Hibarino | A Garden Retreat in Sengokuhara, Hakone
Tucked in Sengokuhara, one of Hakone's celebrated hot spring districts, Hibarino is a garden ryokan built on the quiet beauty of wabi-sabi. Each of its 11 rooms, spread across five distinct categories, opens onto its own semi-open-air bath — steam curling into view of a dry rock garden and rustling bamboo. Soak beneath the stars, and the noise of the everyday fades away.
Arrival begins with a patissier's welcome sweet in the lounge. Come evening, a kaiseki dinner built from ingredients sourced across Japan carries the meal through the seasons, followed by cocktails and local sake at the Bar Space, where the evening slows to its own rhythm.
A partnership with beauty innovator Reborn brings stem-cell-derived essence into the bath water and in-room showers — a rare pairing of onsen and cutting-edge skincare.
Sengokuhara itself is an art lover's stretch of Hakone, home to the Glass Forest Museum and the POLA Museum of Art nearby. Twenty minutes by car from Gotemba IC, with free on-site parking, or 45 minutes by bus from Odawara Station — Hibarino makes an easy, unhurried base for exploring Hakone.
"We booked two rooms. In one, the private onsen bath was too hot, and in the other, the water temperature was too low. We couldn't get it to a comfortable temperature, and spent the whole night fiddling with the water. The shower water also kept fluctuating between hot and cold. The elevators in the hotel were freezing, so our experience was already off to a bad start upon arrival.
The dinner focused more on beautiful presentation than actual taste.
On the positive side, the reception staff were very kind and helpful, and the room amenities were comprehensive.
For the price, there's definitely a lot of room for improvement."