Odakyu Hotel de Yama

We stayed at Hotel de Yama for 2 nights (last year we had time to stay for 3 nights) and the 4 of us ate at the French restaurant on the first night, and the Japanese restaurant on the 2nd night. The food was delicious, and the staff seemed more aware of my mushroom allergy than they had been last year, which made the meals relaxing. The weather was – as we had known it might be – so bad that all roads were closed, boats and ropeways cancelled/closed on the Monday morning. (We had expected bad weather when we noticed that the ticket office for the pirate ships was putting up flood defences by its doors when we arrived the night before. There was about 10cm of rain in 1 hour that morning not far away from where we were staying.) We were really impressed that as soon as the weather improved the “pirate” boats started running, as did the ropeways, about lunchtime. We were still able to do most of what we had planned to do – although visiting the open air art museum will have to wait until our next visit (it did not open at all that day). Hotel de Yama is a lovely place to be even on a stormy day! The onsens have indoor and outdoor areas, there is a piano lounge (with complimentary tea and coffee in the late afternoon), although this year we did not hear the Yamaha Disklavier self playing grand piano play at all. The three types of tea provided in the bedrooms are exceptionally nice – especially the “rosage” tea (named after their lakeside café, the “Salon de Thé Rosage”). The rooms are clean, and comfortable. We hope to return some time in good weather to get a view of Mount Fuji from there! (We did see it a week later from Tokyo). In Motohakone , a couple of minutes walk from where the hotel de Yama bus departs, is the Narukawa Art museum. Interesting paintings and other art - and on a clear day it has a good view of Mount Fuji (they have paintings and photos showing this view … we have not seen it yet!)

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Beautiful location and views; outdoor onsen was lovely

They were not able to accommodate vegetarian dinner. They made a vegetarian breakfast with an omelette though initially they offered us French fries/chips for breakfast! There are almost no restaurants open after 5pm so we had difficulty finding dinner

Beautiful classic Lakeside Hotel that originally belonged to a Japanese Baron. Gorgeous art deco fixtures and classic wood decor in common areas, the expansive lounge offers a free morning and evening drink service and restaurant has both a French and a Japanese restaurant, you can choose either for breakfast and dinner. Outstanding manicured gardens and a Lakeside Café that has a dog friendly terrace make this a real gem. Fantastic, classic Japanese customer service that goes above and beyond. There is a free shuttle bus that will take you to / from the boat dock at MotoHakone. The women’s hot spring was excellent, I love that they provide full-size towels as many hotels require you to bring the towels from your room. I also appreciated they included both drip coffee and creamer in the room. It was my first stay, but I will definitely be back!

The location was fantastic. It was a classic building which has been looked after well.

The breakfast was horrible. There was almost no choice and the food we were served tasted horrible. It really let the hotel down. There was nowhere else to eat so we were starving! There was also many strange rules that made no sense. No coffee allowed in the Japanese breakfast restaurant. Only green tea. You could not drink coffee for breakfast??? No wine outside the lounge they serve wine in, although they provide table and chairs outside?? All made the stay less enjoyable