Nanpuso Hotel - Part I

After arriving at Yumoto Station it was a short drive to the Nanpuso Hotel, our ultimate destination in Hakone. Yumoto Station seemed to be located at the mouth of the valley with the hot spring resorts and hotels located further up along the inner valley hillside. There were several ways for us to get to our hotel. Thanks to Dean once again, we lucked out and scored an inexpensive bus ride up for all thirteen of us. But wait you say, didn't we have fourteen people in our group? Why yes we did . . . more on this later.

The Nanpuso Hotel is a large facility, with both Japanese and American style rooms. Of course we all opted for the Japanese style room which you see above. Our room was basically one big tatami mat covered floor, with a small low table in the middle. Near the window there was a table with two chairs positioned in a way to give you a great view of the mountain and river. This one room serves as both living and sleeping area. Later in the evening hotel staff will come by to put away the table and lay out futon and pillows for sleeping. We checked into our rooms and then decided to have a soak in the hot springs before dinner.

Here's a picture of the men's outdoor bath. I got it from the hotel's website because obviously I couldn't bring a camera into the bath when we went for a dip. There were a bunch of different "pools" available for the men. The outdoor one shown above, and a few larger ones indoors. The women have their own separate set of baths that are secluded from the mens. As with most onsen in Japan, you will be expected to bathe fully naked, with the exception of a small vanity towel that you can use to try and cover yourself. All of the guys enjoyed a nice soak in the outdoor bath and then headed back upstairs for dinner.

Here's a shot of Rae and Mary in the women's changing area before they entered the women's bath. You put your clothes and personal items into the pink baskets before heading to the bathing area. I guess the women were a little more daring and took a few pictures before taking a bath.