A Ryokan With A Mt. Fuji View

Searching for a ryokan with that picture perfect Mt. Fuji view and your own private onsen? Look no further! Hotel Konansou is ideal if you’re looking for that ideal romantic getaway, or an instagrammable trip with your girl friends. Worried about any tattoos? Don’t be, this hotel is tattoo-friendly too!

Situated right next to Lake Kawaguchiko, one of the famous Fuji five lakes, and only a ten minute walk from Kawaguchiko station, staying at Hotel Konansou means you can enjoy lakeside views on one side and delight in Mt. Fuji on the other.

Time to check in & see that Mt. Fuji view!

We arrived at 2.30pm (a little early as check-in is from 3pm), however they were happy to accomodate us and get us checked in quickly. We enjoyed a little welcome snack in our room as a staff member gave us the hotel information talk. She took our dinner reservation time & first drink order (Nama-beer of course!). You get to choose when to have dinner brought to your room, so we went for 18.30 as it’s better to eat a little earlier during an onsen stay.

We changed into our yukata provided in our room, both of which were pink & flowery, an interesting choice I thought! The hotel also provides an amenity bag which includes a little towel, a brush, blotting paper (to remove the oily shine on your face), a nail file and cotton pads. As they provided us with a free drink coupon at check-in, we decided to head down to the Terrace Lounge on the first floor to refresh before exploring the facilities.

The rooftop foot spa featuring a Mt. Fuji backdrop!

Our next stop to explore was the rooftop foot spa on the 8th floor. The water here felt super hot, hotter than the actual onsen I thought! It put my pasty white legs into lobster mode, but you get used to it and it’s easy to feel refreshed with the Fuji & lake views!

After enjoying some time together on the rooftop, we decided to check out the public baths. We don’t usually visit the public baths on our trips away for several reasons:

• Firstly, it is standard for public baths to be separated by gender. When we go on a trip away, we generally don’t want to spend much time on our own. It kind of defeats the point of a romantic getaway in our eyes!

• Secondly, I have a tattoo so I’m ruled out of entering most public onsen.

• Thirdly, I’m also a bit of a prude (I mean, I am British after all); having visited a very busy public onsen once back in 2011, I’m sad to say that experience put me off.

However, when we checked in, the staff member was telling us about the public onsen and for some reason I felt curious, so I got the boyfriend to ask whether tattoos were allowed (quite funny hearing the way he asked, he clearly found it a little awkward!). Thankfully though she said tattoos were fine! After that, I decided, now is the time to try again. After all, how often do you get to enjoy a public onsen with a view like this? I can’t show you what it’s like in there unfortunately as pictures are obviously prohibited, however I’ll give a little description of my experience.

Entering the public onsen

Despite my fears it was an unexpectedly really pleasant experience! I was dreading it would be packed but there was only one other woman in there with her two young kids. She nodded and smiled, and thankfully it really wasn’t as terrifying as I thought it would be.

There was quite a large changing room with lockers, a couple of relaxation massage chairs, and dressers with amenities for you to dry your hair/reapply make up after. There was also a sign with really clear instructions in English (& many other languages too) on the rules for using the onsen. Make sure you follow the guidelines to prevent any embarrassing mishaps for yourself and other guests.

The onsen itself was fairly large with little booths on the left hand side to wash yourself (an absolute must before you enter the onsen). There’s also a small open air bath, a sauna and a cold plunge pool which I decided to try just before leaving!

The hotel also has many other facilities which would make it a fun stay for couples post-corona times as they also have typical date activities – karaoke rooms and a games arcade (currently closed).

And relax…

Back in our room before dinner, we decided to enjoy our own private onsen on our balcony. Although hotels and ryokan with your own private onsen are much pricier, they’re really worth it in our opinion as you get to enjoy the experience together in a more relaxed way.

Dinner time!

After a blissful afternoon of many baths, it was time to pamper our stomachs! The food here was beautifully prepared and mouthwateringly delicious. Our meal started with this tray being delivered. I particularly enjoyed the sashimi, the fugu (in the small cup in the bottom-left corner) and the goma dofu with the cherry blossom pickle on top!

After your food’s delivered, you get to cook it at your own pace using the lighter to light the little wax burners. Sukiyaki’s always a firm favourite and a heart-warming dish, especially for winter. We wanted to order the additional lobster but it sold out unfortunately. Make sure to pre-order if you visit! Instead we went for the extra beef (¥1,500 each). It was very soft but we probably didn’t need it – we were STUFFED and I could barely finish my kani (crab) rice.

Of course there’s always room for dessert though and this was a delectable delight!

Feeling absolutely stuffed and just a little bit tipsy from all the sake & umeshu we drank, we called reception to collect our remaining dishes and get our futon prepared.

Time for sleep! Or was it…

With our futons out, it was time to find something to watch & chill some more before getting an early night.

If you followed along on my instagram stories though, you’d have seen we didn’t quite have a relaxing night’s sleep. At around 11pm that all familiar swaying occurred, an earthquake had struck. It was a magnitude 4 where we were which was more than enough to jolt us awake and put me in a panic!

With all the talk recently of Mt. Fuji potentially erupting soon, an earthquake happening while we were staying right next to it was definitely a thing of my nightmares. I was pleased with the hotel’s response though as they brought us a torch in case of any after shocks. Emergency lighting also stayed on during the two hour blackout until power was restored – a little bit annoying for sleeping but was useful for going to the bathroom for instance.

We eventually got back to sleep but still chose to set our alarm early so that we could enjoy another beautiful onsen moment with a view of Mt. Fuji.

Rise & shine!

Whenever you stay in a ryokan you usually have to wake up earlier as checkout is earlier than a hotel (at Hotel Konansou you have to check out by 10.00am). But it’s ok, as you’ll want to wake up early to get that perfect view of Mt. Fuji, who is always less shy and more likely to come out and say hi early in the morning.

After our dip, we headed down to the breakfast buffet where we could enjoy a range of Western & Japanese dishes. You can see my bizarre mix above! For coronavirus prevention measures, you must wear a mask and gloves when you go to pick up your food & drinks. It wasn’t too busy in the restaurant and it was quite spacious too so I didn’t feel worried at all.

Access & cost – the details

• Check-in is from 3pm – 7pm. There’s a large parking lot opposite the hotel so you should have no trouble arriving by car.
• Check-out is by 10.00am.
• It’s a 10 minute walk from Kawaguchiko train station and the hotel also provides a free shuttle bus too.
• I recommend checking out the range of rooms available on the Hotel Konansou website, a Mt. Fuji view is a MUST!
• Our room cost ¥35,000 per person, which came to a total room cost of ¥70,000. It may seem expensive if you’ve not stayed in a ryokan before, however it does include a high quality dinner and breakfast. From what I can see online, rooms start at around ¥40,000 although these will be with a Lake Kawaguchiko view (not Mt. Fuji).
• Drinks (sake is a must!) & additional dishes like the beef we ordered cost extra. Make sure you budget an extra ¥10,000 or so if you want to indulge.

I hope you enjoyed reading my review of Hotel Konansou, a ryokan with a Mt. Fuji view which you can enjoy with your very own private onsen. I know I’ll definitely be returning one day! If you found this guide useful and decide to visit yourself, please tag me on Instagram! I’d love to see your experiences too.