Hakone: Gora Kadan -- Traditional ryokan luxury

Paying a minimum ¥70,000 per person -- per person, not per room -- for one night at a luxurious traditional ryokan like Gora Kadan in Hakone with nothing on the walls, sparse styling and hardly anything to do, you may feel like demanding a refund. But let me explain. Though obscenely expensive for a one-night stay, a top-end ryokan will recharge you in a way that a week in the Maldives never will.

On arrival your bags will be taken and placed in your room before you even open the door. Entering your room shoeless, you’ll see a low table with legless chairs dominating the center of the tatami room, partitions of shoji panels, an ornamental alcove with a seasonal hanging scroll and an ikebana arrangement. Your room attendant will introduce herself and explain how to wear the yukata you’re given for your stay. Slowing down you’ll soon appreciate that which you usually take for granted. Previously one-dimensional activities like bathing become multi-sensorial experiences.

But the rich and famous of the world don’t only come to Gora Kadan to gaze at rock ponds. They come for the kaiseki meal, a traditional style of Japanese cuisine served as a series of small dishes that feature regional specialties and seasonal delicacies like the first bamboo shoots of the season. After dinner ease into your pre-filled cedar wood bath or visit the communal onsen while the attendant puts the table away and prepares the futon for your night’s rest. In the morning at a prearranged time the attendant will put the futon away and prepare the table for breakfast. Gora Kadan, the rock star of the luxury ryokans, shouldn’t be talked or written about -- it needs to be experienced. 

For a full review, click here.