Hakone Ryokan
 

I am trying to plan a 10-day trip to Japan in August 2008. Booked the plane just today, arriving in Tokyo on the 1st of August and leaving from Osaka on the 10th of August. The general idea would be:
1-4 August: Tokyo (and maybe Yokohama and Kamakura)
5 August: Hakone Ryokan
6-7 August: Kyoto (and surroundings)
8-10 August Osaka
If you have any thoughts/suggestions on this preliminary idea, they are more than welcome !
As to the title of my post, I am looking at three ryokans in the Hakone area: Asaba, Horai and Gora Kadan (the trip is for my mother's 60th birthday, so we want to splurge a bit). Has anyone been in either of these places ? I would tend to prefer Gora Kadan for its location (between Odawara and Gotemba).
Any suggestions for lodgings in the other destinations ? I am looking at the GINZA YOSHIMIZU ryokan in Tokyo. Anyone been there ?
Many thanks !

We haven't stayed at a ryokan yet but have booked one in the Hakone area already. Just based on our research, if you are looking for a luxury ryokan, I would recommend that you take a look at Yoshimatsu and Ginyu. They are slightly cheaper than Gora Kadan but are both top ryokans and have excellent reviews.

I was also going to suggest Hakone Ginyu. We are booked there for this fall. They book up fast, however. I made my reservation a year in advance and still didn't get the exact room I wanted. But, they all look pretty fabulous. Let us know what you decide. :)

It's a very tough one. Ginyu does indeed look very nice. But I can't really make out how to make the reservation, I can't find an email address on their website (my Japanese is not what it should be). Do you happen to have one ?

According to their website, to reserve Hakone Ginyu, you need to call them between 9:00 AM from the day 1 year before your check in date up to the day before your check in date. 0460-82-3355 If calling from outside of Japan, drop the first 0 and replace it with the country code for Japan, 81.

Japaneseguesthouse.com lists them too.

KimJapan:

I think you wanted to type Japanesguesthouses.com because Japaneseguesthouse.com doesn't seem to have any ryokans listed for booking. Am I right?

I am sorry, I made my own typo. It should be

Japaneseguesthouses.com

I had also been wondering how to go about booking, so I did some research and found others who booked Ginyu thru The Ryokan Collection. I did the same and they were very helpful and prompt in responses.

http://www.ryokancollection.com/

I suggest changing it to be:
6-10 August Kyoto

You won't need a JR Pass for this trip.

I have used

http://www.japaneseguesthouses.com/index.htm

many times with great success.

Jessica, Francisco and Appollonia and all the gang are very helpful, knowledgeable and will contact you personally to help. Can't say enough about their service. We have gotten upgrades at ryokan when they weren't that busy because we booked through japanese guest houses

Aloha!

Many thanks to all for your replies. I will get back to you once I have decided.
For Kyoto, I was thinking Shiraume Ryokan. Any thoughts on that ?