Private Hot Spring in Hakone (Day Trip from Tokyo, Japan)

Let’s go a little outside of Tokyo and enjoy the Private Japanese Hot Spring (Onsen)!

>>ภาษาไทย Thai Version
Honestly, I never heard about Hakone before until we planned our Tokyo trip in Winter and I was looking for A PRIVATE HOT SPRING!

Yes, the Private Hot Spring is a really big deal for us because we are too shy for the public hot Spring!

It’s a very easy day trip, just one long ride (~80mins) train from Shinjuku Station in Tokyo to Hakone Yomoto Station. The train ticket cost ~$22/one way/person (if it’s a cheaper ticket that means you have to transfer, not recommend!), you don’t have to buy a round-trip ticket, you can get a train ticket at Hakone whenever you want to come back to Tokyo!

Hakone Onsen (Hot Spring) is always in the top 5 things to do in Hakone!

We did the private onsen at Hakone Yuryo (Read: Ha-Ko-Ne Yu-real). They do have public onsen for males and females as well.

You can just walk-in but we like to be prepared, so we booked the room thru email yuryo@hakoneyuryo.jp

There are 3 different types of a private room and they charge it as per hour, no accommodation.

Our room type is number 3, the bigger room and we did 1.5 hrs at JPY 9,450 (~$86 per room) with a full body massage for 45mins each at JPY 5,000 (~$50 each) .–> We paid about ~$150 per person today (~$300 total)…but it’s worth it!

Just FYI, there are so many tourist attractions in Hakone that you can do in one day too.

---

The night before going to Hakone, we went to check out the Shinjuku station to buy the train tickets and just to make sure that we will find the train to Hakone.

Shinjuku Station is a major hub in Tokyo and the busiest train station in the world, so it’s very easy to get lost just to be inside the station.

So just follow the sign for Odakyu to SOUTH CONCORDE Gate (There is MYLORD, the restaurant complex next to it).

The Station is also connected to a Keio shopping mall (open at 10am) where is a good grocery shop and food, we stopped there to buy some snacks and drinks for the long ride to Hakone.

I saw many locals in a long line for New York Cheesecake shop, this is very famous for Japanese – they said the line never gets short!

Our departure time is 11.15am. You should go to wait for your train at least 20 mins before your departure time. The train departs on time, with or without you.

We wanted to take pictures of the train, but all the locals also look very excited to take pictures with the train too.

It’s a very nice and comfortable train – but no USB charging LOL!

They do have a restroom inside the train but we didn’t need it during the ride.

Some snack menu in the train.

 

I wasn’t sure I heard or I understood what they announced where we were. So I just set the timer for 70mins, so I have 10 mins to get ready before the train will arrive Hakone (our ticket said, 80mins ride).

But our station was the last stop, so the only way to mess it up would be to get off early.

Arriving at Hakone Station, just walk out the station (it’s only one exit/entrance gate) and follow the signs.

Then take the stairs down from the Station, you will see the sign for HAKONE YURYO where the shuttle bus picks up and drops you off here every 15 mins (FREE).

Here you can see many shops around both sides of the street at the Train Station, we will come back to walk around later.

It took only 10mins ride on the shuttle bus (I think I can just walk!)

The shuttle bus passed “Forest Adventure Hakone” which looks like a good activity for adventure families with teenagers!

Once we get there we just told them our name on the booking – all went well and easy, they did a very professional job!

We will get our basket with 2 towels each and one robe (YUKATA) and they told us where to go and when to come back for check out.

SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO PACK or BRING ANYTHING but JUST YOURSELF!

Once we got our stuff, Tim walked right in the room and jump in the hot spring tub! He didn’t wait for me who ran to the bathroom (it’s outside and separate from the hot spring room).

But he told me that he took a shower before he jumped in, that’s good!

I have been reading that we should not stay in the hot spring for more than 15 mins. So we set up the timer for 15mins and then took 15mins break (I’m not sure I didn’t the right thing!).

Free tofu cookies in the Room!

So we had some hot and some break during our 1.5hrs booking.

Actually, the hot spring is really hot, it’s hard to stay 15mins in a row (we did a little break by sitting on top of the tub).

The hot spring is about 41-42°c (105.8-107.6°F)

I like the way they set up the room, it’s private for us but it’s still very nature scene as it’s an open-air in the back.

The weather today was 5-10°c (41-50°F), we didn’t feel cold at all!

HOT but Feeling so relax…

After all the soak, we took a shower and get dressed, walked to check out for our hot spring first, then walked to get the full body massage.

We didn’t take any picture in the massage room, just because we fell asleep right away when they started!

What a spoiled day for the two of us!!!

When we finished we just took the shuttle bus back to Hakone station and we went up to get our tickets for going back Tokyo, we bought an hour ahead ticket so we will have at least an hour to walk and shop down the road!

It looks like this is a good place to eat but we didn’t feel hungry at all.

We just walked and shopped for some souvenirs and some a little snacks.

I’m not sure about black eggs but I got some, it tastes just like salty hard-boiled eggs.

Yumoto Fujiya Hotel looks very interesting, it’s right next to the train station (across the river)…maybe a good spot to stay if we come back to Hakone for 1-2 nights!

Time to head back to Tokyo, it was a little longer to get back but we were sleeping in the train.

We arrived at Shinjuku Station in Tokyo at 6 pm and now we felt hungry, so we just jumped in the elevator at MYLORD (opposite to our exit gate from the train).

There is a Mensho San Francisco on 7th floor that I’ve seen many youtube food critics come here to have A RAMEN with A5 Wagyu Beef (“A5” means the yield grade).

The ramen noodle with a huge slice of beef melting in my mouth just in one bite! It’s huge but it’s very thin, I didn’t feel like I got enough meat ha ha haaa!

But the soup wasn’t that great favor like the other noodle shops!  But it’s good enough for today with all hot spring and all traveling!

Btw, the order was made through the machine before you go in!

This is one of the best days for our Tokyo trip, we were so glad we made it!

As I mentioned Hakone has many tourist attractions, it’s also not too far from Mount Fuji!

FYI Top 5 Things to do in Hakone : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIapoWBZAGg&t=323s