Best Family Hotels in HakoneWhere to stay with kids.
- Free Shuttle
- The Prince Hakone, daily from Odawara
- Room for Everyone
- Tokyu Vacations: a 2LDK with a kitchen
- Rooms for Five
- Tenseien, 12 minutes from Hakone-Yumoto
- Private Onsen
- Hotel Indigo: a hot-spring bath in every room
- Rainy Day
- Ten-yu: a passage straight into Yunessun
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Where to stay in Hakone with kids comes down to three questions: how the family reaches the hotel with its bags, whether one room holds everyone, and where the evening soak happens. The two Prince hotels run free guests’ shuttles from Odawara Station, and Hanaori is at Togendai, where the ropeway comes in. Tokyu Vacations Hakone Gora is an apartment with a full kitchen for up to six, and Tenseien has rooms for five and rooms that connect. Hotel Indigo Hakone Gora and Hakone Kowakien Ten-yu give every room its own hot-spring bath, and Ten-yu adds a passage straight into Yunessun.
If you never want to fight the trains.
In Hakone the hard part of arriving is the last stretch, from the station to the hotel, with the suitcases. The three stays below take that stretch off the family.
The reason to book The Prince Hakone Lake Ashinoko is its free guests’ shuttle bus, daily and booked ahead with the hotel, from the west exit of Odawara Station to the hotel on Lake Ashi, so the bags travel from the station to the hotel on one bus. For the Sprinter, whose Reserve drains through sustained travel-style walking and standing, an arrival made sitting down means the first evening starts with legs left: a younger child can walk into the room rather than be carried, and a teenager still has the energy for the lake. The Komagatake Ropeway is about five minutes on foot.
What the family gives up is the shared bath for its youngest: a child in diapers may not use the onsen baths, and from age 6 a child pays the adult rate. For a family whose hardest hour is the arrival, this is the stay.
Hakone Sengokuhara Prince Hotel answers the same question on the Sengokuhara side, at a fixed time: its free guests’ shuttle leaves Odawara’s west exit once a day, at 2:00 PM, booked on the web by 3:00 PM the day before, and a family arriving by route bus can phone from the Sengoku Kogen stop, which is otherwise about ten minutes on foot, for a pick-up between 8:30 AM and 7:00 PM. For the Anchor, whose Reserve drains through unfamiliarity and unconfirmed structure, a booked seat and a known pick-up turn each step of the arrival into something the child can be told ahead of time: a small child can hear the plan the night before, and a teenager can track the bus times.
The reason to book Hanaori is where it stands: at Togendai, where the ropeway and the Hakone Sightseeing Cruise both come in, so a family riding either walks to the hotel from the exit. For the Sprinter, whose Reserve drains through sustained travel-style walking and standing, ropeway days finish at the hotel itself: a younger child is spared one more transfer on tired legs, and a teenager can spend the day on the ropeway and the boat and still walk in. Children 12 and under are charged a child rate unless a plan sets its own, and a crib, bed rails, a baby bath and a diaper bin are lent free while they last; ask at booking.
Its standard rooms and its Deluxe room with an open-air bath take four, and its Japanese-Western Deluxe room takes up to five.
| Property | The LuNi Reason |
|---|---|
| LUNI Pick The Prince Hakone Lake Ashinoko Free daily shuttle from Odawara | A free, pre-booked bus from Odawara Station, so the Sprinter’s arrival is made sitting down. The trade: no onsen for a child in diapers, and the adult rate from 6. |
| Hakone Sengokuhara Prince Hotel Shuttle reserved on the web | A reserved shuttle, or a phoned bus-stop pick-up, gives the Anchor known steps. Four corner rooms take four. |
| Hanaori At Togendai, by the ropeway | A day on the ropeway or the lake cruise ends where the hotel is, so the Sprinter rides no extra bus. |
The Prince Hakone Lake Ashinoko
Hakone Sengokuhara Prince Hotel
If the room has to hold all of us.
Two stays below answer the need for one room that holds everyone: an apartment with its own kitchen, and a large hotel with rooms for five and rooms that connect.
The reason to book Tokyu Vacations Hakone Gora is the apartment. Every standard room is a 2LDK of about 77 square meters, for up to six people with preschoolers counted, with a full kitchen and a washer-dryer. For the Dynamo, whose Reserve drains through restricted movement, separate rooms around a living space mean a wet evening indoors is not an evening held still: a preschooler has floor to play on, and an older child a door to close. Children’s tableware, chairs and nightwear in three sizes are lent free while they last, and an onsen large bath with an open-air bath closes the day.
The trade is service. There is no restaurant in the building and no pick-up, so meals are cooked or bought and the arrival is the family’s own to plan. It is a members’ resort that also takes bookings from non-members. A family that wants dinner served should book a stay with a dining room.
Tenseien, about 12 minutes on foot or five by taxi from Hakone-Yumoto Station, is the large-hotel answer: 198 rooms, among them a room type for five and rooms that connect. Dinner is a buffet of Japanese, Western and Chinese food. For the Anchor, whose Reserve drains through unfamiliarity and unconfirmed structure, that means a child who eats only what they know has three cuisines to look through on the first night. A younger child can be steered to familiar dishes, and an older child can fill a plate with nothing to order. A child in diapers may not use the large baths, so phone ahead to ask for priority booking of one of its 12 private baths, where a baby bath, baby soap and child bath stools are lent; from elementary age, boys and girls use separate large baths.
| Property | The LuNi Reason |
|---|---|
| LUNI Pick Tokyu Vacations Hakone Gora 2LDK apartment in Gora | Two rooms around a living space with a full kitchen, so the Dynamo’s evening indoors is not held still. The trade: no restaurant and no pick-up. |
| Tenseien Rooms for five, by Hakone-Yumoto | Rooms for five and connecting rooms, and a buffet the Anchor can eat from. Private baths for a child in diapers. |
If recovery matters more than location.
Both stays below give every room its own hot-spring bath, so the family’s evening soak does not wait on a shared bath’s rules for small children, and one of them adds a passage into a swimsuit onsen park.
The reason to book Hotel Indigo Hakone Gora is the bath in the room: every room has its own hot-spring bath, and the two bedrooms of the Suite Zen take up to five. For the Sensor, whose Reserve drains through sensory input, the day’s last soak happens in the quiet of the room rather than in a shared bathhouse, and parents and children can bathe together. A preschooler soaks beside a parent, and an older child can have the bath to themselves. Cribs and bed rails are lent free, and children through elementary school (12 and under) can share a bed, one child to each bed. The catch is the hill: the way up from Gora Station runs over steep slopes and stairs, so plan to ride it rather than walk it: take the free shuttle from Odawara Station (no reservation) or phone, 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, to ask for a pick-up at Gora Station.
The reason to book Hakone Kowakien Ten-yu is the passage: a guests’ way runs from the hotel straight into Yunessun, the swimsuit onsen park, so a wet day in Hakone still has somewhere to go without anyone getting rained on. For the Dynamo, whose Reserve drains through restricted movement, a rain day spent in the water replaces an afternoon kept in the room: a younger child has Pony Lagoon, a kids’ pool 30 cm deep with a slide 1 m high and a space for parents to watch, and a teenager has the rest of the park. Every room also has its own open-air hot-spring bath, where a child still in diapers soaks, since the large baths’ tubs are closed to them. Standard rooms take four, two on futons or a daybed, and children under 3 stay free.
The arrival is by road: the Ten-yu bus stop is a few steps away, about 20 minutes by route bus from Hakone-Yumoto Station, and a free shuttle runs from Gora Station.
| Property | The LuNi Reason |
|---|---|
| LUNI Pick Hotel Indigo Hakone Gora A hot-spring bath in every room | The Sensor’s last soak of the day happens in the room. The walk up from Gora Station is steep: arrive by shuttle or pick-up. |
| Hakone Kowakien Ten-yu A passage into Yunessun | A rain day still has a pool for the Dynamo to move in, reached without getting wet. Every room has an open-air bath. |