Hotel review : Hotel Indigo Hakone-Gora, Japan

※Sorry, I didn’t go to public bath in hotel.
　Please check other blogs or official website.

Hotel information and Access

Information

Hotel Indigo Hakone-Gora opened on January 24th. 2020. It’s the third IHG hotel in Kanagawa prefecture, and it’s the first Indigo brand hotel in Japan.

Hakone is a very old hot spring location in Japan. Gore is popular place in the Hakone area. There are many great Ryokan ( Japanese style hotels ) and regular hotels.

You could easily go to the Hakone area from Tokyo by train.
If you want to take the train, I recommend the Romance car by Odakyu line. It takes around one and a half hours from Shinjuku station to Hakone Yumoto station, and the fare is ¥2,080. It’s so fast and comfortable!

However, YOU HAVE TO BOOK A SEAT BEFORE YOU GET ON. And sometimes they don’t have available seat on weekend. Please remember that and check for seats on this website.

This hotel has 96 guest rooms, and It is a four-story building.

The greatest features is “ALL GUEST ROOMS HAVE AN ONSEN BATH”. You can enjoy an Onsen in your room at any time!!

BTW, the public bath in this hotel is a little strange. It’s like a spa. You should pack swimwear, if you want to take a public bath.

If you are IHG member, please book this hotel by official IHG website or app. You can find this hotel in the “Hakone” area.

Finally, Reward nights are only available “2 nights”. You can’t book a one night stay with a reward night now.

Access

• Of course, you can go to Odawara or Gora by train.

There are 4ways to get to the hotel. I recommend 1 or 3.

Hotel Indigo is in Gora, but it’s like the edge of the Gora area and It’s between Sengokuhara area and Miyanoshita area. Unfortunately, This hotel is a little far from Gora station. The hotel staff said it takes 30 minutes by walk from Gora station.

If you don’t have a car, you should go there by bus from Gora station.

Route 138 “Hakone Yumoto to Miyanoshita area” is always busy.

If you go to this hotel by bus from Odawara station on the weekend, you’ll probably get caught in traffic. You should get to the hotel by bus from Gora station.

Hakone in summer is also hot and Hakone in winter is dangerous!!!! Please use bus or taxi.

I couldn’t understand how to get to the hotel by car the first time I went, so I explained that. This hotel is a new one, so the car’s GPS doesn’t know this hotel. You should use Google maps or Navitime.

When you arrive at this forked road, you have to go LEFT!! Then you get to the hotel after driving around 2-3 minutes.

Hotel review（entrance）

　I arrived at 15:00. Parking had some available spaces. I thought “it’s not too busy, because it’s before Obon season?”.

This photo is from route 138.

※ Obon season ….. It’s like a Japanese summer vacation and Halloween.

Entrance and hotels. this photo is from tennis court side.

This building has guest room and public baths.

There are 4 parkings around the hotel.

There is big 人力車 ( Jinriki sha ) and.

The doorman was in the hotel because it was too hot outdoors. He checked my body temperature and guided me to the lobby.

This is the hotel lobby.

I took this photo when I sat down at the check-in counter.

There is a modern restaurant right there. We can eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and tea. Dinner time was so busy when I stayed there. I think many people book ‘dinner packages’ there, so it is really busy.

I ate only lunch there.

There is Terrace and foorbath area by the restaurant. I didn’t use it.

It’s a check in counter, a little strange for me.

We can see this object when we sit down at the check -in counter. It reminds me of my childhood. I have seen it in my grandmother’s home.

I paid 100,000 point for 2 night. If I booked the normal plan, the price was over $600 per night. BTW I’m an IHG platinum member, so I negotiated a check out extension. The staff quickly said “OK”, and I could check out at 14:00.

The hotel staff talked about this hotel and sightseeing places in Gora, but I’ve been to Gora many times, so I didn’t need that information.

Afterwards, I was guided to my room. This elevator has great security. If we don’t have a room key, we don’t use this elevator. Don’t forget your room key or you can’t get to your room!! 

In front of elevator in guest room area, there is a Yosegi ( 寄木 ) in the space of a 3.

It’s the door of my hotel room! Now for my hotel room review.

Hotel review（Room）

Room setup

This room has a bed and a sofa, and the bathroom is in the back. The bathroom looks so cool!!

The bed was a little small for me, as I’m 177cm tall. If you are over 180cm tall, you should check the size of the bed before you stay.

BTW, intercontinental Yokohama pier8 had the same bed style. I guess IHG hotels in Japan like this bed style lately???? hmm…….

The front door is the room’s main door, and the right door is the toilet.

There is Yukukata on left side.

There is an old photo of Gora behind the bed. If my grandma was alive and she stayed here, she would be so happy. She worked here for a long time after WW2.

It’s a very cute desk. However, the clock was so small. All of the rooms have expensive speakers! It’s a Bose Soundlink Revolve. I used it often.

However, this speaker is not water resistant. Please don’t use it in the bathroom.

The TV was a good size. Youtube, Amazon prime video and Netflix were available on this TV. Pier8 has the same TV, and it’s a great item for Amazon Prime members.

This pouch was good for the remote control so it wouldn’t get lost.

This is the toilet. It was clean, but not an automatic.

Room bar – ばあ – area. We can drink free coffee and TWG tea.

This is the room’s refrigerator. The drinks in this refrigerator cost money, but we can put our own drinks in it.

I drank plum cider for ¥300. It was so good for after a bath.

This is the washroom. There is a towel and a scale. After using the onsen, you can put your towel in the basket on the bottom.

We can control the blinds by this panel. It’s by the bed and the washroom.

This is the bathroom!!! It’s amazing!! This bathroom has a shower space and onsen water, and the air control is working when we take a bath. You can use the onsen easily and comfortably.

Bathroom again. Other people can’t see this bathroom.

　The hot water was very hot!! Maybe it’s original onsen water. You should also use cold water.

Here comes the onsen!!!! It was a big bathtub, but filled up quickly.

Shampoo, body soup and rinse. I have never seen this brand.

Next, I’ll discuss the room service.

Room service

We could see the room service menu on the TV, and we could order it by telephone. I ordered room service for dinner, because the restaurant was really crowded for dinner time.

I took photos of the room service, but they’re  in Japanese. This information is for August 1st, 2020.

This is the All Day menu. The prices include the service fee and consumption tax.

I ordered only from the All Day menu, so I don’t know which menu is better.

This is the hamburger. You can get complimentary french fries if you order a hamburger. The packaging was strange for me since I’ve never seen it before.

Maybe it’s packaged this way because of the coronavirus….??

Hamburg steak with mushroom sauce and potato puree. I made a mistake. Rice doesn’t go well with this steak. I should have ordered wine.

The menu said “Japanese beef curry rice”, but this curry is a little different from Japanese the style. Taste was normal, and the beef cubes were big. There were many beef cubes in this curry.

Sirloin Ashigara beef steak, priced at ¥6,906. This package looks really cheap!!!!! But this beef steak was really delicious. However, it looks like an inexpensive bento.

I really wanted to eat in the restaurant. Maybe the steak would have been better on a plate. In my opinion, appearance is important if the food is expensive.

Hotel review（Restaurant）

Because I’m a Platinum member of IHG, I got a drink ticket when I checked in. If I had been staying there with someone, I could have ordered a maximum of 2 free drinks with this ticket. Usually I can only order one drink for free at many of the IHG hotels in Japan. This ticket is better.

I wanted to use it on the day of check out, I booked seat for lunch.

This menu is here ( official website ).

Here is the bar area. I saw some people waiting to check in on the second day.

These tables by the riverside are also in the bar area.

This is the restaurant area. Fortunately, the restaurant wasn’t crowded, only 3 guests were eating lunch there.

Oh wait, there’s a private space in the back??? I didn’t check it out. Is this space for guests who stay in a suite room??

This is the spaghetti carbonara, made in-house. The style was interesting for me. It was so creamy and delicious, and the bacon and chicken were also good.

However, the spaghetti portion was too small and I wanted to eat more.

Flank steak. The sauce was good and slightly spicy, and the steak wasn’t too small. We could get free bread if we ordered this. 

Convenient store

Seven Eleven at Hakone, Miyagino

Address ： 神奈川県足柄下郡宮城野６１
( Miyagino 61 )

It takes 5 to 10 minutes to walk to the convenience store from the hotel. This route is better, but it’s sometimes closed at night.

Cocokara fine Sengokuhara

Address ： 神奈川県足柄下郡箱根町 足柄下郡 足柄下郡箱根町仙石原39-1
( Sengokuhara 39-1 )

It takes 10 minutes by car from the hotel. Normally there are only drug stores around the Gora, Sengokuhara area.

Restaurant Olive ( Japanese website )

住所：神奈川県足柄下郡宮城野９２３−３
（　Miyagino 923-3　）

It takes 10-15 minutes by walk. This route is better but it’s sometimes closed at night. You could eat lunch or dinner there and it’s reasonable.

Tabiya’s

住所：神奈川県足柄下郡箱根町木賀９４５（徒歩五分以内）
( Kiga 945 )

It takes 3-5 minutes to walk here from the hotel. You can get take out pizza there. This pizza is a bit of a Japanese style, and the chef uses many foods made in Hakone.

This restaurant is opening only night.

Pan-no-mimi

住所：神奈川県足柄下郡宮城野170
( Miyagino170 )

This is an old cafe in Hakone. Gratin toast is a popular menu item here. This cafe also has a good menu for lunch.

Restaurant Yamagusuri in Hakone

( 箱根 自然薯の森 山薬 )

住所：神奈川県足柄下郡箱根町宮ノ下２２４
( Miyanoshita 224 )

It takes 5 minutes by car from the hotel. It’s a good restaurant for breakfast or lunch. It’s just Japanese style breakfast with “grated yam paste”. We call that “とろろ” in Japanese .

Breakfast there is really awesome, but almost everything on the menu is expensive. Plus, this restaurant is always crowded if you visit there on weekends or during vacation season. I’ve often seen the parking lot full.

Fujiya hotel

住所：神奈川県足柄下郡箱根町宮ノ下３５９
( Miyanoshita 359 )

It takes 5 minutes by car from hotel.

You can buy good toast and sweets and interesting souvenirs. You can eat awesome beef curry rice there. You can eat great (and expensive) Japanese or French dinners. You can also do sightseeing in the hotel.

Chaplin, Helen Keller, John Lennon. Many great people have stayed at this hotel.

Hakone Hanakotoba

住所：神奈川県足柄下郡箱根町木賀９３４
( Kiga 934 )

You could buy some Japanese sweets here. It takes 3 minutes by walk.

Onsen mochi is good!! I bought that before I checked in and I put it in the refrigerator. Then I ate it after I took a bath. It was so nice.

This shop is closed every Wednesday.