Best Hotel To Stay Near Mt. Fuji: A Review of Kozantei Ubuya

Best Hotel To Stay Near Mt. Fuji: A Review of Kozantei Ubuya

Kozantei Ubuya is one of the best luxury hot spring hotels to stay near Mt. Fuji. This post provides an honest review of this hot spring hotel.

Mt. Fuji is the symbol of Japan, so when we visited Japan I really wanted to stay in a traditional hot spring (onsen) hotel (ryokan) with a view of Mt. Fuji.

Most of the hot spring hotels near Mt. Fuji offer some sort of “bath” but our stay at Kozantei Ubuya was absolutely the best experience I’ve ever had at a hotel.

If you are looking for the best hotel to stay near Mt. Fuji in Japan, then you will be interested to learn more about Kozantei Ubuya.

Where is Mount Fuji (Fuji-San 富士山)?

The famous Mount Fuji (Fuji-San 富士山) is an active volcano located in Honshu, standing on the border of Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures. It is roughly about 150km (94 miles) from Tokyo.

Mt. Fuji is the tallest peak in Japan, standing at about 3776 meters. It is the iconic symbol of Japan and often seen as the sacred mountain by the Japanese. There are numerous shrines at the base of Mount Fuji, showing its importance and spiritual significance.

Every summer there are between 200K to 300K people who climb Mt. Fuji and it is an extremely popular thing to do to see the sunrise there. But you do not need to climb Mt. Fuji to enjoy it, the best way to enjoy Mt. Fuji is actually to visit an area called the Five Lakes, where you can do many recreational activities while enjoying the front seat view of Mt. Fuji (on a clear day that is).

Where is the Five Lake Area near Mt. Fuji?

The Fuji Five Lakes area is a large area north of Mount Fuji in Yamanashi prefecture.

The name Five Lakes come from the fact that there are 5 lakes surrounding Mt. Fuji. These lake include

  • Lake Kawaguchi (河口湖)
  • Saiko Lake (西湖)
  • Lake Yamanakako (山中湖)
  • Lake Motosu (本栖湖)
  • Lake Shoji (精進湖)

Lake Kawaguchi is the most popular area near in the Five Lake district among tourist. It is well developed and there are many hotels along the lake, with amazing view of Mt. Fuji. The area around Lake Kawaguchi is called Fujikawaguchiko.

Another reason Fujikawaguchiko is popular is because of the ease of getting there from Tokyo.

How to get to Fujikawaguchiko from Tokyo?

Tokyo to Fujikawaguchiko by Train

There are two trains from Tokyo to Fujikawaguchiko. One is a local train that requires transferring and the other is a limited direct train from Tokyo.

Local Train

From Tokyo, you can take the JR Chuo Line from Shingjuku Station to Otsuki Station, then transfer to the Fujikyu Line (not a JR Train) to Kawaguchiko Station.

Local train takes about 2.5 hours from Tokyo to Kawaguchiko station.

You can use your JR Pass on the Chuo Line but not on the Fujikyu Line. However, if you have the JR Tokyo Wide Pass it can cover your entire journey from Tokyo to Kawaguchiko Station.

Direct Train

There is now a limited service direct train from Tokyo to Fujikawaguchiko by JR Rail. This direct train is called Fuji Excursion Service and is operated by E353 series trains and is covered by the JR Pass.

From Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, the train only takes about 1 hour and 50 minutes to get to Kawaguchiko Station, with no transfers.

There are only 2 direct trains running on weekdays and 3 trains running on weekends.

Tokyo to Fujikawaguchiko by Bus

Direct bus from Tokyo Shinjuku Bus Terminal and Tokyo Station to Kawaguchiko Station runs twice every hour and the journey takes about 2 hours.

You can book the bus tickets directly at the bus station terminal or online.

Luxury Ryokan Hot Spring Hotel in Fujikawaguchiko

There are many nice hot spring hotels in Fujikawaguchiko with stunning view of Mount Fuji, but in particular I want to review Kozantei Ubuya, a luxury hotel that we stayed at when we visited Fujikawaguchiko for Mt. Fuji.

Located on the shore of Lake Kawaguchi near the Kawaguchiko Bridge, Ubuya offers stunning view of Mt. Fuji and Lake Kawaguchi in every room.

There are 9 different types of rooms at Kozantei Ubuya, ranging from standard rooms without private bath to luxury suites with open air private bath and VIP Room. You can also choose whether to include dinner & breakfast with your day at Ubuya.

We ended up staying in the Deluxe Room with Private Bath (90sqm) facing Mt. Fuji and it was an incredible experience.

How to get to Kozantei Ubuya

We were traveling from Tokyo to the Five Lake district to see Mt. Fuji for two days (one night).

As mentioned above, there are direct buses from Shinjuku Bus Terminal (or Tokyo Station) to Kawaiguchiko.

Once you arrive at the Kawaguchiko Station, Hotel Kozantei Ubuya will send a mini bus to pick you up.

Checking In Process at Kozantei Ubuya

Upon arrival at Kozantei Ubuya, we were greeted by hostess in traditional Japanese kimono and escorted to our room.

Kozantei-Ubuya hotel review
Lobby

Once she showed us the room, she proceeded to brew Japanese green tea and also gave us some home made dessert to go with the tea. I was quite impressed already by the service so far.

Kozantei-Ubuya Hotel Review
Dessert and Green Tea

If you are wondering what time check in and check out is at Ubuya, check-in is from 3pm and check-out is until 11am. You may request early check-in or late check-out but it is subject to availability.

The Stay at Kozantei Ubuya

The only word I can use to describe our room at Kozantei Ubuya is “amazing”. We stayed at the Deluxe Room with Private Bath, which consisted of a large living room area with TV, a huge bedroom, an enormous bathroom, a balcony, an open air bath, and most importantly, a view of Mt. Fuji.

Kozantei-Ubuya Hotel near Mt. Fuji
Living Room
Kozantei-Ubuya Hotel Near Mt. Fuji
The Bedroom
Kozantei-Ubuya Hotel with View of Mt. Fuji
Balcony with the view of Mt. Fuji
Kozantei-Ubuya Private Bath Mt. Fuji
Private Bath
Kozantei-Ubuya Hotel Mt. Fuji

Even though the private hot spring in our room at Kozantei Ubuya was open air, we had complete privacy from our neighbors.

In a traditional public Japanese hot spring, you are supposed to be completely naked, but since we had a private bath, we could do whatever we wanted. The private bath we had also had options for colorful lights at night, making the bath at night a lot more fun and enjoyable.

All the rooms at Kozantei Ubuya has free wifi and a flat screen TV, safe box, air condition, heater, free toiletries, divided toilet and bath area, hair dryer, and a mini fridge.

Since it’s a traditional Japanese ryokan, all the rooms also come with Japanese style robes and slippers that you are supposed to wear around the hotel.

Food at Kozantei Ubuya

Our room and the private bath had already blew my mind, but the most amazing part of our stay at Koznatei Ubuya was the food. We selected to have both dinner and breakfast at the hotel and the food was nothing short of amazing.

Before dinner was officially served, guests are invited to have afternoon tea in the tea room. Different types of juices, tea, and coffee were laid out in the common area.

There is a large public dining area reserved for the guests for breakfast and dinner. But since we stayed at a deluxe room with private bath, we had a private dining room reserved for us.

Dinner was a set course menu with so many courses that I lost count. All the ingredients were fresh and seasonal and beautifully displayed. Since the food is traditional Japanese cuisine, the flavor may be different from what westerners are used to (aka there is no teriyaki sauce).

Kozantei Ubuya Dinner Hotel Near Mt. Fuji
Dinner Set: I lost count of all the courses
Kozantei Ubuya Dinner Hotel Near Mt. Fuji
Some of the dinner courses
Kozantei Ubuya Dinner Hotel Near Mt. Fuji
Happily eating my dinner in a traditional Japanese robe

The breakfast next day at Ubuya had two options for guests to choose from: traditional Japanese breakfast or continental breakfast.

Since I’m a big fan of Japanese food, we decided on the traditional Japanese breakfast. The food was another few courses of deliciousness, and I loved how everything was laid out for us!

Kozantei Ubuya Breakfast Hotel Near Mt. Fuji
The most amazing breakfast I’ve had

Facilities at Kozantei Ubuya

Even though I wanted to spend as much time as possible in my room, I ended up exploring the hotel a bit.

Public Bath

Kozantei Ubuya Public Bath
Source: http://japantraveleronline.com

There are both indoor public bath and outdoor. It’s mostly for guests without private bath in their room, but everyone’s welcomed to use it. Note that you will need to wash yourself before entering the public bath.

Spa & Massage Chairs

Kozantei Ubuya Luxury Hotel Mt. Fuji
Kozantei Ubuya Luxury Hotel Mt. Fuji

Kozantei Ubuya offers many spa services, such as reflexology, massage, facial treatment, full body oil treatment, etc.

Ice Cream Vending Machine

Like all Japanese places, you will never go anywhere without seeing a vending machine for drinks. I was surprised to find that there was a vending machine for Haagen-Dazs ice cream!

I really loved my stay at the Kozantei Ubuya! The service was great and the room was very comfortable. On top of that both meals I had at Kozantei Ubuya were amazing and the private hot spring room was pure luxury. If you are looking to visit Mt. Fuji and the surrounding areas, definitely check out this hotel.

Kozantei Ubuya Luxury Hotel Mt. Fuji

Kozantei Ubuya Luxury Hotel Mt. Fuji

Best Things to do near Kozantei Ubuya in Fujikawaguchiko

Kozantei Ubuya is located in the popular resort town of Fujikawaguchiko, so there are a lot of things to do around the hotel! Actually there are so much to do that one night at Kozantei Ubuya is definitely not enough.

To make it even better, there is a sightseeing bus that stops very close to Ubuya, so you can easily take the bus to explore the Five Lake area.

The sightseeing bus has various lines, but the red line stops at Ubuya and take you around half of Lake Kawaguchiko. But you can transfer to the other lines to visit Lake Saiko and Lake Shojiko.

Fujikawaguchiko tourist sightseeing bus map

A few note worthy things you can visit in Fujikawaguchiko include Sightseeing Boat/ Ropeway (to a view point to see Mt. Fuji), Fuji-Q Highland (theme park), Music Forest, Sengen-jinja Shrine, Oishi Park (view of Mt. Fuji, lake, and flowers) and Yamamiyasha (and Tenku No torii, a shrine and the famous torii gate with view of Mt. Fuji).

Oisa Park near Mt. Fuji
Oisa Park
Tenku no Torii with view of Mt. Fuji
Tenku no Torri

The most famous place to visit near Fujikawaguchiko is the Chureito Pagoda, it is where you will see a postcard famous pagoda with the view of Mt. Fuji in the background.

Chureito Pagoda near Mt. Fuji

Book your stay at Kozantei Ubuya here.

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