Ashinoko Ichinoyu in Hakone

Photos of our accommodations in Hakone.   Our Ashinoko Ichinoyu food photos will be posted in a separate post.  All photos taken in: Hakone, Japan.
All photos in this post were taken with: Sony SLT A35, Sony DT 50 mm f/1.8 Mid-Range Prime Lens

Lamp

Ashinoko Ichinoyu is considered a budget hotel in the Hakone area, but we would definitely recommend it.  It's low-key, quiet and a good deal.  There are some "cons" but in our opinion the "pros" outweigh the "cons".  

For $120 per night we got a room for two (a lot of the onsen hotels charge per person and it was hard to find one with a private onsen for less than $300), a shabu shabu dinner for two, Japanese breakfast for two and 40 minutes in the private outdoor onsen.  What a deal!  The meals were very filling too.  

The cons - the walls are thin -- we could hear other people talking in their rooms.  Whenever the ladies two doors down for us opened their door, it sounded like a loud thump.  The bathroom was old and worn, but it was clean.

The pros - (see above for what you get for $120), once everyone goes to sleep, the place is pretty quiet because it's set back from the main road.  Some Tripadvisor reviewers thought it was inconvenient because there's not much around it and takes long to get to -- but we found a shortcut which made it less than 10 minutes (walking) from Togendai Station.  We planned ahead and brought in snacks with us knowing there weren't any convenience stores nearby.  There were a couple restaurants down the road, probably a 10-15 minute walk near the lake, but they close early.  The service was great, the employees spoke enough English to give us directions to a bird watching area.

Note: all guests will find yukata in their rooms (longer sizes available - no additional charge).  You are allowed to wear your yukata in the hotel, to the restaurant and onsen if you wish.  Meals were not served in our rooms, but they do have assigned seating in the restaurant. 

 Standard Japanese Room

This was our room -- the standard Japanese Room.  It was like a half Japanese and half Western room.   There were Western style beds and a bathroom with a shower.

Standard Japanese Room

We had a Japanese style sitting area.  The hotel leaves a manju for each guest on the table upon check in.

 Onsen Bathing Area

Bathing area in the public onsen.  The hotel had a public onsen (indoors, one for men and one for women) and two small private outdoor onsen.  Each room is allowed to reserve a 40 minute slot for the private onsen -- reservations accepted when you're checking in.  We took a couple photos of the private onsen which has its own bathing area, but they didn't come out -- too dark.

 Bathing Stool and Bucket

If you're never been to an onsen or not familiar with Japanese style bathing -- you sit on the small stool and use the bucket to rinse yourself.  This onsen had shower heads but I've been so some where there's just the stool, bucket and a faucet.

Room 211

We were happy with our room.  It's on the top floor of the hotel.  It faced the backside of another hotel -- at night lights from the other hotel were a little bothersome, but there wasn't a lot of road noise.