Punky, thanks for the further info on Yunnesson. I am trying to figure out if I can get the Hakone free pass in Yokohama, since we are staying there to visit Tokyo area instead of in Tokyo proper. I guess we could pick it up at Shinjuku station on the day we go to visit the Ghibli museum, if we have to do that.
kuranosuke: I am not going til March. But one thing about dgruzew's post is that it has made me realize how much more in the groove I am now than when I started planning (I won't tell you how long ago that was-- it's been a long time since mrwunrfl replied to my very first "help, where do I start?" post!) Back then, "shinjuku" and all the rest of it was Greek to me.
I am skipping Nikko because it makes more sense for us to go to Hakone- we will already be south of Tokyo in Yokohama, so we will go to Hakone instead. Also will try to go to Kamakura on the way to the overnight in Hakone, then on to Kyoto.

p.s. I googled "yunessun" (note the spelling) and found some great pictures. It looks really nice and so does their food. http://www.reggie.net/album.php?albid=628

see also www.yunessun.com, their website, and it has an Emglish version

> Yunessun

I always thought it was Yunessans (Yu = Hot water + Renaissance). Maybe the origin was it, meaning re-vitalize yourself with thermal bath.

Punkyl44

we don't have any kids - will the Yunessun be very kid oreneted?like a water park? - we 30 and 32. will it be too cold in october?

dgruzen: I'm hope Punky will chime in on that, as my son is 14 and we don't want an amusement park atmosphere ( I have nothign against little ones, mine were little once too but he's older now). I've been researching this place today- check out the website, and also Frommer's has a piece about it at http://www.frommers.com/destinations...092010029.html
I had the same concern about cold as I am going in March, but many of the baths (described as Turkish, Roman, salt baths, etc.) here are indoors. Part of it is w/bathing suit (a must for my son) but there is a whole other part of the place called Mori No Yu which has separate bathing for men and women and is traditional, without bathing suits (that part sounds more like an onsen, and it has a separate admission price).

Inside Yunnessun complex, as emd described correctly, there are parts more traditional which is for the older (and for the younger who like the same). But the major part is pretty much family/kid oriented (they call themselves "Hot Spring Theme Park"), which may not be what you are after. I have never been inside Yunnessun but the bus I took a few times between Hakone-Yomoto & Moto-Hakone made a stop there.

Hi! My boyfriend and I are in our late twenties with no kids and we loved Yunessun. The draw for us was that it was not seperated by sex- we wanted to spend the day together. They do have another hot spring resort in the same complex that is traditional- seperated by sex. You can either pay for admission to either one or buy a discounted pass that allows you to use both. We only went into Yunnesson so I can't give you many details on the traditional spot.

As for children, there certainly were a lot of families, but I wouldn't say it was "kid oriented" like a waterpark in the US. They have a huge indoor area and two outdoor areas. Inside is a huge indoor pool that is about room tempature. There are also probably at least 10 (probably more) smaller tubs like jacuzzies, some scented, some not, turkish baths, roman baths, mud room, plus many massage and beauty service treatment room. You could just walk up to a counter and get a massage if you wanted one. Outside there were two areas. In one area there was a waterslide, a pool with a waterfall, and a kids play area. On the other side, it is built into the mountain and as you walk up you find different baths that are mostly hot like a jacuzzi including cofee scented (good for your skin), green tea, rose, etc. Since the pools out hear are hot I imagine that they would be nice in the cooler winter (like using one at a ski resort). There was also a huge shopping area downstairs. There was also several dining choices from a sit down restaurant, to a cafteria, to food stands selling junk food like hot dogs and stuff.

Hi again! I accidentally hit post rather than preview so please forgive my typos!

If you want any more details just let me know! I wish we had taken pictures but we locked our stuff in a locker so we didn't get it wet! I forgot to mention- when you check in you get a card which you just hold up to everything including your locker and anything you want to pay for and when you check out you pay the bill. It can get wet and is very convenient so you don't have to carry your money around with the water. They take credit cards btw!

Hi Punky. I found an interesting article about the smartcard technology used at Yunessun ("How Do You Extract Money From Naked Comsumers Swimming in Coffee?" at www.jir.net/jir7_02.html) The author said it is a great benefit not to have a wallet to deal with, you can just swipe away to open and close your locker and pay for food or whatever services you want all day, and then you pay up before you are leaving the resort. Leave it to the Japanese; I've not been to a US water park or similar resort place here using that technology. He also indicated he spent alot more than he realized by swiping the card and was somewhat shocked at his $80 bill when he went to check out- the downside I guess.
Thanks for the further description. We have decided to go there from Yokohama and then stay in Hakone overnight on Lake Ashi afterwards. Now we will see what dgruzew and his wife decide- will it be Hakone w/a stop at Yunessun or Nikko or even Kamakura for them. I am looking forward to the Open Air sculpture museum in Hakone and the cable cars, scenery, fresh air, etc after Tokyo.

emd: I thought the "smartcards" were a very smart idea too! You can even take them in the water! Very high-tech! You will have to report back on the open-air museum. We actually had planned to go there first and as we were taking the train up the mountain it started pouring rain! We ended up backtracking to Yunnesson (it's one stop before the open air museum on the cog railway) because we saw a picture in the Hakone Free Pass brochure that looked interested. BTW I forgot to mention- you get a discount to Yunnesson with your free pass- pretty good too- I think it was 20% or something similar! We ended up not having time to go to the museum if we wanted to complete the circle. Next time we plan to stay on the lake and spend more time in Hakone to see everything we missed and just relax! You can tell we loved Japan and can't wait to return!

I think we have decided on Hakone for our day trip. We will try to go to the Yunnessun first thing in the morning and spend most the morning there - then head to the open air musuem(lunch?) and on to the volcanic walk -

is there enough time? we don't care about the boat ride - but I would like to ride the ropeways and get some views of fuji

we don't have to be back to tokyo any specific time - so will trains leave later? we will probably buy the weekday hakone free pass from shinjinku - any experiance with this? do I need to book it before I leave?

We are skiping nikkon since we have alot of time in kyoto, and We decided to change our iterary to spend more time in nara. Himji castle will be a different morning - I figure we can do the castle in the morning and then back to kyoto to see some more of the sights there. then spend a longer day in nara.

Please suggest any places to eat in Nara or Hakone if anyone knows.(not to much yen!!)

dgruzew: I have been reading today about Typhoon Ma-On and the havoc it dealt to Tokyo on Saturday. I hope your landing in Tokyo isn't messed up from this! Let us know how it goes when you get back.