For our go to to the mountain resort city of Hakone, we opted to remain at a ryokan named Yama No Chaya in quest of an genuine Japanese expertise.
Ryokans are Japanese-style inns the place you possibly can immerse your self in conventional Japanese tradition, and this could be our first time experiencing this distinctive lodging model.
For almost 50 years, Yama No Chaya has been nestled among the many rolling hills of Hakone, solely an hour outdoors of Tokyo. The property is well-known for its onsens (pure spring baths) and delicacies, in addition to for attracting guests who come to see the autumn leaves change colors.
Yama No Chaya – Reserving
Our keep was booked by “The Ryokan Assortment“, a reserving portal that serves a number of outstanding Japanese ryokan amenities.
I initially supposed to order a room at Hakone Ginyu on the advice of a buddy. Nonetheless, it was totally booked on my most popular dates, and Yama No Chaya was among the many finest out there alternate options.
For a ryokan, Yama No Chaya was fairly fairly priced. A lot of these stays can get fairly expensive, so I felt like it could be finest to begin off modestly for my first ryokan expertise. Plus, it regarded like a really engaging property from the pictures.
A one-night keep for 2 company, together with breakfast and dinner, price us ¥70,000 ($642 CAD).
Be aware that ryokans usually set costs primarily based on the variety of company, so when you’re travelling solo, the value will possible be a bit cheaper than reserving for 2 individuals.
At first look, this may appear costly for a one-night keep, however remember the fact that kaiseki-style multi-course breakfast and dinner are factored into the value.
To finish our reservation viaTthe Ryokan Assortment, we had been requested whether or not we had any dietary necessities, after which requested to fill out a bank card authorization type. As soon as that was completed, all the things was booked and good to go.
Yama No Chaya – Location
You’ll be able to attain Hakone through the Odakyu Electrical Railway from Tokyo’s Shinjuku Station. The journey is about an hour to an hour and a half, relying on which practice you’re taking.
The common and specific commuter trains make numerous stops on the best way out to Hakone, and there’s additionally a “Romancecar” which has forward-facing seats and higher views from the home windows. This specific practice can carry you there barely sooner, however is topic to a further surcharge.
The city of Hakone is in a mountainous space famend for its onsens and breathtaking views of the volcano and Lake Ashinoko. Numerous visitor houses are nestled right here, together with Yama No Chaya.
Hakone-Yumoto station, the native transportation hub, is a fast five-minute cab trip or a 15-minute stroll from Yama No Chaya.
It’s price noting that the hill is fairly steep when you’re carrying any luggage with you – we opted to retailer our heavy baggage within the coin lockers at Shinjuku Station and solely carry backpacks for this side-trip into the countryside.
The resort is situated fairly close to to Hakone’s well-known sights. A couple of locations inside strolling distance embrace the Amidaji Temple and Fukazawa Zeniarai Benten Shrine, each inside a 10-minute stroll from the property.
Nonetheless, most points of interest price visiting would require public transport or a taxi. The Hakone Shrine sits beneath the Mount Hakone volcano, and is a 35-minute trip by bus from Hakone-Yumoto Station.
Lake Ashinoko is one other in style vacation spot. It’s a 50-minute journey from Tonosawa Station, which is simply an eight-minute stroll from Yama No Chaya.
Yama No Chaya – Test-in
We arrived at 4pm and crossed over a stream through a wood bridge to reach on the resort.
As we made our means throughout, we had been warmly welcomed by an attendant. On the opposite facet was a single constructing nestled amid a bamboo forest, virtually camouflaged into its environment.
The environment instantly invokes a way of leisure and luxury as you enter this conventional Japanese ryokan.
We had been escorted to the entrance of the constructing, after which guided right into a peaceable wood construction adorned with Japanese tatami mats. These mats are generally used as flooring in conventional Japanese-style rooms.
Within the foyer, we met the employees affiliate who took care of us during our keep.
She then led us to our room whereas outlining the specifics of the property, resembling dinner and breakfast schedules, bathtub schedules, and the way all the things in our room operated.
One thing I didn’t anticipate when staying at a ryokan was how tightly all the things was scheduled.
Instances being set prematurely for the meals made sense, in fact, because the meals would must be ready; nonetheless, even the tub occasions could be rigorously scheduled all through our keep.
There are 4 completely different communal baths right here at Yama No Chaya, that are separated by gender. All through the day, the baths are cleaned and rotated so that each one company can expertise every of the baths no less than as soon as throughout their keep.
Moreover, each set of company had the chance to order one of many baths for personal use for a one-hour interval. Since we had been solely staying for one night time, we had been requested to lock in our bathtub reserving as quickly as we arrived to make sure we had an opportunity to expertise the personal bathtub.
We sat down in our room with the attendant and completed the check-in course of, desperate to delve into the ryokan expertise in its entirety.
Yama No Chaya – Yama No Yube Room
There are simply 15 rooms right here on the Yama No Chaya, every with a novel inside association and design influenced by Japanese teahouses.
We had booked the Yama No Yube room, which is a Japanese-style set of dwelling quarters that includes a tsukimidai terrace (moon-viewing deck) and an open-air bathtub with water from the native historic sizzling spring.
The Yama No Yube Room has a country environment, with charming conventional Japanese layouts and motifs. The room options tatami mats throughout.
Within the centre of the room is a short-legged desk with ground cushions for company to take a seat on when meals are served. Heat towels and tea had been proactively set on the desk upon arrival.
After dinner, the employees carry out turndown service by pushing the central desk down into the area alongside the underside, after which a futon is positioned on the bottom with mushy down comforters.
The sleeping association wasn’t totally clear from the pictures we’d seen when reserving, and I used to be considerably shocked that we’d be sleeping on the bottom – nevertheless it was very a lot one thing to be embraced right here in these conventional lodgings.
The room was positively on the minimalist facet. Just some Japanese art work was displayed on the wall adjoining to the TV, after which just a few flowers had been dotted round.
The room has an air conditioner within the nook, after which there’s a well-stocked pantry with a minibar, in addition to a espresso and tea station.
On the finish of the room is a coated terrace with two lounge chairs dealing with out for stress-free. The huge home windows of the terrace divulge heart’s contents to the moon-viewing platform, with views of the greenery and mountains within the distance.
It’s price noting that Hakone seems to be inhabited by pretty huge spiders, and so they’re fairly prevalent even when strolling down the principle streets of the village.
Yama No Chaya is not any exception, and there was fairly an enormous fellow who had made our balcony its residence – though you steadily acclimate to them over time.
Down a brief hall within the room is the lavatory. It’s fairly modest in dimension, however has a beautiful design with a good looking brass faucet and a vessel sink.
There’s a stable vary of skincare merchandise offered. Furthermore, an sudden trendy inclusion at this in any other case conventional ryokan was a Dyson hair dryer.
The bathroom chamber is situated on the far finish of the hall.
Be aware that there is no such thing as a “correct” bathe within the toilet; fairly, the bathe amenities share an area with the personal open-air onsen.
This creates a Japanese-style moist room, the place once you enter the tub, water pours out onto the ground throughout you earlier than draining away.
On this association, the bathe merely takes the type of a small bench so that you can sit down on whilst you wash your self utilizing a handheld bathe head.
The semi-open structure of this moist room permits for the cool mountain breeze to blow comfortably into the realm, making for a really tranquil bathing expertise.
Moreover, a set of two yukatas and two heavier out of doors vests had been offered to your consolation throughout your time on the resort.
General, the Yama No Yube Room was fascinating and distinctive, actually completely different from some other resort we’d stayed at earlier than.
After settling into the room and sipping on some heat tea, we had been trying ahead to the remainder of the ryokan expertise, beginning with our dinner scheduled for 6pm.
Yama No Chaya Ryokan – Dinner
Dinner at Yama No Chaya would served kaiseki-style, with a complete of 10 completely different programs.
Our desk was set in a beautiful method, with a glass jug of water out there for hydrating all through the meal.
To start out dinner off, we had been introduced with just a few appetizers. Scallops had been completed in a dashi broth topped with radish and scallions, adopted by Japanese yam tofu accompanied by a ponzu sauce.
Each appetizers made for a palatable starting to the meal, with mild tastes and fascinating textures. Specifically, the Japanese yam tofu was surprisingly creamy, serving as an intriguing automobile for the piercing ponzu flavour.
Subsequent up was the mochi rice cake, accompanied by miso soup and seaweed. The miso-topped mochi was barbecued over a charcoal grill in entrance of us, burnt to virtually a crisp on the skin, however nonetheless mushy on the within.
We then wrapped the mochi contained in the seaweed and took an enormous chunk. This was a really modern method to eat mochi, and the miso sauce added a substantial quantity of umami flavour.
A savoury broth adopted this dish, alongside eel and mushrooms topped with yuzu.
I used to be impressed by the inventiveness of lots of the dishes being served, and I noticed many new strategies of preparation, cooking, and consuming that I hadn’t skilled earlier than.
The fifth course was fish sashimi, accompanied by seaweed and soy sauce. This was then accompanied by Spanish mackerel with burnt pores and skin served with ponzu jelly and purple radish.
The sashimi was tasty and melted pleasantly in my mouth. In the meantime, the Spanish mackerel blended properly with the tangy flavour of the ponzu jelly, and was amongst my favorite programs of the night.
The next course was the “Atohassun” principal occasion, superbly introduced with a variety of choices on present. There was all the things from boiled greens to native hen, sushi, and pickled barracuda.
Some objects actually pushed our boundaries a bit by way of style. Though I like Japanese meals, I wasn’t blown away by each dish: some had been excellent, whereas others had been solely OK.
Nonetheless, as an genuine Japanese kaiseki dinner, it’s solely pure that there could be new flavours that I hadn’t but skilled and might not be totally to my style.
The spectacular “Atohassun” unfold was adopted by just a few principal programs: pathogen-free pork confit, after which marinated blue fish.
The pork wasn’t a favorite of mine. It appeared to have some Western fusion components, with the addition of lemon juice, tomato, and chilli flavours, which I didn’t suppose labored very effectively.
The bluefish was my most popular protein out of the 2, tender and delicate with simply sufficient umami to it.
The final course earlier than shifting on to dessert was a selection between koshihikari rice and home made soba noodles. My associate Jessy picked the rice, whereas I enthusiastically opted for the noodles, dipping them in a lightweight soy sauce earlier than slurping them down.
To wrap up the meal, we had been introduced with a dessert course of fruit jelly with custard pudding, in addition to warabi mochi and bracken dumpling.
We didn’t truly know what bracken was and needed to Google it – it’s a fern-like plant, and the truth that it was made right into a candy and scrumptious dessert dumpling right here speaks to the creativity of the kitchen right here at Yama No Chaya.
Yama No Chaya Ryokan – Sizzling Springs
Dipping into the onsens is a serious a part of staying at a ryokan. The water right here comes from the pure sizzling springs of Tonosawa, with its temperature adjusted to a tolerable degree after which launched into the baths.
Right here at Yama No Chaya, there are 4 completely different communal baths sprinkled all through the property. Every bathtub has a altering room that you could undergo previous to getting into the precise bathing space.
All of the baths are primarily a big pool with piping sizzling pure water; it’s merely the structure and ambiance that varies.
So as to rotate across the baths and check out every one, Jessy and I needed to rigorously plan out our bathing technique primarily based on the rotating gender separation schedule.
The primary bathtub I visited, referred to as Iwato No Notenburo, was situated in the course of the resort. This bathtub is adorned with a sizeable boulder that travels up the wall. The water pours out from throughout the boulder, whereas the remainder of the onsen is surrounded by stone.
Our subsequent bathtub, Keikoku No Notenburo, was arrange as a personal onsen completely for us through the window of 11pm–12am the night time of our keep.
This one is surrounded by smaller stones, stone collectible figurines, and lighting dispersed all through the rocks. For sure, sharing the tub privately with a liked one was a beautiful expertise.
The following morning, I visited Take No Yu, which is a set of two separate baths that had been housed in a single constructing, situated just a little outdoors the resort’s principal constructing down a stone path.
I appreciated the luxurious structure of those baths, as one has a central bathtub with a floral type, and the opposite is zen-like, with water cascading out of a tall faucet.
The final bathtub, Kajika No Yu, was housed indoors. This bathtub was essentially the most simplistic, with none stones or distinctive motifs round it.
I didn’t truly get an opportunity to go to Kajika No Yu, as I used to be fairly drained through the night hour when males had been allowed entry; nonetheless, Jessy was in a position to take a dip within the morning through the girls’s hours. I’d say this was the least aesthetically pleasing of all of the baths.
And lastly, there was the personal onsen in our room, the place we spent the final hour or so having fun with the atmosphere earlier than our 10am check-out time within the morning.
I have to say that I actually favored the bath-hopping element of this ryokan keep although I’m not an enormous bathing fan basically. It’s secure to say that when you get pleasure from sizzling baths and thermal tradition, you’ll positively have an unbelievable time at a Japanese ryokan.
It’s price noting that at communal Japanese onsens, it’s customary to be totally nude, and there are indicators right here indicating that bathing fits usually are not allowed. That’s very a lot part of the tradition that try to be conscious of when you’re visiting a ryokan.
Yama No Chaya – Breakfast
After a snug sufficient night time of sleep on the futons on the ground, we had been handled to breakfast on the scheduled time of seven:30am.
Similar to dinner, the breakfast providing right here was additionally fairly intensive, served in a number of programs.
After a lightweight salad-style opener, we had been introduced with an intriguing presentation of tofu wrapped up in fabric. The dish was served with soy sauce and congee.
Following these appetizers, then got here the standard unfold of Japanese breakfast objects, together with sashimi, miso cod, an egg dish, and greens, accompanied by a bowl of rice.
Lastly, the dessert was a grapefruit yoghurt jelly superbly introduced inside an precise grapefruit.
The delicate sweetness was refreshing with the citrus aromas, wrapping up a fulsome culinary expertise throughout this ryokan keep.
General, the meal high quality right here at Yama no Chaya wasn’t fairly Michelin-star customary, nevertheless it was nonetheless implausible.
The sheer variety of dishes introduced was very spectacular, and although not each dish was extraordinary, we had been pleasantly shocked by the modern nature of lots of the objects we sampled.
Yama No Chaya – Different Amenities
Along with the gorgeous mountain grounds and the onsens, Yama no Chaya presents a handful of further shared amenities for company’ enjoyment.
A bar is adjoining to the foyer and presents mountain views of Hakone to get pleasure from whilst you sip a drink. The bar shares over 80 completely different manufacturers of shochu, a standard Japanese arduous liquor.
Moreover, there’s a communal terrace with armchairs and recliners inside the principle constructing. In case you occur to have spare time between the inflexible meal and bathing schedule, the open wood space appears to be like like a pleasing spot to calm down.
Additionally on-site is a modest present store that focuses on regional crafts. Something from teacups and chopstick rests to bamboo woven luggage and artistic patterns is on the market for buy.
You may as well discover some ice cream and a mushy drink dispenser, ought to you must calm down after a shower.
Furthermore, vibrant yukatas in quite a lot of patterns can be found for buy within the foyer.
Lastly, a washer and dryer can be found within the laundry space for a price for these staying multiple night time.
Conclusion
Our time right here at Yama No Chaya was a soothing and zen-like expertise. Our solely gripe is we want it was longer, as we arrived at 4pm solely to take a look at at 10am the subsequent day.
Our Yama No Yube Room offered a tranquil setting to calm down among the many Hakone mountains.
Breakfast and dinner on the resort had been well-executed, with beneficiant servings that can certainly push your tastebuds past their consolation and depart you with a really genuine Japanese eating expertise.
There was additionally an in depth set of baths. In case you’re visiting Hakone particularly to calm down within the sizzling springs, you’ll discover a multitude of bathing choices right here at Yama No Chaya, every with its personal distinct atmosphere.
I totally appreciated my first ryokan expertise at Yama No Chaya, and when you’re new to staying at ryokans, this can be a fairly great spot to begin your journey at an inexpensive value level.
Personally, I don’t really feel a powerful urge to pursue the ryokan expertise once more after having skilled it as soon as, though it may be worthwhile to strive one other facility on a future journey to Japan to see the way it compares.
