The Hiramatsu Hotels & Resorts Sengokuhara

The Hiramatsu Hotels & Resorts Sengokuhara occupies the highland plateau district of Hakone that is most famous for its late-summer and autumn pampas grass fields — a landscape whose golden seasonal character has made it one of Hakone's most photographed natural phenomena. The Sengokuhara district's position in the inner Hakone caldera zone gives it a different atmospheric character from the lake shore and the outer access routes: higher, quieter, with a sense of plateau openness.

The Hiramatsu group's culinary DNA — a commitment to French technique applied with genuine respect for Japanese ingredients, developed through decades of operation in some of Japan's most demanding restaurant markets — finds at Sengokuhara an ingredient environment whose quality matches the kitchen's ambition. Hakone's position at the intersection of Kanagawa's mountain and coastal resources gives the kitchen access to exceptional Sagami Bay seafood, highland vegetables from the Fuji-Hakone area, and the mountain herbs and wild plants that the national park's forested environment produces.

The onsen component of the stay draws from Hakone's volcanic thermal resources, which in the Sengokuhara area include springs of a character distinct from the more sulfurous sources closer to Owakudani. The combination of French-calibrated dining and genuine Japanese hot spring bathing creates an experience of remarkable physical satisfaction.

For travelers whose Hakone interest extends beyond the most visited lake-shore circuit to the inner districts of the national park, Sengokuhara offers a base of genuine quality within a part of the area that rewards extended exploration.