An ideal introduction to the onsen and ryokan stay”

Admittedly, because we were going to be in Japan across Golden Week price dictated my choices and Maten no Hoshi was the ryokan I ended up booking after falling in love with the pictures of the hotel. The rooms were large and clean, the food was delicious (we elected to have the ryokan provide us with breakfast and dinner), the staff spoke English and was very helpful. We did have to figure out how to set up our own futons, but with free wifi in the rooms that wasn't a problem. The shared women's toilet does seem to have been recently renovated and was always clean and spotless every morning. The onsen was the best part, they are open 24 hours and are shared-private. This means that while all the guests of the ryokan can use the onsen, but only your party is in the onsen when you are using it. So you aren't bathing with strangers and you don't have to worry about having to bathe separately from your husband. It was wonderful that they asked you when you wanted your meals so it was pretty easy to set up your day - you knew when you would get up and when you had to be back by. The meals were quite large and very filling. They were beautiful and you could tell a lot of work was put in to make them beautiful and tasty. You can tell it is an older facility in the process of renovating. The furniture in the rooms was a little dated and worn, but everything is very clean and fairly well maintained. Manten no Hoshi is located slightly off the beaten track in the smaller town of Ohiradai. It is sleepy and not very touristy, which was wonderful. It was very easy to get to Gora and see the park or Iriuda to see the weeping cherry blossom tree (which wasn't in bloom) or even just get back to Hakone-Yamuto. All in all, it was amazing and we are coming back for a second visit in early 2015 and are planning to stay here again!

Great value and staff who care! :)”

I stayed at Manten No Hoshi Hotel with my boyfriend when visiting Hakone. The staff were very friendly and it is obvious that they take pride in serving their guests. The breakfast and dinner alone were worth the money we paid for the entire stay. I enjoyed having the traditional food and being served in our room. Some have commented on here that the hotel is "dated," but in my opinion, it was very homey, clean, and a beautiful place to stay. Another plus is the two private hot spring baths located within the hotel and the public hot spring which is about a 3min walk away. We tried out both :) I preferred the public bath because it was outside, but the inside private ones were nice too! I definitely recommend staying at this ryoken! You get a traditional experience combined with a quiet retreat and relaxing hot springs.

Very enjoyable ryokan experience”

We had a great time visiting all the onsens around the area wearing the traditional kimono and yakata as well as the cute wooden flip flops. Right after that we had a perfect and sumptuous japanese dinner prepared. Very nice experience. Breakfast was great too. The hotel is situated on the lower part of the train line, which is a quiet area in Hakone. There's no view of Mt Fuji from the rooms but even if there was one, we couldn't see it as it was always raining in Hakone and we couldn't see anything even from the cable cars. But the private onsens and awesome food totally made up for it!

Very traditional Ryokan-style hotel”

This hotel is a really good choice for a ryokan hotel experience as it has very traditional furnishings and design. Moreover, despite being able to tell that the building was a little dated, everything in the hotel was still very well-kept and clean. The hotel is also very conveniently located near the Ohiradai Train Station which can bring you to the other attractions in Hakone. The breakfast (included) served at the hotel was also extremely traditional and sumptuous, definitely a good treat for those looking for a traditional Japanese meal served within the comfort of your room. Besides, the onsen in the hotel was also really decent and it offers both private & public onsen facilities. Last but not least, the hotel room size was also extremely pleasing with a small sitting area by the window in addition to the main sleeping area of the room itself. There is also a convenience store located along the main road just outside the hotel offering a really convenient accommodation option.

Old Ryokan with a charm”

This is a traditional Ryokan. Bus station Ohiradai serve the H, T or Z lines direct from Odawara station or Hakone Yumoto station. There is a train service and the stop is also called Ohidarai but serves to and from Hakone Yumoto station. The train can also take you to Gora Park. The H line bus stop from the hotel can directly take you to Lake Ashi where you can take a lake Pirate cruise trip. Overall the Ryokan and onsen experience with daily Japanese breakfast are satisfactory. Please keep in mind the lavatories and onsen/shower are communal. check in is at 3pm until 10pm. check out time is at 730am to 10am. If you are doing lake ashi and Gora Park on,y then you don’t need the pass that cost 5000 yen person.. The bus ride and train can cost you under 500 or 700 yen respectively per person per The only disappointment with this place is the noise level from other guests with kids. The Ryokan is not sound proof. However it is expected to be a calm, quiet and Zen place.

a great family hotel ”

I had stayed in this hotel for 3 nights in Hakone. It is very easy to find, since it's just 2 mins walking distance to train station and bus station. When I arrived at this hotel, I felt everything is old. However, after a while, I found out everything in that hotel are very clear. When they bring up the dinner and breakfast, I think the money I paid is totally worth. There are 2 indoor bath in this hotel, and other 3 different bath spots around this hotel tenants can use. Complimentary internet is pretty fast with strong signal. The bad thing about this hotel is: When we sleep, we can hear snoring from next room. Staffs are very nice and friendly, even most of them doesn't speak English. Front desk helper is easy to contact, and they speak English well. A very great experience of living in such family hotel.

Incredible stay”

We we're supposed to just day trip out to hakone but since there is so much to do we ended up needing to stay. Booked this little place on a whim and had no idea what to expect. Cute little Ryokan style place with indoor hot springs and traditional Japanese rooms. The staff were friendly and helpful. I wish we could have stayed longer! Will definitely visit again next time we're in hakone area.

Great food and location”

As many people have already mentioned, the food was superb. Make sure to include dinner as part of your booking. The location is very close to Ohiradai station, so you can pretty much visit the main attractions in Hakone with relative east. The neighborhood was quiet and peaceful. Pretty much a small village. The private onsen is a plus if you want privacy. However, I think it can be a bit troublesome if the ryokan is full. I heard there is a public bath outside somewhere, but I haven’t been there. The staff is somewhat helpful, but he couldn’t speak English. Overall, it is good value for the price we paid.

Good culture experience”

It was a good culture experience. The price is worth the stay! As expected, the food are delicious. Although the onsen wasn't as expected. For the outdoor onsen, you will have to walk about 3min to a secluded place, we took a quick dip and left the place. The staff are nice. There are nothing much near the ryokan. After 8pm, we had nothing to do. We went out for a walk, there was only an overpriced mini mart that was still opened. The place is convenient to explore all the tourist sites in hakone. It is near to both the bus and train station.

Super recommended place to stay in Hakone”

this place was amazing.... the natural hot water onsen was great that you can use anytime and it is a private room onsen. when you stay here, you should book room with dinner and breakfast because their dinner and breakfast was amazing. Dinner and breakfast was a full complete traditional Japanese set that in the other place maybe will cost you more than 4000yen. the location not in the center but very walk-able from the nearest station. in the end, this hostel is a superb amazing choice for stay in hakone.

Great experience, food and friendly staffs ”

Walking distance from Ohiradai train station. Great friendly helpful staffs. Free Japanese costume to wear for experience and photography. Great local Japanese breakfast and dinner. Good experience for the hot spring open air tin just walking distance away. Nice ambience for the traditional rooms with straw mats. Luggage free sight seeing with the luggage send service to Hakone Yumoto station. Easy transportation for Hakone sight seeing for the lake cruise, Mount Fuji sight seeing and Edo museum. Overall a great experience and sight seeing day

Excellent”

The hotel was very close to the train station where you can catch the train to all the sights in the Hakone area. The room was plenty big enough for 2 people and it had a small fridge in it as well which was useful. Every afternoon, we arrived to find a jug of hot water for tea and a little Japanese cake/sweet which was lovely. There’s a private Onsen in the hotel which is open 24 hours which we enjoyed very much and used both days we were there. They also gave us robes to wear to the Onsen which they replaced with clean ones the next day. Overall we enjoyed the traditional Japanese inn experience greatly and we were sad to leave!

Excellent location, delectable food and excellent service”

Really enjoy our stay at Manten. It is nearby to Ohiradai Train Station and 1 min walk to the bus stop. Only 2 to 3 stops from Hakone Yumoto. The lady who served our dinner was fabulous. She really went thru each and every dish and very kind person. Love their Japanese breakfast too. They have private onsen for hotel guests. There is even a free public onsen nearby the hotel. Our tetami room was huge enough for 5 ppl. A bit rundown but they are undergoing some renovations downstairs. The contractors did some refurbishment for room downstairs with minimal noise. Overall we enjoyed our stay and we slept well too. Keep up your good service and scrumptious kaiseki dinner and breakfast.

Convient location, good food”

Very convenient spot to stay while traveling in Hakone. The hotel is cosy and serve delicious food. We only spent a couple of hours in the hotel itself so it was good to have it so close to the train station. The in house Onsen was a nice bonus before dinner and I liked that they asked us to choose the exact time to have it served in our room. Only thing that bothered me is the thin walls and the smell of cigarettes in the hallway sometimes.

Manten no Hoshi hotel”

Enjoyable stay. Tradiitional onsen where really mainly Japanese go. Staff helpful and friendly. Very small quiet ordinary village. Good base for exploring the Hakone area. Good location near station. Hotel decor fading and has seen better times. Could do with a redecoration. Onsen baths. Adequate but also could do with also with a revamp. Two more onsen baths available across the street. It is a three star hotel and I think that this is about correct. Food was excellent.

Best place to stay in Hakone”

This hotel is the perfect, Japanese-style hotel. Location is excellent right next to the bus stop and close to the station you arrive on via train from Tokyo. The staff speak very limited English, but it was no problem. Breakfast is incredible. The rooms are Japanese-style meaning you sleep on the floor with comfortable cushions. There are several free hot springs you can enjoy. I highly recommend staying here.

Good meals but not very old style ryokan”

Hotel is location quite far from hakone. It's in a super quiet town, 2 stops away by cable train from hakone. Check in is very stict (3pm). We arrived at 2pm the staff was literally asked us to leave because it's not time yet. There's no space or even a chair for us to wait in the hotel lobby. Furthermore, there isn't any cafe or restaurant that can let us wait. The town is super quiet and only 1 tiny grocery shop nearby. We sat outside of the grocery shop in winter for 1 hour waiting for check in. This is not a good experience. Meals are very nice. A lot of varieties in Japanese set. There are 2 rooms for onsen. It's not like other hotel where onsen pool separated by male/female. We need to que for the onsen and once we go in, we just lock the door and the onsen is ours. There's no restriction on number of people or gender in the onsen each time. New experience for me.

Very Japanese Style”

Toilet and room are clean. If the train does not operate, the access to this hotel should use bus and the traffic is quite high from this hotel to hakone yumoto station. Will come back again

If youre on a tight budget but still want the ryokan experience, this is a great place.”

Great little place for this pricerange! I had no problem with my booking, when i got there the nice straff welcomed me, showed me a list of names where i pointed out which one was me, then i got a room key and a quick tour of the place. i never figured out how to lock my room from outside? I didnt bother to ask tho so that was my fault. staff was great, the lady who brought my breakfast was really friendly tho didnt seem to know much english. i think it was a really cute little place, you can definitely tell that its not new and I only saw two people working there which might explain why theres some mold on the ceiling of the onsen, would take a lot of work to keep off in a room thats constantly filled with steam. while staying here my sister was staying in a bigger and more expensive place, we both sent pictures to show and compare and while hers was definitely more fancy i still felt satisfied here since i knew she payed 3 times as much. the surrounding area is beautiful as well!

Private onsen”

Enjoyed the remote location of this little village. Pleasantly surprised by its accessibility to Hakone via train and bus. Although we struggled to find a decent place to dine we totally appreciated the meals provided by the ryokan. The service staff were not too conversant in English but they were very helpful and 'user- friendly' using translations from Google etc. Totally enjoyed this alternative form of holiday stay.