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Snow-capped Mount Fuji over Lake Ashi, with the red torii of Hakone Shrine standing in the water on the right and the mountain reflected in the lake
Fuji over Lake Ashi · the red torii in the water belongs to Hakone Shrine
Town brief · 35.2324°N 139.1069°E

Hakone

Stay the night in a ryokan with dinner and its own hot spring bath: you get the evening soak, and next morning another try at Fuji before cloud hides it, usually by noon.

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Why you should go

Ninety seconds on Hakone

How long
Two nightsone for the loop, one for the bath and a second try at Fuji
Getting around
The loop, on one passtrain, cable car, ropeway, boat and bus; it all stops by about five
When
Novembercolour moves down from the lake; clearest Fuji in winter
Language
JapaneseEnglish signs and announcements all round the loop
Money
Yen; carry cashfor egg stalls and teahouses; inns add a bathing tax
Airports
Tokyo Haneda HNDabout two hours by rail via Odawara; Narita NRT about three
How long

How many days do you need in Hakone?

Two nights. One full day covers the loop of mountain railway, cable car, ropeway and lake boat. The second night adds an evening and early-morning soak at the inn and a second chance at a clear view of Fuji. A day trip from Tokyo is possible but rushed.

Getting around

Do you need a car in Hakone?

No. The Hakone Freepass covers the Odakyu train from Shinjuku or Odawara and almost everything on the loop: the mountain railway, the cable car, the ropeway, the lake boats and most buses. The Romancecar reaches Hakone-Yumoto from Shinjuku in about 85 minutes with no change, but needs a reserved-seat ticket on top of the pass. A car only helps for Sengokuhara and the far side of the lake, and weekend roads are slow.

When

When is the best time to visit Hakone?

November, for the autumn colour, which starts around the lake and Sengokuhara early in the month and reaches Hakone-Yumoto by early December. The pampas grass at Sengokuhara turns gold from late September. Winter brings the clearest views of Fuji, hydrangeas line the mountain railway from mid June into July, and summer is humid and usually cloudy.

Language

What language is spoken in Hakone?

Japanese. Signs, ticket machines and announcements on the trains, cable car, ropeway and boats are also in English, and staff at the main stations and museums usually speak some. The buses and small inns around Sengokuhara have less English, so a written address helps.

Money

What currency does Hakone use?

The Japanese yen. Cards and IC transit cards work on the trains and buses and in most shops and museums, but the egg stalls at Ōwakudani, the teahouses and the summit hut on Mount Kintoki take cash. Hakone also charges a bathing tax per person per night, which the inn collects at check-out and which booking sites often leave out of the total.

Airports

Which airport do you fly into for Hakone?

Haneda, HND, is the closest, about two hours by train via Shinagawa and the shinkansen to Odawara, then the mountain railway up to Hakone-Yumoto. Narita, NRT, is about three hours. From Kyoto or Osaka, take a Hikari or Kodama shinkansen to Odawara (the Nozomi does not stop there), then the train fifteen minutes up to Hakone-Yumoto.

The mountain railway climbs from Hakone-Yumoto to Gōra, a cable car climbs to Sōunzan and a ropeway carries you over the steaming vents of Ōwakudani, then a boat crosses Lake Ashi to the shrine at Moto-Hakone. The ropeway and boats stop between half past four and five, and cloud usually hides Fuji by midday.

Hakone-Yumoto has the station, the luggage counter and the most places to eat: ride the mountain railway up first. Gōra sits at the foot of the cable car, close to the Open-Air Museum, so you join the loop halfway up.

Ashinoyu is the place for quiet: on the old road between Yumoto and the lake, it is the highest of the old hot springs, with a handful of small inns. The shore at Moto-Hakone puts the torii and Fuji at your door before the first boat, but little is open there after dark.

Book a ryokan with dinner and arrive by five, because dinner is served in a fixed early sitting and a late arrival can lose the meal. Many public baths still turn away tattoos: if you have tattoos, book a room with a private bath. Send your case ahead from the counter at Hakone-Yumoto station: drop it before noon and it reaches the inn from three.

Midweek is quieter. Weekend and November buses back from the lake fill up, and the queue for the torii photograph can run past an hour by late morning. The old stone road from Moto-Hakone down to Hatajuku is the best walk in Hakone, but its stones are treacherous after rain.

Things to do

20
  1. Hakone Open-Air Museum

    Hakone Open-Air Museum

    Museum · 3 hr

    You walk out of the entrance tunnel onto a hillside of modern sculpture set against the Hakone mountains, then climb to a viewpoint above the lawns.

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  2. Hakone Shrine

    Hakone Shrine

    Temple · 1 hr

    Standing on the lakeside jetty puts you in front of the red Torii of Peace in Lake Ashi, with Mount Fuji behind it on a clear day.

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  3. Hakone-juku

    Hakone-juku

    Village · 1 hr

    Hakone-juku, the village at the south end of Lake Ashi, is where you walk through the rebuilt gates of the Hakone checkpoint, where guards on the old Tokaido road searched travellers for weapons and for women leaving Edo, then follow that road under its cedars.

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  4. Lake Ashi

    Lake Ashi

    Lake · 30 min

    The crossing from Togendai to Moto-Hakone is the leg of the Hakone loop where you see Mount Fuji rise over the water on a clear morning, from the open deck of a ship built like an old European warship.

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  5. Onshi Hakone Park

    Onshi Hakone Park

    Park · 1 hr

    Come for the view an imperial summer palace was built to face: Lake Ashi below you and the ring of the Hakone mountains around it, with Fuji’s cone above the far rim when the cloud lifts.

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  6. Ōwakudani

    Ōwakudani

    Viewpoint · 1 hr

    Ride the ropeway in before ten, when Fuji is most often clear. The sulphur is strong, so skip it if you have asthma or a heart condition.

  7. Sengokuhara Pampas Grass Field

    Sengokuhara Pampas Grass Field

    Viewpoint · 30 min

    Best in autumn, when you can walk straight up the middle of a hillside of gold grass below Mount Daigatake and watch the whole slope move in the wind.

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  8. Fujiya Hotel

    Hotel

    Stay a night in the oldest resort hotel in Japan, or call in for coffee in the café if the rooms are full.

  9. Gōra Park

    Garden · 1 hr

    Get off the cable car at Kōen-shimo or Kōen-kami and walk through; come between late May and June for the roses.

  10. Hakone Barrier

    Landmark · 30 min

    Climb the lookout at the checkpoint for a long view down the lake, then walk on to the boat pier a few minutes away.

  11. Hakone Komagatake Ropeway

    Other · 1.5 hr

    A seven-minute ride from the Lake Ashi shore lifts you to a bare summit with a small shrine gate on top, and Fuji, the lake and Sagami Bay spread out around you when the cloud lifts.

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  12. Hakone Museum of Art

    Museum · 1 hr

    Two hundred or so maples shade this hillside moss garden above Gora, and in November you walk its narrow stone paths between green moss and a red canopy, then sit over matcha looking down on it.

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  13. Hakone Ropeway

    Other · 2 hr

    From the cabin, about 130 metres up, you look straight down into Owakudani, a valley of steaming vents and yellow sulfur rock, and you get off in the middle of it.

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  14. Hakone Venetian Glass Museum

    Museum · 1.5 hr

    Pair it with the grass field on the same bus line, and come on a sunny afternoon, when the light is on the crystal arch.

  15. Lalique Museum

    Museum · 1.5 hr

    Come for the Orient Express carriage: the Lalique glass panels are original, and you can take tea inside it.

  16. Mount Kintoki

    Viewpoint · 4 hr

    Pick a clear winter day for the best Fuji view in Hakone, since cloud often closes in, and carry cash for the summit hut.

  17. Okada Museum of Art

    Museum · 2 hr

    Save it for a wet morning: five indoor floors and a footbath out front make it the best rainy-day stop on the loop.

  18. Old Hakone Highway

    Landmark · 2 hr

    Pick a dry day and leave Lake Ashi by early afternoon. You walk downhill over Edo-era cobbles under giant cedars, with a stop halfway for amazake at a teahouse beside the road.

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  19. Pola Museum of Art

    Museum · 1.5 hr

    Both halves of the day here earn your trip: Japan's largest display of Impressionist painting, in galleries sunk into beech forest, and a one-kilometre trail through that forest from the door. Exhibitions rotate, so Monet, Picasso and Foujita are not always hung together.

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  20. Tenzan Tōji-kyō

    Other · 2 hr

    Come here if you have tattoos or your inn has no outdoor bath: the stream-side pools take day visitors, though only one tattooed bather per group.

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Sources 1

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