KANAYA RESORT HAKONE
unscored · Ikyu 4.8 / 5no first-hand write-up in the thread
KANAYA RESORT HAKONE is a 14-room forest villa on 6,500 tsubo of Sengokuhara woodland, the retreat arm of the Kinugawa Kanaya Hotel. The kitchen is French eaten with chopsticks, carrying on the legacy of Nishi-Azabu's Seiyozensho John Kanaya, and every room has a free-flowing Ōwakudani bath, with service that guests praise as much as the food. Ikyu guests put it near 4.80 over about 103 stays, with meals, baths and service their high marks; there is no large public bath, and the building is stairs-heavy and not barrier-free.
Scores
Food
Dinner is French cooking eaten with chopsticks, carrying the legacy of Nishi-Azabu's Seiyozensho John Kanaya, served in the Black-and-Gold dining room: a signature egg-and-double-consommé opener, fish courses and an optional melt-in-the-mouth chateaubriand, then a Japanese ochazuke breakfast. Ikyu guests put the meals near 4.89, their top mark, and the cooking is what their reviews praise most.
Bath
Every room has its own bath fed free-flowing from the milky-white Ōwakudani source, a silky 'beauty' water whose colour shifts through the day, and it comes as an open-air bath, an indoor stone bath or a tub in the Western rooms. There is no large public bath, which a few guests miss, but the bathing here is meant to be private and in your room. Ikyu guests put the baths near 4.85.
Service
Guests praise the hospitality above all else. The staff carry on the philosophy of the old John Kanaya house, warm and attentive without hovering, and Ikyu reviews repeatedly describe small things anticipated before guests ask. Ikyu guests put the service near 4.86, and several call it the reason they return.
Room
The fourteen wood-and-stone rooms are tuned to the forest, from Superior twins of 41 to 52 square metres up to the 113-square-metre John Kanaya Suite, each with a private Ōwakudani bath and windows onto the trees. Ikyu guests put the rooms near 4.71, the softest of their marks, and the building is stairs-heavy and not barrier-free.
Place
The inn stands on a 6,500-tsubo estate of primeval forest in Sengokuhara that has drawn villa-goers since the Meiji era, with moss-walled paths, a garden Forest Terrace for champagne and wide Fuji-and-Hakone skies, yet only about 90 minutes from Tokyo. The grounds are compact and easy to navigate, though there is almost no common space beyond the restaurant and a tiny bar; Ikyu guests put the facilities near 4.63, the lowest of their marks.
Getting there
- Tokyo — 2h10, 1 transfer. Odakyu Romancecar Shinjuku→Hakone-Yumoto (~85 min), Tozan railway→Kōwakudani (~35 min), 5-min inn shuttle (reserve).
- Kyoto — 3h, 1 transfer. Reverse of: Direct Tozan BUS Gōra/Sengokuhara→Odawara (~45 min — one seat; Tozan rail adds a Hakone-Yumoto change), then Tōkaidō Shinkansen→Kyoto (~1h50 on the ~2-hourly Odawara-calling 'Hikari'; 'Kodama'+change or ~2h40 all-Kodama otherwise).
- Osaka — 3h25, 2 transfers. Midōsuji hop Umeda→Shin-Osaka, Tōkaidō 'Hikari' Shin-Osaka→Odawara (~2h05 — the same ~2-hourly Odawara-calling 'Hikari' the hakone>kyoto leg uses at ~1h50 to Kyoto, plus the ~15-min Kyoto–Shin-Osaka segment; 'Nozomi' skips Odawara and all-'Kodama' is ~2h40), then the direct Tozan BUS Odawara→Gōra/Sengokuhara (~45 min, one seat; the Tozan rail adds a Hakone-Yumoto change).