Ashinoko Ichinoyu or Gora Ichinoyu

Hi peeps

I'm looking into these 2 affordable ryokans and wavering between them. Anyone stayed in these before and can share with me their experience? I've read through all the reviews on tripadvisor and still non the wiser..

Which one is more convenient and less of a hassle, cleaner, more comfortable, etc bearing in mind that we are travelling with 2 bear cubs..:)

Thanks!

I'd say based on photos, former looks much nicer (cleaner, more comfortable) but seems to take greater effort to commute to i.e. you have to take a fairly long bus ride from Hakone Yumoto station. Given the distance, it won't be cheap to take a cab.

Latter (which i stayed at in Feb this year) has somewhat dated rooms (i stayed in the western room), bathroom and furnishing are a bit old. Seems like they only renovated the visible areas like the lobby and the corridors.

That said, i think it is more accessible. You can take the train from Hakone Yumoto to Gora, then from Gora, take a cab to Gora Ichinoyu which is ~5mins and only costs the starting fare of 710 yen (so you don't have the battle the steep slope which it is on).

Sorry i didn't help - pick
former if you don't mind the bus ride;
latter if you aren't fussy with the rooms.

Hi CLLR

Thanks for your input, at least I know Gora had dated rooms, couldn't tell at all from the website. Well, I'm a fusspot and budget conscious to boot, so it won't be easy to find something that pleases me at all front. Mr Bear prefers Ashinoko though, for being in the half way mark of the loop...(?) the rationale escapes me.

anyway, hope someone, anyone who stayed in Ashinoko recently can jump in and share their experience.

Arigato!

Cheers
bearmama