Staying at a ryokan with hot spring

ilovetoeat

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Japan trip with Ryokan stay

Looking at videos of travelogues wheres people stayed at traditional ryokans with hot spring, I am wondering if it is possible for a solo traveller to experience 1 -2 nights at such a place. I'm willing to pay up to 300 per night to experience it.

Also, I'll be at Kansai region for 6 days before moving to Tokyo for another 4 days during December. Anyone have any clues on recommendations for solo traveller ryokan, preferably with hot spring in either Kyoto or around Tokyo?
 
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rogue_strider

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Since you are moving from osaka/kyoto to tokyo, why don't you stop in hakone or lake kawaguchiko for ryokan?

Erm there are different types of ryokan experience, some ryokan got package where they give you dinner, some ryokan have private hot spring in your own room, some ryokans only provide for you breakfast.

So the type of experience you want is very dependant on whether you can get single occupancy rate.

Most of them charge per room according to double occupancy. But I believe japanican website lets you filter in single occupancy charges but not a lot of ryokan offer single occupancy charge so your choice maybe limited. Just try your luck and search in japanican website ok.

Anyway bro anyhowsaysay will surely come along to give you some recommendations and suggestions, so you can wait for what he says also.
 

kifo

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Looking at videos of travelogues wheres people stayed at traditional ryokans with hot spring, I am wondering if it is possible for a solo traveller to experience 1 -2 nights at such a place. I'm willing to pay up to 300 per night to experience it.

Also, I'll be at Kansai region for 6 days before moving to Tokyo for another 4 days during December. Anyone have any clues on recommendations for solo traveller ryokan, preferably with hot spring in either Kyoto or around Tokyo?

around kyoto, i can recommend kurama onsen. this is just to the north of the city and you can easily get there within an hour by public transport.

arashiyama has several onsen hotels so you can also look there.
 
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lcpteck

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My Japanese friend brought my friend and I to Tocen Goshoboh in Arima Onsen, Hyogo Prefecture, north of Kobe City. You can take the local train ride from Kobe City.

It was my first Japanese Onsen experience. We had both Dinner and Breakfast covered in our rate. As the place was hilly, it's a good exercise to walk around town as well.
 

ilovetoeat

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Since you are moving from osaka/kyoto to tokyo, why don't you stop in hakone or lake kawaguchiko for ryokan?

Erm there are different types of ryokan experience, some ryokan got package where they give you dinner, some ryokan have private hot spring in your own room, some ryokans only provide for you breakfast.

So the type of experience you want is very dependant on whether you can get single occupancy rate.

Most of them charge per room according to double occupancy. But I believe japanican website lets you filter in single occupancy charges but not a lot of ryokan offer single occupancy charge so your choice maybe limited. Just try your luck and search in japanican website ok.

Anyway bro anyhowsaysay will surely come along to give you some recommendations and suggestions, so you can wait for what he says also.

Thanks! Is japanican in English though as my Japanese skills is close to zero? I'm fine with the double occupancy rate as long as it is within 300 sgd I guess. Hmm, if i could have a ryokan which provides meal and a hot bath, that would be perfect! Hmm would ryokans at Hakone be cheaper than the ones in Kyoto?

edit:

Actually, its fine! hahah I've already booked Seiranso Ryokan, onsen ryokan at Hakone for a single night before I head out to Tokyo. My plan is

Day 1: Osaka
Day 2: Osaka
Day 3: Osaka + Head out to Kyoto
Day 4: Kyoto
Day 5: Kyoto
Day 6: Kyoto
Day 7: Hakone
Day 8: Tokyo
Day 9: Tokyo
Day 10: Tokyo then fly back to Seoul!

Thank you so so much for Japanica! It's a pretty good website though Ryokan prices are pretty steep, I guess I do still want to try it for a single night
 
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thwysg

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Thanks! Is japanican in English though as my Japanese skills is close to zero? I'm fine with the double occupancy rate as long as it is within 300 sgd I guess. Hmm, if i could have a ryokan which provides meal and a hot bath, that would be perfect! Hmm would ryokans at Hakone be cheaper than the ones in Kyoto?

Yes, it's in English. http://www.japanican.com/en/

Usually the staff would know simple English.
 

rogue_strider

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Glad I could be of help.

Too bad about the high rate for most ryokan. Single occupancy rate is quite ex or its not offered at all.

Yup, japanican is good for beginners going to japan. Very straightforward and have a lot of in built options after your search.

Some of the day tours in there are quite good too.
 

ilovetoeat

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Glad I could be of help.

Too bad about the high rate for most ryokan. Single occupancy rate is quite ex or its not offered at all.

Yup, japanican is good for beginners going to japan. Very straightforward and have a lot of in built options after your search.

Some of the day tours in there are quite good too.

Yup! But I have another question, I am only taking the shinkansen once from kyoto to hakone, it isnt worth it to get the JR pass right? Though shinkansen to hakone already costs like 150 sgd. Are there any discount lobangs regarding the shinkansen or rail in general? Its all a bit confusing actually, Japans railways!
 

cpuer

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Yup! But I have another question, I am only taking the shinkansen once from kyoto to hakone, it isnt worth it to get the JR pass right? Though shinkansen to hakone already costs like 150 sgd. Are there any discount lobangs regarding the shinkansen or rail in general? Its all a bit confusing actually, Japans railways!
There's this Purruto Kodama shinkasen tickets, but it wont stop at Odawara, the nearest Shinkansen stn for Hakone. But from Odawara u still can get the Odakyu Hakone Freepass for the hakone area travel needs.

http://www.odakyu.jp/english/deels/freepass/hakone/
 

FireEmblem

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i stayed solo in gifu shin hotaka suimeikan before. thru booking.com 180 sgd per night.
 

purpleberry

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There's this Purruto Kodama shinkasen tickets, but it wont stop at Odawara, the nearest Shinkansen stn for Hakone. But from Odawara u still can get the Odakyu Hakone Freepass for the hakone area travel needs.

http://www.odakyu.jp/english/deels/freepass/hakone/

This is interesting. Nearest stop would be at Shizuoka. Not sure if this is near to Gotemba station? If yes it'd take around 1hr by bus to Hakone.
 

rogue_strider

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Yup! But I have another question, I am only taking the shinkansen once from kyoto to hakone, it isnt worth it to get the JR pass right? Though shinkansen to hakone already costs like 150 sgd. Are there any discount lobangs regarding the shinkansen or rail in general? Its all a bit confusing actually, Japans railways!

Jr pass is only worth it if you do a shinkansen return trip from osaka to tokyo and back to osaka.

Shinkansen is usually the most ex train tickets for japan. No discount lobang unfortunately. They only have different JR pass for different areas and different duration. Kodama shinkansen is quite slow as it stops most frequently out of all the shinkensen types thats running the kyoto-tokyo route.

A good website to estimate your travel expenses would be hyperdia. Everything that has to do with japan's railway, shinkansen and metro is in there from ticket charge to duration of the trip to the schedule of the trains. It takes a while to get used to though.
 

anyhowsaysay

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Thanks! Is japanican in English though as my Japanese skills is close to zero? I'm fine with the double occupancy rate as long as it is within 300 sgd I guess. Hmm, if i could have a ryokan which provides meal and a hot bath, that would be perfect! Hmm would ryokans at Hakone be cheaper than the ones in Kyoto?

edit:

Actually, its fine! hahah I've already booked Seiranso Ryokan, onsen ryokan at Hakone for a single night before I head out to Tokyo. My plan is

Day 1: Osaka
Day 2: Osaka
Day 3: Osaka + Head out to Kyoto
Day 4: Kyoto
Day 5: Kyoto
Day 6: Kyoto
Day 7: Hakone
Day 8: Tokyo
Day 9: Tokyo
Day 10: Tokyo then fly back to Seoul!

Thank you so so much for Japanica! It's a pretty good website though Ryokan prices are pretty steep, I guess I do still want to try it for a single night

So fast book :eek: I searched your ryokan choice actually it is not Hakone but at Yugawara. Not a wise choice if you want to explore Hakone because that area is a bit away from the typical hakone most would know like Hakone Yumoto or Gora onsen area.

Like most people mentioned in this thread. Solo traveller for ryokan stay is definitely more expensive than normal. Most ryokan will charge like maybe 70% of two person rate. Some ryokan even don't accept Solo Traveller.

But if you want recommendation, I would say go yamanochaya. Their cheapest room is around 30k Yen for 1 person stay inclusive of breakfast and Dinner. For first time ryokan user, I think public onsen in the ryokan is good experience already. There is totally no need for private onsen in room unless u really like onsen a lot.

If you require private onsen in room, it will start at 48k Yen for 1 night. I went there in 2014, It was great experience. The whole ryokan is traditional wooden building.

山の茶屋 by Liwei, on Flickr

山の茶屋 by Liwei, on Flickr

山の茶屋 by Liwei, on Flickr

Tatami floor.

山の茶屋 by Liwei, on Flickr

Some room got private rooftop also.

I will go there again next month.
 

lcpteck

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Wow very nice indeed.

I agree, private onsen is not needed unless you're not comfortable being naked around strangers. No issue for me when I was in the Spa hotel in Guangzhou and Arima Onsen in Hyogo Prefecture cause during NSF days, there were no doors in the shower hehe so kinda okay with it.

Just don't stare... :s13:
 

anyhowsaysay

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Wow very nice indeed.

I agree, private onsen is not needed unless you're not comfortable being naked around strangers. No issue for me when I was in the Spa hotel in Guangzhou and Arima Onsen in Hyogo Prefecture cause during NSF days, there were no doors in the shower hehe so kinda okay with it.

Just don't stare... :s13:

Yeah. actually most ryokan especially smaller one with 10-20 rooms. Their public onsen also quite empty. For bigger ryokan or hotel, if you go during odd hours like 6am also empty.
 

chickenmedium

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i was at a Hakone ryokan last week and i spotted an angmoh alone. I recognised he was alone as our breakfast and dinner were held in a communal hall where each room was allocated a table for the meals. not sure how much he paid for, but for sure it wasn't cheap plus it was the Japanese sports holiday somemore :s13:
 

ilovetoeat

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So fast book :eek: I searched your ryokan choice actually it is not Hakone but at Yugawara. Not a wise choice if you want to explore Hakone because that area is a bit away from the typical hakone most would know like Hakone Yumoto or Gora onsen area.

Like most people mentioned in this thread. Solo traveller for ryokan stay is definitely more expensive than normal. Most ryokan will charge like maybe 70% of two person rate. Some ryokan even don't accept Solo Traveller.

But if you want recommendation, I would say go yamanochaya. Their cheapest room is around 30k Yen for 1 person stay inclusive of breakfast and Dinner. For first time ryokan user, I think public onsen in the ryokan is good experience already. There is totally no need for private onsen in room unless u really like onsen a lot.

If you require private onsen in room, it will start at 48k Yen for 1 night. I went there in 2014, It was great experience. The whole ryokan is traditional wooden building.

山の茶屋 by Liwei, on Flickr

山の茶屋 by Liwei, on Flickr

山の茶屋 by Liwei, on Flickr

Tatami floor.

山の茶屋 by Liwei, on Flickr

Some room got private rooftop also.

I will go there again next month.

Wow! 30k JPY... that is a bit too steep for me hahah. I think im fine with the ryokan that i booked! I'm there for only a day so... most likely stay at the ryokan more. Maybe the next day when i check out then walk around hakone for a short while before heading out to Tokyo!

Thank you so much for all the useful links and help people!

As for the nudity, I don't really mind, hahah We are all there to soak onsen only, also nothing much to stare at.
 
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gentoro

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Wow! 30k JPY... that is a bit too steep for me hahah. I think im fine with the ryokan that i booked! I'm there for only a day so... most likely stay at the ryokan more. Maybe the next day when i check out then walk around hakone for a short while before heading out to Tokyo!

Thank you so much for all the useful links and help people!

As for the nudity, I don't really mind, hahah We are all there to soak onsen only, also nothing much to stare at.

Packed light and check out early to catch the 1st cable car (hakone ropeway) to owadani and have black eggs for breakfast. Catch the morning cool breeze there with Mt Fuji view if you are lucky.

Then proceed to continue to lake ashino @ togendai station, if possible walk 1km+ from the station due south to hakone Nouri terminal for some shopping of local product and lake activity such as paddle boat (actually not so interested in that)?

Can buy a ride in the pirate boat and go around the lake before heading back to hakone for late lunch @ Fujiya Hotel 富士屋ホテル famous for its curry rice (100yrs+ old hotel - <S$20) before heading back to Tokyo.
 
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ilovetoeat

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Packed light and check out early to catch the 1st cable car (hakone ropeway) to owadani and have black eggs for breakfast. Catch the morning cool breeze there with Mt Fuji view if you are lucky.

Then proceed to continue to lake ashino @ togendai station, if possible walk 1km+ from the station due south to hakone Nouri terminal for some shopping of local product and lake activity such as paddle boat (actually not so interested in that)?

Can buy a ride in the pirate boat and go around the lake before heading back to hakone for late lunch @ Fujiya Hotel 富士屋ホテル famous for its curry rice (100yrs+ old hotel - <S$20) before heading back to Tokyo.

Okay! would take these into considerations! thank you! Are there any other suggestions for Osaka, kyoto and tokyo? I like nice natural scenery and amazingly sculpted parks and architectural structures!
 

ilovetoeat

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Oh yeah,

What about eats? Are there must eats in Kyoto Osaka and Tokyo. There are so many options that I have no idea where to begin!
A site which lists all the good food would be extremely helpful! Thanks+
 
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