Kinnotake Tonosawa
unscored · Ikyu 4.5 / 5no first-hand write-up in the thread
Kinnotake Tonosawa is an adults-only Hakone gorge property built around in-room open-air onsen bathing from its own alkaline spring. Ikyu guests rate it 4.51 across 86 reviews, and the reviews split sharply by floor: the 4F suites get unanimous five-star reports while the lower floors generate nearly all the complaints, and two recent reviews report a drop in staff experience and warmth. Book a 4F suite or reconsider.
Scores
Food
Dinner is kaiseki in one shared dining room with two seatings, and there is no in-room dining. Ikyu guests often name the food a highlight of the stay. The alternative is the teppanyaki counter Zen, and the 4F suites get an upgraded menu with A5 kuroge filet and Ise-ebi. Ikyu guests put the food at 4.62.
Bath
All 21 rooms have their own open-air bath, free-flowing from the property's pH 9.5 spring, and the water runs at a coolish 40°C, though staff will raise it; there is no communal bath. In most rooms the washing area is outdoors, a cold dash in winter, and only TEN adds an indoor hinoki bath. Ikyu guests often call the room bath the best part of the stay and put it at 4.57.
Service
On the suite floor check-in happens in the room and the minibar is free, the lounge pours sparkling wine and beer free-flow until 22:00, and the staff will raise the temperature of the in-room bath (it runs around 40°C) if you ask. Most Ikyu guests describe warm, attentive staff, and Ikyu puts the service at 4.64, but two 2025 reviews describe a drop, with mostly trainee-badged, inexperienced young staff, smiling but not yet steady.
Room
The 4F suites TEN, SORA and KUMO are the rooms to book: every review on the inn's own per-room pages for them is five stars, while all the complaints about roof views, noise and cramped tubs come from the 1F and 2F rooms. KI-NRT, relaying friends who stayed, warns that the entry-level rooms are small, long and narrow, and that the decor is more country home than traditional ryokan. Ikyu guests put the rooms at 4.43, near their lowest mark.
Place
You enter over a suspension bridge across the Tonosawa gorge, and all the rooms face the forest and river away from Route 1. The inn is adults-only (12 and up). On January 2 and 3 the Hakone Ekiden relay crosses Route 1 by the bridge, a three-minute walk away, so a New Year stay puts you on the course.
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).