My very first ryokan experience was at Gora Kadan, and it changed my experience and expectations of Japan forever. Gora Kadan is located in a small town of Gora in Hakone, which is over an hour and a half by train from Tokyo. It is the former retreat of the Imperial Family, Kanin-no-miya, and repurposed and remodeled into a ryokan in 1989, blending elements of both old and new, and East and West. We have stayed two times on separate occasions, and it is a gorgeous and serene place that allows you to enjoy a relaxing and peaceful getaway from the hustle and bustle of the cities.
Located at the top of the mountain, we checked into the hotel early to drop off our bags to visit the sights and attractions of Hakone. Look for a future post on things to do in Hakone.
Long entrance that showcase the care taken to maintain this ryokan. The ryokan is huge, with 39 rooms, including 17 suites. I highly recommend one of the suites over the standard rooms as the suites are newer with private onsen or hinoki bath with panoramic views, as opposed to the standard rooms which are older and bare bones.
Once inside you are greeted by an English-speaking host and introduced to our attendant called a Nakai-san, who will assist us with all of our needs during our stay. As part of the process of checking in, you are greeted to tea and wagashi sweets while you wait. The hotel stall will take you on a tour of the facility. The lobby is beautiful with high ceilings and modern architecture.
The connecting long hall way is impressive which can open up to allow the clean air to come in.
It leads to the onsen and other areas such as the karaoke room, swimming pool, tea lounge and an impressive deck.
The overall construction and flow of the ryokan is very zen and allows you to relax.
Gora Kadan is one of the rare ryokans with a swimming pool, jacuzzi, and a gym.
In the our guest room, you will find the signature tatami mats covering the whole area. You will not find any beds when you first enter because during the day, they are setup as tea room. After dinner, they will set up the futon beds on the floor.
The Toko-no-ma is the alcove that is standard in every room. This is part of the Japanese traditional architecture that is has a slightly raised floor of the tatami room. It’s simplicity lends itself to the overall serenity of the room. The only declarations is a shoga (calligraphy hanging scroll) and a flower vase placed on the floor.
Our room we chose has a hinoki bath made of Japanese cypress trees. The mineral water from the nearby spring is the source of water and it opens up to allow a panoramic view.
The serene sitting area of our guest room allows one to look at the beautiful panoramic view of the mountain.
At the ryokan, you will change into a yukata provided by the hotel. A yukata is a casual summer kimono made of cotton and is unlined.
The proper way to wear a yukata is to wrap the left side over the right side and then secure it with the obi that is then tied in a bow. Beware not to wear it the other way (right over left) as this is traditionally reserved for dressing of a body during a funeral.
The best part of any ryokan is the onsen. Whether you choose one in the room or one of the public baths, the highlight is the natural hot spring water. The benefits of these water are rumored to be numerous, from stimulating circulation to healing properties. Here is the indoor onsen which also connects to the outdoor onsen. There are separate male and female bath areas as mixed baths are pretty rare now in Japan. You can also reserve a more private family bath when you check in.
Gora Kadan’s outdoor onsen has rock pools and a waterfall. It allows you to enjoy the cascading sound of the water as it its the pool.
You can further relax and enjoy a hot sauna room that is part of the indoor onsen area.
Once you are done bathing, you are treated with dinner in the form of kaiseki-ryori. Some ryokans have you dining in your room, but with our family of six, we are led to a banquet area, while the staff prepares our room with bedding for the night.
I love eating at ryokan, as they have elaborate kaiseki preparations serving only the best of the season and all local ingredients. Here is what we were served that night.
Our meal opens with the appetizer course, and in this case we were served a Mushimono course (steamed dish), chawan-mushi. It is a savory egg custard, steamed with sea bream, soft roe, lily bulb, and a thick dashi. It is paired with a chilled plum wine.
The Hassun course is next, which is the seasonal hors d’oeuvre.
– The bottom dish is boiled prawn, mustard stuffed lotus root, lily club, marinated fried rolled pork loin and a think omelette.
– The dish on the right is hotaru aka (firefly squid) topped with mustard and egg yolk sauce.
– The top dish is cooked broad beans cooked in sweet sake.
– The dish on the left is carrot, kidney beans, and nagaimo yam with a light gomae sauce.
Next is our soup course called the Futamono course. Here we have a soup thicken with kudzu starch and made of usui peas. In the soup we have sesame tofu, ainame greenling fish, carrot, and topped with with a sansho pepper leaf.
Mukozuke is the sashimi dish. We were served sea bream, akami, chu-toro, hokkigai, and ika. It was accompanied by fresh wasabi and shiso sprouts.
Yakimono is the grilled dish. We have grilled miso river masu (river trout) in a bamboo shoot leaf, paired with bamboo shoots, grilled sweet Japanese sweet pepper, and a pickled ginger shoot.
Another Mushimono course, which is a steamed dish. We had boiled sea bream roe, kabocha, taro potato, yuba tofu skin, stalks of butterbur, and topped with a sansho leaf.
Shiizakana is the substantial course and here it’s wagyu. We beef tenderloin with kudzu starch, shiitake, asparagus, and myoga. it is served with horseradish.
Gohan, Ko-no-mono-and Tome-wan wraps up our savory course selection. The gohan (rice) is mixed in with bamboo shoots and fried tofu. The ko-no-mono is seasonal pickled vegetables, and the tome-wan is red miso soup with seaweed.
Mizumono is our dessert course. We had a matcha pudding toped with bavarian cream, azuki beans, and whipped cream.
Our younger children had their own specially prepared courses.
All of the ryokans we stayed at were kid friendly and Gora Kadan is no exception. This was quite a bit of food for the younger two and it was not over.
This is the second part of their meal, which is udon with tempura. Probably one of the better ones I have seen and tasted even across Japan.
This was what the kids had for dessert, a agar jello.
With dinner over, our rooms were transformed with our futon bedding for the night. We can relax further in our room like our children, but I usually like to sit relax further at the onsen which I usually use 3-5x during a stay.
Breakfast is part of the package in all ryokans we stayed at. They serve a traditional style Japanese breakfast.
Our kids had the same items as the adults.
Checkout is usually at 10am, and we had one final photo with our nakai-san.
Since 2014, I have visited over 10 other ryokans and stayed at some places newer and perhaps even more impressive, but Gora Kadan will always have a special place in my family’s heart and memories as it was our very first experience at a ryokan. It is an experience unique only to Japan and it was through this journey that it transformed my desire of visiting Japan from just a vacation to a passion to explore more of this beautiful country. If you like to book a stay, I used Agoda.
Great review. I came to your blog by google search. I am going to Hakone in 6 months with my family. I want to stay at Gora kadan so much but we are a family of 7 and they don’t have any room available for all of us. We don’t want to be separated. So I think I have to choose another ryokan. Admittedly, I’m a little sad because this place looks soooo good.
Hi Krittiya –
While we loved Gora Kadan,I have found that their rooms that can accommodate a large family to be pretty standard to other similar Ryokans. When we first travelled and visited Ryokans, we tried to keep everyone together, but I have found that the rooms with an open air bath became our preference, and we got use to splitting our rooms. With a family of seven, unless your children are very young, it maybe even harder to find a single room to accommodate everyone as most ryokans may not have many rooms that fit a large family. However there are some, and book early if you can. Good luck and Hope you have a great time!