EN RESORT Re’Cove Hakone: A Stay Review — What’s Dinner and Breakfast Like?

For this Hakone trip, I stayed at EN RESORT Re’Cove Hakone, a hotel known for its cloudy hot-spring water drawn from the blessings of the Owakudani valley. It also took home the Gold Award for the Izu, Hakone & Koshinetsu area in the Rakuten Travel Awards 2023.

In this article, I’ll share my honest impressions and review of my stay at EN RESORT Re’Cove Hakone.

If you’re curious about staying at EN RESORT Re’Cove Hakone, or you’re hunting for a good place to stay around Hakone and Owakudani, this article should be a great fit for you, so stick around to the end.

On March 15, 2024, the hotel was rebranded as “Re’Cove Hakone,” opening as EN RESORT’s first property in the Kanto region.

Who EN RESORT Re’Cove Hakone Is a Great Fit For

Hakone is one of Japan’s most famous hot-spring destinations, and there are actually around 300 hotels and ryokans in the area.

Picking the right one out of 300 options to match your trip’s purpose and situation is genuinely a lot of work.

This time I chose Re’Cove Hakone with sightseeing at the Hakone Glass Forest Museum, Lake Ashi, Hakone Shrine, and Owakudani in mind, and after actually staying here, I’d say EN RESORT Re’Cove Hakone is a great fit for people who match the following:

• Want to sightsee at the Hakone Glass Forest Museum, Lake Ashi, Hakone Shrine, Owakudani, and the Sengokuhara silver grass fields
• Want to soak at leisure in sulfur-scented cloudy hot-spring water
• Want to enjoy a kaiseki-style small-dish buffet

Let’s go through each one.

First, people who want to sightsee at the Hakone Glass Forest Museum, Lake Ashi, Hakone Shrine, Owakudani, and the Sengokuhara silver grass fields.

From Re’Cove Hakone it’s about a 10-minute walk to the Glass Forest Museum and Sengokuhara, under a 10-minute drive to Lake Ashi, about a 20-minute drive to Hakone Shrine, and about a 10-minute drive to Owakudani — making it an easy base for reaching several of Hakone’s major sightseeing spots.

Second, people who want to soak at leisure in sulfur-scented cloudy hot-spring water.

Re’Cove Hakone’s hot spring is known for its cloudy water drawn from Owakudani, and you can enjoy around 6 different baths, making for a genuinely luxurious soak if you want to unwind in the hot springs.

Third, people who want to enjoy a kaiseki-style small-dish buffet.

The buffet at EN RESORT Re’Cove Hakone is billed as a kaiseki small-dish buffet, letting you sample Japanese, Western, and Chinese dishes crafted by the head chef. Every seasonal dish, plated in its own small bowl, is all-you-can-eat.

Access to EN RESORT Re’Cove Hakone

EN RESORT Re’Cove Hakone sits about a 2-minute walk from the “Senkyoro-mae” bus stop (coming from the Hakone-Yumoto direction) or the “Daigatake” bus stop (coming from the Togendai direction) on the Hakone Tozan Bus line — a hot-spring resort hotel set in a location full of artistic charm.

With 6 different room types built around comfort, LIVE DAM karaoke, professional-grade spa and massage treatments, and a table-tennis and game corner, the hotel caters to a wide range of guests, from couples to families.

The hot springs are another highlight, with a source-fed cloudy cypress-wood bath drawing on Hakone’s natural surroundings, plus an open-air bath, an indoor bath, and separate men’s and women’s saunas. There’s also a convenience store just a 3-minute walk away, so picking up supplies is easy.

EN RESORT Re’Cove Hakone Plans and Rates

The plan I actually booked and stayed on was Rakuten Travel’s “Enjoy the Kaiseki Small-Dish Buffet and Cloudy Hot Spring! [Non-smoking] Standard Twin – South Building Near the Restaurant – Wifi Available,” which came to ¥20,600 on a weekday rate including both breakfast and dinner. Split between two people, that’s ¥10,300 each — quite reasonable for a Hakone hotel.

Note: rates shown are the lowest weekday rate for two guests with breakfast and dinner, before any coupons or discounts, and current pricing should be confirmed at the link.

EN RESORT Re’Cove Hakone: Hotel Overview

Now let’s get into the details of my stay at EN RESORT Re’Cove Hakone.

I drove to the hotel and parked in its dedicated lot. It holds 55 cars on a first-come, first-served basis, and if it’s full, there’s a second lot nearby. Parking is free.

Check-In

The front desk is right to the right as you walk in through the main entrance — the first floor is bright and quite spacious.

A staff member walked me through the facility basics and I checked right in.

Next to the front desk there’s a souvenir corner, a drinks and alcohol corner, and a waiting area.

The shop’s selection is fairly standard, but it covers everything you’d need for a souvenir. A pack of 8 Hakone mugwort mochi runs ¥540 (tax included), and a pack of 5 Hakone Cheese Club treats is also ¥540 (tax included) — both easy on the wallet.

Guest Room

After checking in, we took the elevator up to the room.

The evenly spaced lighting along the hallway sets a calm, relaxed mood.

My room was the most budget-friendly option, the Standard Twin.

With two semi-double beds (120cm x 195cm), it doesn’t feel especially cramped.

Next to the bed there’s a two-seat sofa and a chair for a relaxing spot to sit.

Just a heads-up: the room’s view doesn’t look out toward Sengokuhara.

There’s a fairly large 40-inch TV, and next to it a basket with bath supplies and a large mirror.

Having the basket ready to go takes the hassle out of getting ready for the bath.

The electric kettle’s instructions say to use the tap water from the unit bath — Hakone’s water is clean enough to drink straight from the tap. There’s a shared ice machine on the floor, and the room had four premium green tea bags on hand.

One bottle of mineral water per guest is included free of charge!

Beside the entrance there’s a closet too large to fully capture in one photo, with a poncho to wear over your yukata and hangers.

Bathroom, Sink, and Toilet

The sink area has towels, a toothbrush, and POLA-brand body soap, shampoo, and conditioner.

The tub was spacious enough to stretch your legs out, though with a hot spring on site, hardly anyone actually uses the in-room tub.

Aside from a toothbrush, all other amenities are available at an amenity buffet in the lobby — razors, hairbrushes, cotton pads, cotton swabs, and yukata in a range of sizes for kids and adults alike. You’re free to walk around the hotel in your yukata.

Large Communal Bath

The large communal bath is in the North building. Bathing hours are 5:30-10:00 and 15:00-24:00.

You head down to the basement, cross over through a connecting corridor, then take the elevator up to reach the bath.

The signature cloudy water here is drawn straight from Owakudani. Very few hotels or ryokans in the Hakone hot-spring area offer cloudy water like this — it tends to come at a premium, so make the most of it while you’re here.

A beautifully atmospheric, purely Japanese-style open-air bath with plenty of room to relax. This is what a Hakone hot spring is all about!

The spacious cypress-wood bath has benches tucked in the back where you can cool off outdoors after the sauna.

Sauna at EN RESORT Re’Cove Hakone

The sauna at Re’Cove Hakone is a low-humidity dry sauna with room for around 10 people. The temperature runs around 90°C.

The changing room is air-conditioned, and there’s an ice-cold water dispenser on hand, so staying hydrated is never an issue.

The cold plunge runs a relatively warm 22°C, but it’s genuinely refreshing — that’s Hakone water for you! The outdoor air after the sauna feels wonderfully fresh, though you shouldn’t linger too long outside of summer — it can drop below freezing in winter.

Dinner at EN RESORT Re’Cove Hakone

The earliest dinner seating starts at 17:00, with a Japanese-Western-Chinese kaiseki small-dish buffet.

There’s both an all-you-can-drink alcohol menu and à la carte ordering available.

The standout dish has to be the deep-fried whole asparagus — 25cm long and 2cm thick. Apparently each piece is hand-wrapped individually in its own coating before frying.

Freshly cooked steak straight from the live cooking station is fantastic. It’s a noticeably different lineup from your average budget buffet!

The freshly made broccoli stew is hugely popular!

Breakfast at EN RESORT Re’Cove Hakone

Breakfast is just as varied as dinner, with around 20 different Japanese and Western dishes.

There’s a yuba (tofu skin) rice bowl with nameko mushrooms, plus a live fried-bread station serving it piping hot.

Both dinner and breakfast come plated in individual small bowls, so nothing gets jostled around — which makes it dangerously easy to pile your tray high.

Final Impressions of My Stay

The facility shows some age, and a few spots around the building and guest room had noticeable wear, but the hotel’s safety measures were thorough, I thoroughly enjoyed the meals and the hot spring, and with checkout at 11:00 I could take it easy through the morning too. Wi-Fi speeds were a bit lackluster, though.

The headline kaiseki small-dish buffet lived up to the billing — the crab and the deep-fried asparagus really let the head chef’s attention to detail shine. Each small dish was plated with real care, which makes this a great option if you’d rather sample a bit of everything in modest portions.

As for the baths, the indoor bath isn’t actually hot-spring water, but the volume and temperature were both just right, and I got to properly unwind in the cloudy cypress-wood hot spring drawn from Owakudani.

Hakone has no shortage of hotels and ryokans, but I’d happily come back here again if the chance comes up!

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About the author

Joe

I love hotels, hot springs, and saunas across the whole country!!
I’ve made it to 40 prefectures so far.
Around 100 hotel stays and 50+ saunas visited, and the count keeps climbing.
My hobbies are travel, golf, snowboarding, saunas, and the gym.

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