Day 6 - Hakone & Tokyo
yunessun spas & baths
romancecar
Shinjuku station & Hyatt hotel
Shinjuku At Night - Kabukicho, Omoide Yokocho & Golden Gai
yunessun spas & baths
This isn’t your father’s spa. It is an entirely different experience than your typical onsen. Yunessun is known for offering different “flavors” of spas: red wine, sake, coffee, green tea, just to name a few. There is also a big hot springs spa pool equipped with massaging jets on the edges that was quite a treat. The outdoor water slide was a real treat too!
The part that makes Yunessun famous is the part mentioned above. There is also a separate floor that’s the more traditional spa, with separate male and female sections and no swimsuits allowed. You can buy tickets for just one section or a combo tickets for both.
The building is set up with enough things for you to spend an entire day. In addition to the simple food court inside the spa area with things like ramen and curry, there are also proper restaurants inside the tall building. Reservation required though. There are also massages available in the building for an extra charge. We only spent about two hours here, which was barely enough for the "swimsuit required” spa sections, would’ve loved to spend more time here if time allowed.
Romancecar from Hakone to Tokyo
The Romancecar express train that goes between Tokyo’s Shinjuku station and the Hakone Yumoto station in the heart of Hakone. This is the preferred transportation between the two destinations. If you haven’t tried the hot springs black eggs, grab some at the shop here. The train ride is comfortable and scenic, although it would need to be a very clear day in order to get a peek of Mount Fuji. We didn’t have such luck.
Voyagers tips: The ticket system here is quite confusing, but there is a very helpful information center with friendly staff happy to help confused travelers. There are two types of Hakone Free Passes, one that includes a round trip basic train rides from Shinjuku to Hakone Yumoto, and one without the train rides; both types can be purchased as a 2-day or 3-day pass. Regardless of whether you purchase the train-included free pass or buy a separate train ticket, Romancecar is a separate “upgrade ticket” to be used in conjunction with the basic train ticket. We purchased the Romancecar ticket online to reserve spots, but still had to buy the regular base tickets at the station and used both tickets in conjunction for our train ride. Again, the information center staff can demystify all this for travelers.
Another option is to go from Hakone to Tokyo (and vice versa) is to take a bus from Hakone to the Odawara station (or the Hakone-Tozan train from Hakone Yumoto station to Odawara station), then take the regular Odakyu train from Odawara station to Shinjuku station. The Odakyu trains are no-reservations and no assigned seats.
Shinjuku station & hyatt regency hotel
Shinjuku station is massive and is a destination in and of itself. It is massive and busy! The station actually holds the official Guinnes Book of World Records for being the busiest train station in the world, with 3.5 million passengers per DAY utilizing six different train companies operating across 12 different lines, and has over 200 exits!
There are loads of shops and restaurants at the station, with several connections to nearby malls. It could feel like walking in a maze but the signs are fairly clear if you know where you’re going. The sheer number of people walking briskly by can feel hectic and intimidating though, and we felt it was too warm to eat at the underground restaurants, so we opted to eat at either mall restaurant floors or walk to the nearby kabukicho instead.
We chose to stay at Hyatt Regency hotel in Shinjuku right by the Metropolitan Government Building, primarily because I had enough Hyatt points for this stay, and also because it is quite convenient. There is a 7-Eleven right outside the building basement, and the same exit connects to a subway station just one stop away from Shinjuku station, which is quite convenient. As a last bonus, there is an airport bus that picks up right at the hotel and drops us off at the Narita (also available for Haneda) terminal, which is much more convenient than lugging our luggage through subways and connecting to the airport express trains. One down side is that there aren’t many restaurants right outside, most restaurant hubs are 8+ minutes away.
Voyagers tips: For hotels, there are lots of options around Tokyo and it can be confusing to decide where to stay. Most travel sites recommend either Shinjuku or Shibuya for the convenience as a transportation hub, and I agree. At the end of the day, since you’re likely to want to explore various parts of Tokyo, it really doesn’t matter which area you stay in as long as you’re close to a subway station. We chose to stay in Shinjuku and felt we made the right decision. Even Shinjuku is quite large though, so look for an area that has nearby restaurants and shops if that’s important to you.
Shinjuku At Night - Kabukicho, Omoide Yokocho & Golden Gai
The Shinjuku area is lively at night and it’s certainly worth exploring. We picked three representative spots to explore on foot, although the overall stroll through Shinjuku’s neon lights was an unique experience. While these are areas and streets, google maps does a really good job of leading you to the beginning or the heart of each destination.
Kabukicho is an entertainment district, a location of many host and hostess clubs, love hotels, shops, restaurants and nightclubs. As it’s also known as the red light district, we had some reservations of walking through this area with our girls, but it turned out to be not bad at all. With plenty of restaurants and tourists walking around, while some billboards and shop signs are “suggestive”, it felt quite safe walking through the area for us.
Shabushabu Nanadaime Matsugoro Restaurant - We stumbled across this great shabu shabu restaurant near the Toho Cinema building - Hitori . The staff was friendly, meat quality was fantastic, and price was reasonable.
Omoide Yokocho - A maze of narrow alleys stands in stark contrast to the bright and clean modern environment of the busy streets around Shinjuku station. The food stalls are very traditional and typically offer yakitori and beer, and they are small! No more than 10 customers for most restaurants! Not a great dinner place for families with younger kids, but a great spot for adults wanting to grab a drink and rub shoulders with fellow travelers in a traditional setting. While it has a traditional setting, this is one of the top tourist attractions so most visitors seem to be tourists. Certainly worth a quick walk through to see for yourself even if you don’t want to go into the stalls.
Golden Gai - Very similar to Omoide Yokocho with its narrow alleys and even smaller stalls. This area is almost strictly bars and some bars fit no more than 5 customers in a tight space. A great experience for some, but not recommended for families with kids. Definitely worth walking through to get the experience though!