I Looked Into Hotel Indigo Hakone Gora

On my solo travel imagination blog, I keep researching not just campsites, but also detour spots for those days when I think "let's skip the tent and stay at a hotel instead," as many as I can think of.

This time, I looked into Hotel Indigo Hakone Gora. When I found out that every room apparently comes with its own natural hot spring bath, I thought this might suit an indoor type like me, so I decided to do some research, mainly based on the official website.

Every Room Comes with a Hot Spring — Great News for Indoor Types

Hotel Indigo Hakone Gora is apparently located in Hakone Town, Ashigarashimo District, Kanagawa Prefecture. It has a total of 94 rooms plus 6 suites, and every single room reportedly comes equipped with its own natural hot spring bath. The source is called the Miyagino hot spring, and it's apparently used after being diluted with water and reheated. The water quality is said to be chloride and sulfate spring water, which is believed to help with joint pain, lower back pain, poor circulation, and fatigue recovery.

There are several room types, and based on the information from the official website, the lineup seems to be as follows.

• Deluxe King/Twin Riverside with Open-Air Bath: 38 sq m (including the open-air bath area), apparently dog-friendly
• Deluxe King/Twin Hillside with Hot Spring Bath: 37 sq m
• Deluxe Corner King with Open-Air Bath: 49 sq m (including the open-air bath area), also apparently dog-friendly
• Junior Suite "YOSEGI": 56.39 sq m plus a 12.33 sq m outdoor garden, up to 4 guests
• Suite "ZEN" 2-Bedroom: 78.67 sq m plus a 21.86 sq m outdoor garden, the largest in the hotel, up to 5 guests
• Premier Suite with Open-Air Bath: 77 sq m (including the open-air bath area)

The official website didn't include detailed breakdowns of occupancy limits or exact room counts for each type, so that remains unclear. As for room rates, the official site doesn't list specific prices either; it seems you can only check them through the linked booking system. For reference, I did see a listing on an OTA site starting from around 45,800 yen (tax included) for two guests, but it's probably best to treat that as just a rough reference.

Check-in starts at 3pm (with a last check-in time of 3am, listed as 29:00), and check-out is at 11am; early or late check-in/out apparently comes with an extra fee. Wi-Fi is reportedly free in the guest rooms, the entire building is non-smoking, and there's one outdoor smoking area available. Reservations can be made through the official website's form, IHG's booking site, various OTAs, or apparently by phone as well. The cancellation policy states that a fee of up to 100% of the room rate may apply from 6pm the day before through the day of the stay, so it seems worth double-checking this carefully at the time of booking.

Komorin

Being able to soak in a hot spring without even leaving the room feels like a pretty appealing setup, at least for an indoor type like me. And with a room that has an open-air bath, you'd probably get to feel the outside air too.

The "Thermal Spring" — a Hot Spring Facility Where You Wear a Swimsuit

Separate from the in-room baths, there's apparently also an outdoor hot spring facility called the "Thermal Spring," where swimsuits are required. Since you wear a swimsuit, it seems to be set up so that men and women can use it together. It's open from 7am to 10pm, and reportedly includes a walking bath (about 1.2m deep, around 38°C), a regular bath (0.2 to 0.5m deep, around 39°C), a jacuzzi (0.5m deep, around 41°C), and a rock sauna that uses Himalayan salt.

• Price: Free for hotel guests (swimsuit rental costs 500 yen including tax, though it's apparently free for IHG One Rewards members)
• Day-use visitors: 1,500 yen including tax
• Usage conditions: Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult, and day-use access may not be available during busy periods

I couldn't find any mention of a "panorama screen" on the official website, so this might just be a gap in my own research, but I couldn't pin down anything definite either way.

At the restaurant and bar called Riverside Kitchen & Bar, the specialty is apparently wood-fire grilled dishes, made with a strong focus on local ingredients like Ashigara beef, vegetables from the Mishima area on the western foot of Hakone, and Shonan Gold citrus. They also apparently serve an "ethical dining menu" featuring venison, a craft gin co-developed with a distillery in Numazu, and house-roasted coffee from a coffee roaster in Odawara, making it a place you can apparently enjoy from breakfast all the way through bar hours. Bringing your own wine costs 5,000 yen per bottle (excluding tax and service charge), apparently.

The hotel's overall design concept is called "Neighborhood Story," and it apparently weaves the story of the local Gora area throughout the property—for instance, displaying works from a long-established local photo studio, or designing the front desk counter to resemble a tea house found in Gora Park. Motifs like the tumbling boulders that Gora's place name is said to derive from, cherry blossoms along the Hayakawa River, wood marquetry craftwork, the Daimonji bonfire festival, and fireflies are also apparently incorporated into the room designs.

There's parking for 46 cars, free for hotel guests, and EV chargers are apparently available too (550 yen per 30 minutes for fast charging, and 550 yen per 2 hours or 1,100 yen per 8 hours for regular charging). The fitness center is open 24 hours and appears to be for guests only. As for bringing pets, some room types were labeled as dog-friendly, but I couldn't find a clear overall pet policy for the hotel on the official website, so if you're planning to bring a pet, it's probably best to check directly with the hotel beforehand.

In terms of access, besides taking the Hakone Tozan Bus from Odawara Station, there's apparently also a free shuttle bus departing from the west exit of Odawara Station (no reservation needed, though you're supposed to contact the front desk in advance for the return trip from the hotel). By car, the route given goes from the Atsugi interchange on the Tomei Expressway via the Odawara-Atsugi Road, then Route 1 and Route 138. Since I don't drive myself, having shuttle bus and regular bus access felt like a real plus.

Rakuten Mobile Signal Conditions

I checked using the official "My Area Connectivity Simulation" tool by entering this facility's location (Hakone Town, Ashigarashimo District, Kanagawa Prefecture), and the overall rating came back as "C."

I'm sharing this exactly as it came out when I actually ran the tool myself. A C rating is probably best treated as a rough sign that connectivity might be unstable in some spots or buildings, depending on the situation. Since Wi-Fi is apparently free in the guest rooms, it might be safest to plan on using Wi-Fi for things like streaming videos or getting work done.

Komorin

That C rating result was a bit of a concern for me. Soaking in the hot spring while handling work messages might be tough, so it's probably best to just leave that to the Wi-Fi.