Hakone Gora Karaku (箱根・強羅 佳ら久) is a luxury onsen ryokan in Gora, opened in October 2020 and operated by ORIX Hotels & Resorts, with 70 rooms that all have their own private open-air hot-spring bath. It is built for couples, families and anyone who wants real Hakone onsen water without queueing for a shared tub — plus a proper kaiseki dinner and a location three to five minutes' walk from Gora Station. The one thing to know before booking: the two big panoramic baths run on a gender-alternating rotation and tattooed guests are not admitted to them, so if that matters to you, lean on the in-room bath and the three bookable private baths instead.
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What it is
Gora is the last real town on the Hakone Tozan Railway before the cable car starts climbing towards Sounzan, and it has quietly become the smartest place to base yourself in Hakone: higher, cooler, greener and far less congested than Hakone-Yumoto, with a cluster of museums and a park within walking distance. Hakone Gora Karaku sits in the middle of it, at 1300-8 Gora, a short stroll from the station — a fact that sounds mundane until you've spent a day on mountain roads and want nothing more than to drop your bags and sit down.
The property opened on 2 October 2020 as a modern luxury ryokan rather than a restored old inn. That shows in the layout: two guest wings, an annexe with a top-floor grill restaurant, a signature water terrace and a guests-only counter-bar lounge, plus a spa run by The Day Spa Operation. It is a big, confident building, not a nine-room hideaway, and it works best if you treat it as a resort that happens to serve kaiseki.
The hotel has been awarded one MICHELIN Key for three years running — announced by the hotel itself, in September 2026. What that means in practice is consistency: this is the kind of place that reliably delivers the same thing every time, rather than the kind of place that surprises you.
The rooms
All 70 rooms are roughly 56 m², split across an east wing and a west wing, in both Japanese-style (和タイプ) and Western-style (洋タイプ) variants. At that size, a room here feels genuinely spacious — there is room to spread out a suitcase, leave the day-bag on the floor and still have a clear path to the balcony.
And the balcony matters, because every one of those 70 rooms has its own hot-spring open-air bath. This is the reason to pick Karaku over a Hakone hotel that only offers shared facilities: you can soak at midnight, at six in the morning, in the rain, after dinner, in your own time, without thinking about etiquette or timing. The in-room baths draw on a different source from the shared baths, so even the constant soaker gets some variation over a two-night stay.
Category-wise, the top suite is the Karaku Room. Below that are Mountain View rooms in both wings, then Superior Deluxe and Deluxe. For guests who need it, there is a barrier-free Universal Room, whose guest-room open-air bath is fitted with a transfer bench — a small, specific detail, and a useful one.
The onsen
The spring here is a sodium-chloride hot spring (ナトリウム−塩化物温泉), and the water is silky against the skin. Locally, the type is nicknamed 熱の湯 — "the hot spring that keeps heat" — because it warms you through and is slow to let the warmth go. After a long day of travel, that is the effect you want.
Officially listed indications for this spring include cuts, peripheral circulatory disorders, cold sensitivity, low mood and dry skin. Take that as the standard Japanese onsen classification rather than a medical promise, but it does describe why people come here in autumn and winter.
There are two shared panoramic open-air view baths, on a gender-alternating rotation (男女入れ替え制), open 5:00–10:00 and 15:00–24:00. 「蒼海」(Sōkai) pairs an indoor bath and an open-air bath with a view over the mountains towards Sagami Bay, and adds a mist sauna. 「明星」(Myōjō) has its own indoor and open-air bath facing Mount Myojogatake (明星ヶ岳, locally called Daimonji-yama) and a dry sauna. Each bath has a powder room. Note the official policy: guests with tattoos are not admitted to the shared baths.
For more privacy there are three bookable private baths, reservations required: 「檜の湯」(Hinoki no Yu), a cypress tub beside a bamboo garden; 「岩の湯」(Iwa no Yu), built from Gora stone; and 「シルクの湯」(Silk no Yu), which uses micro-bubble water — not hot-spring water — for a different, smoother feel on the skin.
Dining
The main dining room is 「六つ喜」(Mutsuki), serving Japanese cuisine built on the framework of traditional kaiseki (日本伝統の会席料理をベースにした和食) and on seasonal local ingredients. If you know kaiseki, you know roughly what to expect: a sequence, careful plating, restraint. If you don't, it is an easy, low-friction way to eat well without leaving the building.
For something more casual and more Western, the grill restaurant 「十邑」(Tomura) sits on the top floor of the annexe and looks out over Mount Myojogatake and the Daimonji ridge. It serves grilled selected meats and seasonal seafood. It is the better choice on a night when you have walked ten kilometres and want straightforward, generous food.
Breakfast is Japanese. Between meals, the guests-only lounge 「間」(AWAI) has a counter bar, and there is a shop and gallery selling yosegi-zaiku marquetry, ceramics, local tea and sweets.
Getting there
Gora is the top of the Hakone Tozan Railway from Hakone-Yumoto; from Gora the Tozan Cable Car runs up towards Sounzan, and the Hakone ropeway to Owakudani continues from there. Hakone Gora Karaku is about a 3–5 minute walk from Gora Station, which makes the arrival from Tokyo unusually painless for a mountain ryokan.
If you are coming from the Shinkansen side, there is a free shuttle bus between JR Odawara Station and the hotel: two departures a day each way, reservation required, normally 45–50 minutes, and 90–120 minutes when traffic is bad. Book it when you book the room; two departures is not much margin.
Driving is possible but parking is limited, and there are 7 EV charging spaces (200V/16A). Check-in is 15:00 and check-out is 11:00.
Who it suits
It suits travellers who want an onsen-first stay but also want space, modern bathrooms, a proper bed and a choice of dinner styles — in other words, most people who have stayed in a traditional ryokan once and want the water without the formality. It suits families, because 56 m² is real breathing room and every room has its own bath.
It suits anyone basing a Hakone stay in Gora for the museums — Gora Park, the Hakone Museum of Photography, the Pola Museum of Art and the Hakone Open-Air Museum are all close by. It suits guests with mobility needs, thanks to the Universal Room and its transfer bench.
It is less ideal if your idea of a ryokan is a hushed eight-tatami room in a century-old building. And, again, if tattoos rule out the shared baths for you, plan around the in-room and private baths.
Practical details
Check-in 15:00, check-out 11:00. Shared baths open 5:00–10:00 and 15:00–24:00, gender-alternating. Private baths require reservations. Limited parking; 7 EV charging spaces (200V/16A). Free Odawara shuttle, two departures each way daily, reservation required. Spa: Gora Spa AIOI, five-element treatments (wood, fire, earth, metal, water), operated by The Day Spa Operation.
The property also has two outdoor terraces worth five minutes of your time: the 「水のテラス」(Water Terrace), shallow water laid over stone slabs and lit at night, and the 「森のテラス」(Forest Terrace), a bamboo grove with benches facing the ridgelines. The lobby lounge features a brick wall representing the Hayakawa river.
FAQ
How far is Hakone Gora Karaku from Gora Station?
It is about a 3–5 minute walk from Gora Station, which is served by the Hakone Tozan Railway and the Hakone Tozan Cable Car.
Does every room have a private onsen bath?
Yes. All 70 guest rooms, in both the east and west wings, have their own hot-spring open-air bath on the balcony. These in-room baths draw on a different source from the shared baths.
Can I use the shared baths if I have tattoos?
No. Guests with tattoos are not admitted to the shared baths, per official hotel policy. The in-room open-air baths and the three bookable private baths (reservations required) remain available.
Is there a shuttle from JR Odawara Station?
Yes. A free shuttle runs between JR Odawara Station and the hotel with two departures a day each way. Reservations are required, and the journey normally takes 45–50 minutes, or 90–120 minutes in traffic.
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Sources
- https://gora-karaku.orixhotelsandresorts.com/
- https://www.japanryokanguide.com/en/ryokans/hakone-gora-karaku
- https://wherebest.com/en/review-hakone-gora-karaku
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Putting Hakone Gora Karaku into your itinerary
Gora is the natural base for the classic Hakone circuit, and the hotel is minutes from the station — one to three days of ropeway, lake and mountain scenery.
1 day — The Hakone loop — the Tozan railway to Gora, the cable car to Sounzan, the ropeway over Owakudani, then the pleasure boat on Lake Ashi and Hakone Shrine.
2 days — Gora Park's gardens, the Hakone Museum of Art and the Hakone Open-Air Museum; an afternoon in the old hot-spring streets of Miyanoshita.
3 days — The cedar avenue of the old Tokaido and the lakeside torii of Hakone Shrine, or a day at Gotemba on the way back towards Tokyo.
We can arrange this as a private itinerary, with a car and a private guide. WhatsApp us.
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