I agree with the previous reviewers that it is a difficult decision with many options in the Hakone area. So based on all the positive tripadvisor reviews we selected Taiseikan and were not disappointed. We booked via Japanican which was an easy process. All information provided on how to get there made it easy once you got off the train. Being first timers to a ryokan stay I really appreciated overview in english provided by the staff. There were two fluent english speakers and one was present at all times. After checking in the room we sat down and got all the information on the customs to follow as my wife and I were afraid we would offend if we did something wrong. They also provided an english handbook that discussed most everything which we referred to several times. The hot springs are really nice and I highly recommend booking a private bath in the rock spring near the river. These are reserved at 40 min intervals which seems short but the water is very HOT so this is plenty of time. The meals were the most special. The kaiseki style meal of small portions but many dishes was fantastic. Many courses and a lot of food. Take a photo of your table and food as the variety is wonderful. You will be very full and tired after finishing the long meal and the timing is perfect for their preparation of the bed. Breakfast is also Japanese style served in the room and just as good as the dinner. The staff provided all the information we needed to plan our day to see the sights of Hakone.

One recommendation if you are traveling from Tokyo would be to purchase the Hakone Free Pass departing from Shinjuku Station. This provides train travel, cable car, bus and ropeway (tram) access and is extremely economical as only one fare is charged for all. We were unaware and purchased individual tickets and paid significantly more for less activities.

With all the choices in the Hakone area, we had a bit of a problem deciding which one to stay at. A good friend (Japanese) made the reservation for us by phone and booked all four of us in a suite situated in the oldest part of the ryokan. The suite was absolutely wonderful! We had one large room, a bedroom and a glassed veranda overlooking a waterfall and a pond, filled with carps.

The service was excellent. Upon arrival, we were served tea and cake. After a visit to the hot spring, we had dinner in our suite, which consisted of truly amazing food, served dish by dish by our "hostess". She confided to our Japanese friend that she was quite astounded that we, the Swedes, ate everything that was served. Apparently, many westerners are very particular about what they eat - let me tell you that they miss out on a truly wonderful experience if being too picky!

Breakfast was also served in the room and again, the food was great.

All in all, this seemed like a more genuine ryokan than most of the "hotel-like" ones we saw. Its location is very secluded and very calm, the service and the food both excellent. I can highly recommend a stay at Taiseikan!

This was the fourth ryokan we stayed at during our recent trip to Japan and certainly had the most novelty value given the means of arrival is by the private cable car!

The welcome from staff, both through the email booking process and on our arrival was extremely warm and the lady assigned to look after us during our stay was lovely.

Our room was of average size (eight tatami mats) and had private bath and shower. However, like much of the rest of the building, our room could have done with a good sprucing up: the carpets were stained, the furniture was chipped and the wallpaper was quite marked in places. Additionally the futons were the thinnest of any we slept on. In these respects Taiseikan fell short of the other ryokans we stayed at.

Dinner (in our room) on both nights was good- on the first night we enjoyed a kaiseki course feast, while on the second night we had beef shabu shabu. Both were tasty, plentiful and beautifully presented, however service on our second night (a Saturday) was pretty slow as the hotel was quite full and the lady looking after us had several other rooms to look after.

One small tip- you can help yourself to beers from the fridge in your room ¥750 each...or you can nip down the corridor to the vending machine and get them for ¥250 instead!

All in all, an okay stay and a convenient location for visiting Hakone national park, but certainly not our best ryokan experience.

Hospitality starts from when you make the online reservation, they immediately prompt me on their dinner style and ask my preference on food. as I entered the hotel, everybody was expecting me and really feel being welcomed throughout the stay. The hotel is only a 2 mins’ walk away from the railway station in a quiet small town, you’ll then take their own cable car by the roadside and go down the valley of about 300m below, then walk thru 2 bridges across a stream, lots of chestnut trees around, you’ll find yourself already in the middle the mountains, hiding away from the modern Japan. The room is of very traditional Japanese style, an old lady is there to serve you throughout the Keisek dinner as well as the Japanese breakfast, surprise that we don’t have any difficulties at all to communicate with each other despite we were using only a little bit of English. Lots of dishes in the dinner, it took us 2 hours to finish it, but a problem in taking the Keisek dinner for a foreigner is that there are things that you are not quite sure what are you eating, I remember that I ate a dish which I guess it’s a kind of seasoning. After the dinner, there should be nothing around for you to go, so I went for onsen, the public bath. During the evening, I was sleeping on a tatami with the waterfall noise from the stream next to the Ryokan. However, just note that you’d have to put your computer away as there is no internet service there, even the mobile coverage is not very good. There has been reviews saying that the rooms were old and worn out, however, my room was quite well maintained.
There is also a guidebook inside the room in various languages telling you about the general customs of Ryokan, including procedure of taking a bath, wearing a yugata, and that no tipping is expected. Although the Ryokan cost seems to be a bit expensive than those hotels in Tokyo, but taking into the account of the dinner, breakfast, quality of service, as well as the experience, I find it a very very good value of what you paid for and I’d strongly recommend it.