Originally Posted by fmkgb

I also need assistance. I feel lost trying to design a booking even after days of research. Travel period is late February. I am a 66 year old female traveling with my 91 year old mother. She is in great shape for her age but even so if we can get 3-4 hours a day of solid sightseeing in, it is a good day. So we need to take it somewhat slow and easy.

We have both been to Japan 6-8 times before but I have never been to Hakone area. We'll have one week in Tokyo and then plan to take a train to Ito peninsula, and spend 2 nights, one in the Kai Ito to get somewhat of a ryokan experience. Ryokans are difficult for my mom. We need a real western bed with mattress and preferably a boxspring and private bathroom facilities. So a Kai (or similar) is probably as close as we will get to a ryokan but we expect Kai to be fantastic albeit $$$$.

4-5 days remaining to plan. We prefer museums, poking around small towns and local shops, and exploring Japanese culture and food rather than hiking and partaking in nature. We will not have a car so it is probably necessary for our hotel to be fairly near a train station or for the hotel to have a reliable and frequent shuttle to the station. Also being in town would provide us more dining options than being at a resort in the middle of nowhere. Where should we base?? From reading it seems Hakone and Odawara are areas with things that would most interest us. Seem to be a lot of museums near Hakone and there will be a Plum Blossom festival in Odawara in late February. If the weather cooperates we should get a nice view of Fuji. Are we missing a lot by not going to Fuji itself? It would be nice to see an onson, particularly if on the grounds of the hotel, but we would probably not partake.

So I would appreciate assistance with 1) which town(s) we should base ourselves (1 or 2 places) and 2) specific hotel suggestions given our parameters. We would prefer to spend less than $200 per night for the hotel. Seems impossible and still get a comfortable western bed and privacy at our price point so I look forward to your recommendations (if we need to spend more we will and if we can spend less, so much the better). Thanks in advance.