Name: Hakone Gora Ryoan Kanon
Address: 1320-812 Gora Hakone 250-0408,, Hakone, Hakone, Hakone, 250-0408, Japan
Rating: 8

Smoke-free property

Heating

Garden

Terrace

General

Non-smoking rooms

Family room

Flat-screen TV

Wardrobe/Closet

Rooms

Safe-deposit box

Luggage storage

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Vending machine

Meals

Internet access

Internet

Free parking

Parking

Beach/pool towels

Pool and beach

Family/Kid Friendly

Kids

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the guest house

Room amenities

Hakone Gora Ryoan Kanon

Hakone

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

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king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

Yes,this is a 5 star review!  This is an excellent ryokan located in the mountains near gora station.

It is an older building but very traditional.  We had the "take" room which is located at the end and it was quite large.  It was large enough for my family of 5 (2 adults, 3 kids).  It gets cold in the winter but there was a nice gas heater as well which warmed up the room nicely.  This room also has a private bathroom which was clean and nice to use.

We also got meals so we ate breakfast and dinner at the ryokan.  As they describe, it is brought in so it's not always warm but it's clean and tastes good.  There is a earthen pot that you light up which is warm and nice.  The rice is warm and delicious!  

The best part of this ryokan is the onsen.  There are 2 and both are private.  The onsen water is pure and very nice!

There are some extras such as free ice cream (my kids loved it) and a library of DVDs to watch in your room.

Wifi is good and free but didn't work in our room as we are in the far end of the ryokan.

As for setting expectations properly, please remember and note that the owners of this ryokan are very honest when they tell you that this building is not brand new and while it is maintained, it's not like a 5 star hotel.  There will be cracks in the walls, smells in the shared bathroom, some creaks here and there, etc.  The staff is friendly but there aren't many of them (I only saw one woman) and the front desk is not staffed 24/7, etc.  So it's mostly self service, etc.

We tried to call a cab and the woman working helped us but I'm not sure what the issue is but cabs were just not possible to call (none available).  uber, japantaxi, etc. also didn't have anything available.  so we had to walk up to a bus stop to take us down to gora station, etc.  the cable car and train from hakone were not running due to the typhoon a few months ago.  This was not their fault obviously and she tried very hard.

In short, this is a great place in a nice location and is very affordable. Of course you can pay 2, 3 or 4x more money and get a nicer place that is cleaner, more updated, more upscale, with 24/7 front desk service, etc.  But for the money, this is a great option in the area and for that, they get 5 stars!

excellent ryokan!  set your expectations correctly and you will be very happy!

This is the most disgusting hotel room I have seen in the 41 years I’ve been alive. The walls are covered in mold and the furniture is full of stains. The bathroom smells like urine. The place is nothing like the pictures. I left as soon as I saw the room without staying there. The owner is not accommodating. He runs a slum motel and charged me $415 for nothing. Also, this place is so far away that my taxi ride was $100 each way from the train station. Do yourself a favor and stay away from this filthy garbage ripoff scam of a ”hotel.”

Filthy & Disgusting — Avoid!!!

If you are searching for a traditional ryokan experience, this is a great place. It is an older place, but you can feel the history of it. The onsen is easily big enough for two and is on-site. We had the two-room suite and it had great views of the surrounding forest. The breakfast was very nice and very traditionally Japanese. I don't think there was a non-Japanese option. The staff was very helpful and, of course, always courteous. Dining options are somewhat hit or miss, depending on the season. So we asked our hosts and they offered to call to confirm reservations and availabilty. Make sure to get off at the Koen Kami exit, which is a downhill walk to the facility. Hakone is very hilly and if you are taking your bags, its quite difficult. Of course, you can take a short taxi ride too.

A great traditional ryokan

If you're purely visiting for the experience and not so much the mainstream Instagrammable scenery in every corner, this place the place for you. The hosts were very sweet and provided both dinner and breakfast. If you can't make it to either, please let them know beforehand so food won't be wasted. 

Kanon is a few minutes from parks, bus stops, and some really good places like Itoh by Nobu (highly recommend that place btw) which is great. Sadly, my friends and I arrived after the typhoon so their onsens weren't working well. Perhaps next time!! ;)

Pretty good price for a traditional ryokan.

The whole property is run down and not clean at all.
There is dirt everywhere, the Toilets have a nice urin smell. There is mold on the toilet and room. The walls are dirty and have stains. The onsen is very gross. It seems like the owner is only taking the money but doesn't invest in renovation or in cleaning the property.
The pictures on the website does not reflect the actual situation.
Additionally the communication from the owner is rude and impolite.
If you want a basic classical Ryokan to come down and relax - go elsewhere!
The price for this facility is completely unreasonable. It was by far the worst hotel/guesthouse in Japan that we have experienced. The food here tasted old.

AVOID !! Very DIRTY!!

I really want to be nice about this ryoken because the lady and gentlemen that look after it (believe they're not the owners but housekeepers as such) are the sweetest, kindest, most welcoming couple. So this is no reflection on them but on the patronage of the ryoken.

It's in absolute desperate need of an entire refurbishment. It probably needs knocked down and rebuilt. It's very old and very tired. The mattresses were so uncomfortable although my husband was alright, but I had back ache. Some of the lights in the room didn't work. The 'terrace' on our room was an ugly space of tarmac although there was a viewing.The onsens are SO hot we couldn't get in either. They are also closed from 10am to 4pm for cleaning, which seems bizarre and excessive. There is no queuing system to use them so it's entirely possible you wouldn't get the chance. We only stayed a night and couldn't use either the first night of trip. It was only because we were up for the instructed time of 7.30am(this is way too early for a holiday breakfast after a bad night's sleep), that we got in before anyone else. Anyway, like I said we couldn't actually use them as they were painfully hot. 

We opted for the traditional Japanese dinner and breakfast which was prepared by the lovely couple and was made with such love and care. I think you'd probably pay similar price elsewhere for this so it was maybe quite a bargain.

Overall however I'm really sorry to say I definitely would not go back to this ryoken. It kind of reminded me of a place you might stay on a school trip and then 5 years after you leave school you find out it was demolished.

Really not the best

Stayed in Hakone Gora Kanon for 1 night and my friends and I booked the only 2 rooms with private toilet. We arrived at 1pm+ and my friends were travelling with 2 kids. Even though we were aware that we can only check in after 3pm, we thought we could try to see if we could check in if our rooms were ready. We entered the premise with no one in sight. There wasn’t anyone in the small reception table and no housekeepers. Shortly after, a man came out to ask what we wanted rudely and said we can only check in after 3pm. 

While I was looking for the staff of this hostel, I already noticed the state of the place. I have mentally prepared myself for this place after reading through their website and seeing the real photos here in TripAdvisor but none of these can prepare myself of the real state of this place. This place hasn’t been maintained at all. You will see tatami mats taped to the floor, wallpaper peeling off, holes on the wall which supposed to have a door handle in there. We also noticed that the last cable car up from Gora to Naka-Gora (the cable car stop) ends at 7.12pm. Since we were travelling with 2 children, we had to rush for the last cable car as the roads outside were dark and steep. I must mention that there are no convenient stores nearby as well.

When we checked in the room later that night, we were greeted by a friendlier lady who told us about the rules of using the private onsen and the Dos and Don’ts of the place. We are okay with laying out our own futons but I noticed that there were big patches of stains on the blanket. I’ve laid out 2 layers of mattress but the mattresses were so used that they have gone flat. We may have our own private toilet but the tap in my room looked like it is going to fall out at any point. We didn’t dare to shift the table in our room as well as the legs were shaky. We have no wi-fi in the room too. 

I wished I’ve done more research online before booking it on booking.com. The photos on booking.com are misleading and probably reflected the place when it first opened. Right now, this place is in a desperate need of a major overhaul and renovation. I’ve stayed in other ryokan hostel in other parts of Japan and this is the worst of all. For the place that I’ve paid for this place, I rather top up a little more and stayed somewhere else.

Wished I stayed somewhere else.

Disappointed. 

But let's not be all negative. The positive things about this place are: 1. The lady at the reception is lovely 2. You actually can get a room with a  mountain view 3. The room feels nice when the lights are switched off. 4. One of the private onsens looks good (although you cannot really get in --> read below)

Ok, on the negative end. 1. The place is old and there is a lack of care throughout every corner. The old bit it's fine as I have stayed in other hotels in Japan that are very old, but at least they are being taken care of - not the case of this one. 2. The walls are stained and look dirty. 3. The mattresses are as hard as a rock. 4. The onsen is so hot that you burn yourself when you get in. 5. The toilets smell 6. The internet is slow

Make sure yo see the pictures at either TripAdvisor or google maps before you book as the one from bookigs.com DO NOT reflect the actual conditions of this place - they are highly misleading

Dissapointed

We stayed here for 2 nights while exploring the Hakone region and this traditional Japanese accomodation was brilliant. A small 5 minute walk from the Naka Gora cable car station, the owners are a lovely couple with reasonable English who made our stay perfect. 

We had the Take room with beautiful views. 

One of the more reasonably priced Onsen in the area - I can’t recommend highly enough. 

Sensational

This was my 2nd time staying in Kanon as it has one of the most reasonable rates in Hakone, Gora area.  

Straight-forward check-in, spacious room (since there were only 2 of us), TV provided with a good selection of local channels, nice view of Hakone mountain from our balcony (depends on the room assigned to you, I supposed) free flow of ice sherbet, green tea, instant coffee (available from their lobby area) and having the onsen to yourself during your own usage time (limited to 50min per group) based on first come first served basis.  (they have only 2 onsens, so if it's not available at the time you wanted to soak in the onsen, just try your luck and check for the available sign plate from the lobby area next hour.  (They used to have benches in the balcony of each room but sadly it has since been removed)  

This is a pretty much self-service ryokan so we would have to prepare our own futon in the night and fold them & store back into the cupboard before check-out.  We opt for the breakfast set as there really isn't much food available in the morning in the surrounding but it was good enough to fill our stomach before setting off to continue our tour around Gora & Odawara area in Hakone.       

If you are on a budget and fine with simple home-cooked food, shared shower & toilet with other guests, layout & keep futon in your room, queuing up for private moments in their onsen and ain't fussy with old/ chipped wooden furniture in some area....I would recommend Kanon to you.  

Ryokan owners are friendly but with limited English (as we were able to communicate in Japanese with them) There was limited food option nearby (unless you dine at the hotels nearby or purchase food from the vending machine located at their affiliated budget hotel next to them via a tiny upslope pathway).       

We followed the directions given by owner via a map to locate the nearest convenience store but after walking up & down the slope for 1km, we were literally lost and had to climb back the upslope to ryokan with disappointment.  We met a few other tourists from nearby hotel & asked them for their direction to the 'nearest' convenient store and to our surprise, distance to the nearest convenient store was way longer than what the owner had told us.  

Advice: bring your own cup noodle, food, snack from town area before you settle down in the ryokan if you are not ready to pay for hotel food from nearby higher end hotels.  

Overall, Kanon is a fuss-free ryokan for budget traveller to experience staying in Japanese style accommodation and despite some cons, we still had a good experience and great sleep.

Hakone Gora Ryoan Kanon

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