Mimi's Memorandum

We took the last flight from JFK to SJU at 5:55pm and arrived at SJU around 9-10pm. It took us less than an hour to drive to El Conquistador. We got a free upgrade from garden view to ocean view (the view includes view of the pool below). Our room is very spacious with a full size couch, king size bed, vanity table and 6ft sink cabinet, etc.  The room comes with a balcony with beach chairs.

One of the highlights of staying El Conquistador is La Palomino Island. The island is beautiful with pristine clear water and teeming with animals. There were chicken, chicks, hermit crabs and Lagunas roaming around. We were given a beach towel for each guest. Free activities include lawn games, sunbathing, mini golf, swimming and hiking. Luckily, we were able to hike and explore different parts of the island. You should bring your snorkeling gear and floats. The island charges you extra for these. Also you have the option to tour the island on a horse. If you are hungry, remember to stop by Laguna’s Café. Be careful of bird poop on the chairs!

Since our time was short, we spent one day at La Palomino Island and hike on the La Mina Trail in the Yunque Rainforest. The hike has a mixed of paved and uneven path. You will be walking along the river which leads to the La Mina Falls. The falls was crowded and I couldn’t take a secluded picture. Then, we took the Big Tree trail and walked along the road to our car. Please note that if you take the La Mina Trail back, you will have to climb up the stairs and the view will be the same.

The next day, we went to Casa Bacardi for our rum tasting and tour. I was astounded that Bacardi uses whiskey oak barrels to make their rum. Regardless, we were given a drink token each. If you want to upgrade your drink, you will have to buy another token. My mojito was perfectly made and was so good! If you are light weight and do not drink often, you will get drunk from their 5 tasting glasses. The host will go through each tasting glass by aging group. Another great activity to do at Bacardi is hand bottled your special reserve rum. 

Con of the Sunrise Tour

We need more time to check out the attractions and shop!

Mount Fuji during Sunrise

One of the highlights of visiting Japan is Hotel Konansou Yamanashi (“Konansou”), ryokan. A ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn that serves travelers along the highways. They have tatami-matted and Western rooms, communal baths and other public areas where visitor wear a yukata.

It was a tough decision to choose the perfect ryokan. It was either Konansou or Kozantei Ubuya. After my research, I found out that Kozantei Ubuya does not offer hot springs open air bath, therefore we chose Konansou. Unfortunately, we were not able to book the same room at Konansou. We had to book the Mountain View and Lake View with open air bath traditional room on separate days.

We took the express highway bus from Shinjuku station. Reservations were made in advance due to Golden Week (first week of May).  You can make reservations from this website, http://highway-buses.jp/. The bus ride took less than 2 hours to arrive at Kawaguchiko Station.

Check-in time is 3pm.  We arrived early and were able to drop off our luggage. They were able to transfer our luggage to our room. We had a few hours before check-in time. The receptionist was able to call the Ide Sake Brewery for tour reservation.

The Mountain View traditional room was magnificent. Mt. Fuji was in the center of the room. Our futons were laid out in center of the room as well. When you wake up, you can see Mt. Fuji directly. Our air bath was located outside on the right side of the view. The table and chairs were on the left side of the room.

When you checked in, a room keeper entered the room to discuss about the ryokan rules. While she serves you tea, she will let you know the facilities that Konansou has to offer and give you handouts. We have to change to our yukata to use their facilities.

Here’s our view of the first room:

The Mountain View traditional room includes breakfast.  Breakfast is a buffet style. It is combination of Japanese and Western food. The food is very delicious, but the selection is limited. The breakfast items does not change every day. Here are a few pictures of food:

Our Lake View includes breakfast and dinner. The view is not as stunning like the Mountain View. There were bugs on the Lake View side. We had more shade in the Lake View.

We paid extra (about 3,500 Japanese yen) for the private onsen. We were in an enclosed bath and the windows are fogged up with the Mount Fuji view. It was not worth the money. My husband got sick from this because he did not let his body adjust to the hot springs temperature.

The public onsen are separated by gender and each person has to follow Japanese rules to keep the public onsen clean. Since we have our open air bath, we forego the public onsen.

For dinner, we had kaiseki, a must try culinary experience. It is multi-course Japanese dinner that is made up of beautifully plated dishes. It is so beautiful that I do not want to eat it. There is a standard order to eat in kaiseki. Your room keeper will let you know. Usually, kaiseki costs around $50 to $200 per person, but it came with our Lake View room and breakfast. Their kaiseki changes every day depending on the availability of the ingredients.

Overall, if we had two nights with the Mountain View, it was worth the expense.