best treated as reference only. This inn gave a strong impression of being designed for guests to relax fully within the property, so exploring the surrounding area might best be treated as an optional, mood-dependent extra.

Wrapping Up

To sum up, Hakone Gora Karaku struck me as an inn where every room comes with its own private open-air bath, and with panoramic communal baths and private reservable baths on top of that, it seems like a place where you could fully enjoy the hot springs without ever leaving your room. Quite a few things — room rates, the standard check-in time, whether Wi-Fi is available, and so on — couldn't be confirmed from the official site's body text alone, so when actually booking, it seems wise to check via the availability search or by phone.

As for Rakuten Mobile signal, my actual measurement this time came back with a C rating. If connectivity matters to you, it's probably a good idea to check for yourself using the official Rakuten Mobile tool while you're still considering your stay.

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