Hakone Hotel Kowakien
箱根ホテル小涌園 · Hakone Onsen
Can you bathe here with a tattoo?
This is the question we built the site around, so we answer it per situation.
Visiting for the day
The tattoo policy is not stated publicly. Please contact the facility.
Staying overnight
Tattoos are not allowed in the shared baths, but you can bathe in a private or in-room bath.
Source: official website · checked 2026-08-28
How it scores
Every onsen on this site is scored on the same five things.
The baths
Indoor bath
Top-floor large bathhouse with indoor bath and a dry sauna of Kanagawa hinoki cypress. Sodium chloride spring. Hours 15:00-24:00 and 5:00-10:00.
Open-air bath
Open-air bath attached to the top-floor bathhouse, looking out over the Hakone outer-rim mountains. Same 15:00-24:00 / 5:00-10:00 hours.
Private (kashikiri) bath
Seven private baths (one barrier-free). RESERVATION REQUIRED after check-in via a QR code on the guest-room TV, so in practice staying guests only. PAID: 2,500 yen incl. tax per 60 minutes, prepaid by card. Hours 16:00-24:00 (last booking 23:00) and 6:00-8:00.
A private bath means nobody else is in the water with you — often the practical answer if the shared baths are closed to tattooed guests.
Practical details
- Day visits
- Yes — you can bathe without staying overnight.
- Day visit price
- Not confirmed
- Staying overnight
- Yes
- Getting there
- About 2 hours from Shinjuku via Hakone-Yumoto Station, or about 1 hour 30 minutes from Tokyo Station via Odawara, then local bus to Kowakien. The hotel runs a shuttle bus service; a car is not required.
- Official website
- www.hakone-hotelkowakien.jp
Book it
The links below are affiliate links — we may earn a commission if you book through them, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what we list or how we score it.
Why Agoda for Japan: it lists a lot of ryokan and small inns that the Western booking sites never picked up, and it usually prices Japanese properties in yen, so you are not paying a conversion spread on top of the room rate. Worth comparing before you book — the difference on a ryokan is often larger than you would expect.
About the day-pass link: Asoview is the main place day-use onsen in Japan sell entry tickets and discount coupons in advance. It is a Japanese-only site, so use your browser’s translation — you show the ticket on your phone at the door.
Getting in from the airport
The links below are affiliate links — we may earn a commission if you book through them, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what we list or how we score it.
Why not the train: the last leg to an onsen is usually a local bus with nowhere to put a suitcase. A fixed-price car is booked in English and quoted before you travel, tolls and fuel included.
What we have not confirmed
We would rather show a gap than guess.
- The day visit price is not published in a form we could verify.
- Opening hours for day visits are unconfirmed.
- The tattoo policy for day visits is not stated on the official website.
More onsen in and around Hakone
Checked the same way: tattoo policy, private baths and day visits.
