Staffs were attentive to details, polite, warm, speaks good English(rapports+++), accomodating, patient. Room was clean, facilities aged but works just fine. Traditional ryokan with onsen(public/private) and tatami flooring. Kaiseki dinner was scrumptious.

There’s a steep slope uphill from gora station to hotel which can be challenging to guests carrying heavy luggages.

We got to experience traditional Japanese hospitality and kaiseki style dinner without breaking the bank. Love that they also cater for kids and adjusted dinner slightly for my son. I absolutely loved the hotel staff : guy at reception and the ladies who were serving dinner/breakfast and doing housekeeping. Especially the lady who spoke very good English, she made us feel very welcomed, was very helpful with all my questions.

You have to pay extra for table tennis game, JPY 300 for 30 min. I found that odd.

The staff were kind and accommodating. Dinner was a 7-course feast, inclusive of shabu-shabu beef that was of the highest quality, and breakfast was extremely filling. Loved playing dress-up in beautiful yukatas and tried on several colors. Guests get to book a 30-min private outdoor onsen time at check-in, and the indoor public single-gender onsen was open for most of the day. Chair and foot massagers were a plus and we tried out every one of them. The place is family-owned, and has a pleasant 70s vibe, although some furniture could be upgraded. The owners speak very good English. Location can't be beat - right by the Gora stop on the train/cable car.

Nothing! Everything was great.

Hotel Lalaca offers a very classic Ryokan experience. The staff are very friendly and it's a very peaceful spot in the mountains with private onsen as well as some other amenities (massage chairs/table tennis). This is more of a retreat hotel as you've a walk to anything else in the area. The kaiseki breakfast and dinner were outstanding in terms of quality and value, and the onsen were excellent.

It's a shame but it feels like the property hasn't been maintained as well as it could be. The dining area has beautiful views but there are marks all over the walls and missing pictures. Basically a lick of paint new carpets and some local art could bring the rating of this hotel up a whole lot. Also the towels were thin and small and looked like they were from the 80s. Given they have a number of onsens, they really need to up their towel quality.

We loved the Onsen. The food was great but a bit too much for us. The location was amazing and serene. We really loved the accessibility to the cable car and gondola as well as the open air museum etc. It was kid friendly. We traveled with our 10 and 12 year old's and they were treated kindly. We loved wearing the Yakudas provided as well. Tea time in our room was wonderful and the mattresses we slept on were great. I appreciated that they set them up and put them away for us while we ate meals.

The interior needs updating. The pillows were very hard and at night there was a green light from the fan that illuminated the entire room making it slightly difficult to sleep.

We had a huge room with beds and tatami mats, and amazing view of the mountain with the snow-covered 大. We stayed for 2 days and all 4 meals were different and amazing. One breakfast included a bit of fruits, yoghurt with granola, another one - an omelette with a sausage and salad (I like traditional food more, but for those who are concerned). We stayed in 3 different ryokans, and I would say kaiseki here was overall the best (specifically we liked japanese snapper). Location was also great as the cable car operated until 18:30ish. Addressing the comments about the uphill climb from the train station - just don't do it! :) You will most probably buy the Hakone pass anyway, so, when you arrive just take the cable car and walk downhill from the first stop. P.S. Hakone pass works for calendar days, so if you stay 1 night you would need a 2-day pass, for 2 nights a 3-day pass. We used only the private outside onsen (30 minutes for free each day), it was great!

My wife and I had strained backs after the long flight, so we decided to have a massage. It was a total waste of money (5000ish yen for 40 minutes on the beds in our room), strongly discouraged: my wife got a bit of relief, I got zero, had to wait until we got a great massage for 4600 per hour in Osaka. Not a dislike, but just for information: during the cold season it may be a bit cold in the toilet (we had the same experience in all other hotels too though) and the shower (which is not a problem as the water can be adjusted to very hot).

Beautifully presented traditional Japanese dinner and breakfast. Comfy beds, pretty view from our room. The onsens were clean and had a cute little garden area to look out at. Staff was super friendly. When no taxis were available, they helped me arrange a hotel shuttle for my family to the bus stop with all of our luggage, despite the fact that it was a holiday and they didn't originally have someone to drive us. I think they called someone in for us!

Nothing, we loved all of it! The property is slightly dated, but in great shape and very clean.

(September 2023) Haven't been to another Ryokan/Onsen to compare, but for the price and my thoughts going in, my expectations were exceeded. Multiple staff members knew English and were very accommodating and personable. The food was great, room was the perfect size for three guests. Four could probably work, but maybe would be tight. (unsure if there's different sized rooms, maybe there's a larger one available).

Nothing specifically to comment on. Maybe if I went to other Ryokan/Onsen's I could compare, but I'd still probably think that what you get for the price can't be beat. Maybe, as others have said, the location. If you don't directly taxi to the accommodation, the angled road could take a toll on you. Can plan around it though.

This was a wonderful lodge. It's very small - only 8 or 9 rooms - and extremely peaceful. The onsen were wonderful: during the day they are split by gender (two rooms, each with an outside and inside bath). At night, one of the outside baths turns into a private bath that each guest group can reserve for 30 minutes. The food was also amazing: I requested a vegetarian meal when I booked, and was really delighted by the evening + breakfast feast. The location was also extremely convenient, just a 10 min walk from Gora train station or a shorter (downhill!) walk from the first cable car stop (the cable car connects directly to the Gora train station so very easy to access). The lodge is also perfectly located to walk (10 mins or so) to the Hakone Open Air museum (definitely recommended) and to complete the Hakone round course circuit (5 mins to the cable car segment of the loop).

The beef wagu was amazing as was all the food, private onsen lovely and verrrry kind staff!! Partner loved the public onsen too but I couldn't go in because of my tattoo.

There was a weird smell in our room which would have been fine but last time I went on holiday to the bahamas when we got back we found out people had died at the hotel we stayed at because of gas coming through the air con. Totally not anything to do with lalaca but made me paranoid and had a hot sleepless night!!! Scoured the reviews on booking.com but all was absolutly fine and I shouldn't have been so worried. So if you smell this smell too, there's nothing to worry about!