Onsen Ryokan Mitake

Hakone is a pricey area, and even though this property is at the lower end of the budget in comparison to other places it was a splurge to us! If you are used to high end luxury, Mitake is not for you. This property is like going to stay at your grandparents house - they might not have all the 'mod cons' and decor and furniture is a little tired and dated, but it's a warm, charming place to be, and everyone is friendly! The room that we stayed in was HUGE - by far the biggest in Japan!! We even had a separate sitting area! There is a public and private onsen which are open 24 hours. The town its self is extremely quiet but we were there for the scenery - not the nightlife! If you are not eating at the property, there are a couple of restaurants to choose from within walking distance (one being a fab little Italian!) There is a bus stop directly outside the property which makes sightseeing a breeze! We thoroughly enjoyed our stay!

There are two private onsen and two outdoor shared onsen (one for each gender). One of the private onsen is also outdoors, which we found nice, although it is enclosed in a small terrace with no view. We used the private onsen in the afternon, in the evening and in the morning, and found that only once the outdoor one was occupied, while the indoor one was always free. The room has a nice view on the garden and it faces a quiet location. The dinner, served in the room, was plentiful and included many different dishes.

The behavior of the staff in terms of service was puzzling to say the least, especially in terms of courtesy and punctuality. We agreed for dinner to be served in our room at 18:30, but they brought it at 18:05, while only my girlfiend was there as I was still out in the village. Then, they said breakfast would be at 8; however, the waitress was at our door at 7:40: she first knocked several times, then she called a man who started to shout in order to wake us up. Finally, as we were a few minutes late for check-out, at 10:07 the man came and rudely prompted us to leave. Although this is probably common to most of the ryokans, you can hear other people in the adjacent rooms and in the corridors very well. In general it is not a busy place, but for instance it's hard to sleep in the morning: at 7 I started to hear other guests and the personnel walking around.