Hakone is a region about an hour and a half southwest of Tokyo that is perhaps best known for it’s spectacular views of Mt. Fiji. We added it to our itinerary to catch a glimpse of the mountain and see some of Japan’s famed fall foliage.

Getting to Hakone

Getting to Hakone is relatively easy from Tokyo. We used our Japan Rail pass to take the shinkansen (bullet train) to Odawara. From Odawara, we took a regional train to Hakone-Yumoto. From there, visitors can hop on the popular “Hakone Loop” to see more of the local area.

Hakone Loop

The Hakone Loop is a series of five kinds of transportation that whip visitors around the region: a bus, train, ropeway, cable car, and pirate ship connect various points of interest. We oped to purchase the popular “Hakone Free Pass” for $40 each which gave us unlimited access to all of the region’s transportation options for two days.

Upon arriving we planned to drop our bags at the train station and have them sent to our hostel so we could hop right onto the train, the first section of the loop. However, we just barely missed the window for bag drop (which closes at 12:30pm) and instead took the bus to our hostel to drop off the bags ourselves.

From there, we took another bus to Togendai, one of the main stops along the loop, and began the traditional circle from there. We checked out the loop over the course of two days:

Hakone Loop Day 1

First up: the ropeway from Togendai to Sounzan. The ride takes about 30 minutes total and makes one stop in Owakudani, an area with a lot of volcanic activity. The view from the cable car is spectacular and we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of Mt. Fuji along the way. When we arrived in Owakudani we had a chance to see tons of steam rising out of the sulfur springs but we didn’t linger as the crowds were huge and the lines to get back on the ropeway to Sounzan were long.

From Sounzan we took our next mode of transportation: the cablecar to Gora. By this time it was starting to get dark so we quickly hopped on a bus back to our hostel with plans to see more of the loop the next day.

We had a tasty noodle dinner before taking a dip in the outdoor onsen (hot spring bath) at our hostel. It was like hanging out in a a natural hot tub and was really relaxing. We also got to wear the traditional robes that we missed out on in Shibu Onsen and loved every second of it!

Hakone Loop Day 2

We took the bus back to Togendai to catch the pirate ship to Moto-Hakone. We took this round trip and enjoyed about an hour on the boat. The views of the lake and the fall foliage from the boat were beautiful.

Once in Togendai, we again hopped on the ropeway to Sounzan and repeated our route from the prevous day. It was much less crowded on this Monday morning so we were able to walk around the area a bit more and try some of the region’s famed black eggs that are cooked in the hot springs and blackened by the sulfur. The eggs are said to add seven years to your life – great news! They tasted like regular hard boiled eggs but certainly looked a bit odd.

From there we took the cablecar again to Gora. It was nice to get some daytime views from the trolley which we missed the night before.

Finally, we took the last let of the loop, the train back to Hakone-Yumoto. The ride put me right to sleep so I can’t say much about this section!

From there, we took the regional train back to Odawara and continued on to Kyoto.

Thoughts about Hakone

Hakone is beautiful. We are glad we got the opportunity to see some more of Japan’s countryside and we had incredible views of the fall foliage in the area.

Would we go back? Not this way. While we enjoyed getting to see the area, we felt like we spent two days in line to get on the next kind of transportation or sitting on said transportation. Part of the challenge may have been our timing. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon so our first day (a weekend) was particularly crowded. We also were there in the peak of fall foliage season which meant great views but even more crowds than usual.

I think to enjoy Hakone one would need more time. There are hikes, museums, and other attractions throughout the region that we missed because we were so focused on doing the transportation loop. It would have been great to feel like we could stop and enjoy more of these activities.

If anyone is considering a Japan itinerary, it would be worth it to add time in Hakone to really see the area or scrap it altogether in favor of a few days somewhere else. While we had a nice time, our attempt to see it with just one night in the region didn’t quite do it justice.