Hakone Trip – Day 1 – Yunessun

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For our three day Memorial Day weekend we went to Hakone! Hakone is known for its natural hot springs, its natural beauty, and views of nearby Mt Fuji across Lake Ashinoko. We drove up using the toll road route after Taylor got off work Friday evening, about a two hour drive. We caught a beautiful sunset sky and glimpsed Mt. Fuji in the distance. Jeffrey also experienced the joy and excitement of holding your breath through tunnels as we drove!

  • I promise I wasn’t sleeping while driving

We booked an Air BnB near Gora Station for the weekend. We were excited because it had a natural hot spring bath for us to enjoy and a fun kids room for the boys. All the bedrooms were tatami rooms and it was our first time sleeping on the traditional Japanese futons. They were actually way more comfortable than I thought they would be. The area was very hilly/mountainy and the house was on the side of a mountain with a very steep and thin driveway. I am so thankful Taylor is a good driver and was able to park…I would have drove us off the side…Other than the driveway, we really liked the house and it was perfect for our time in Hakone.

  • Fully stocked kitchen
  • Bath
  • Kids room
  • Our bedtime setup
  • Watching Thomas in Japanese

On Saturday we went to Yunessun, a family friendly natural hot spring spa resort. They had a lot of different hot spring baths including the traditional open air baths and “beautifying” baths with wine, coffee, and sake. They also had an area outside that was kind of like a water park; think giant water dump buckets and water slides. All the areas we experienced were in their bathing suit area; they did have an area where you could do the traditional onsen experience, where you don’t wear any clothes and they have separate women’s and men’s baths, but we didn’t even want to attempt that with the kids. At many onsens you also run into issues if you have tattoos. Yunessun required tattoos to be covered and they weren’t allowed in their no clothes area. The resort was not too camera friendly, but I tried to get some pictures when I could. We had a lot of fun here and the boys seemed to really enjoy it!

Jeffrey already has the traditional Japanese photo pose down
  • Toddler pool
  • Coffee Bath
  • Sake bath
  • Green tea bath
  • Wine bath
  • Churros for dessert!

After Yunessun, we went home so the boys could catch a nap before dinner (who am I kidding, Taylor and I napped too).

For dinner we had reservations at Gora Brewery. It was a really nice restaurant with a cool window behind the chefs. You could watch them cook and see the pretty nature! The atmosphere in the restaurant was really nice. Taylor said he liked the beer (best beer I’ve had in Japan, still not incredible though). The food was SO GOOD. I was impressed!

  • Taylor with his flight of beer
  • I got a fancy $5 coke lol
  • Boys got fish and chips…fancy!
  • Not so fancy on their plates….
  • Grilled spareribs marinated in orange and honey
  • SO GOOD!
  • He’s been eating peels basically his entire life

That pretty much concludes our day one adventures. More to come!

BRB, Out to Japan – Jackie

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