Hotel Hakone Kowaki-en

Over rated but conveniently located 4 star hotel with beautiful gardens and hot spring

The front of the hotel looks quite outdated as does much of the interior, but the spectacular views of the meticulously kept gardens from the back terraces more than makes up for it. The hotel is supposedly 4 star, but my overwhelming impression is that it is currently over-rated. The prices are on the high end for Hakone, so I think I expected more than what we got. In fairness, the hotel is designed well and has some nice amenities such as the hotspring, rotemburo and games room, but I found the staff deeply lacking for the type of hotel it is. The restaurant was also disappointing as all aspects of it are mediocre. The rooms are big enough, but are badly laid out and in need of a spruce up. We had a cot put in the room, which took away the small seating area and space to walk around the bed. On the plus side the view from the room is spectacular, especially in Autumn, and the beds are very comfortable. The hotspring is very nice and supposedly the baths in the bedroom are hotspring water too. The hotel is very conveniently located and that is one of its best selling points. Yunessun, the very popular hot spring and pool resort is only a couple of minutes walk away. The two are part of the same group, but not physically attached. You have to cross the road to get to Yunessun. Our hotel package covered entry into Yunessun for two days. The Hakone Open Air Museum is close by too.