This was my first time to Ginyu and I was travel with my girl friend. We stayed there for 1 night in the Sora room. The ryokan is very close to train station. Walk down from the station and turn right, its only 30 metres away before turn left. The date we went was raining, the moment we arrived outside. One of the staff already came out and welcome us. He helped us to carry luggage into the reception area. We started with a welcome drink at the bar. And the gentleman help us to carry luggage show us all the way to our room and explain every bit there. The room we stayed was well presented, just like the official website photo. Welcome snack was there minutes we arrived in the room. It was so relax because it was misty and raining outside. Dinner was very good, food was fresh and well presented. BUT it took so long between each dishes. We almost gave up. We started dinner at 6.30-7pm and finish almost at 9.30pm. Its simply too long for a dinner course.
Next day when we check out, the ryokan staff helped us to carry luggage all the way to the bus stop. The over all experience was very good and I would highly recommend to everyone. It's expensive (at least to me), but from customer service to quality of the ryokan, it worth every dollar.

If you're going to stay in a ryokan, you might as well do it properly. Hakone Ginyu makes a fine art of a very Japanese experience where you have a traditional but utterly luxurious suite with your own private onsen (hot spring bath), mountain views and a traditional maid who serves you a course dinner of fine Japanese cuisine. Our maid was absolutely fantastic, partly because she had a good sense of humour so we didn't have to take it all too seriously.

We stayed for one night, arriving mid afternoon, enjoying our onsen, drinking at the bar before our course dinner and then exploring Hakone with our Hakone Free Pass (buy at the station before you get here) the next morning.

At £480 this was the most expensive night of my life but it's a testament to the experience that it almost feels worth it.

My wife and I recently returned from a 1 night stay at Hakone Ginyu and we absolutely enjoyed it. Even now being back at home we wish were were soaking in our wonderful outdoor onsen, admiring the views of the mountains, while sipping on ice cold sake. My review here will be short because I feel most previous positive reviewers have accurately portrayed this ryokan.

Yes, it is expensive however in the end I think the experience of it all is worthwhile. We booked a Hoshi type room on the 3rd floor, with Japanese futons - being from the USA, I had to double up on the mattress, but still slept well :) Room was quite large with all the mod-cons you would expect of a 5* establishment. The private outdoor onsen was the highlight of our stay and we spent as much time as possible in it. The food overall was good, but not great in my opinion, however the presentation and service really make the dinner and breakfast special. Staff overall were very delightful although most had limited English skills. We got a couples massage on the day of check out and it was one of the best I've experienced to date. There is also a cool little bar on the 1st floor in which I recommend grabbing a drink or nightcap at. We didn't explore the surrounding area because of time limitations, however we did get to enjoy a great tempura lunch in Myanoshita, about a 6 minute walk from Hakone Ginyu, the staff will know the place.

A good tip on how to find Hakone Ginyu: if you arrive by train, proceed down the hill to the intersection, turn right, Hakone Ginyu will be about 75 yards up on the left - almost directly across from the gas station.