Just got back from a 2 day, 1 night trip to Hakone from Tokyo! Here’s some tips/advice based off my experience and what I saw.
1. Buy the Hakone pass from Klook and then redeem it at the office in Shinjuku, try to get to the station 1hr before your train as the line was quite long. ALSO CHECK THE WEATHER BEFORE YOU BUY THIS. On my first day the ropeway and the boat were cancelled due to strong wind. I was lucky and they were open on my second day but if they had been cancelled on my second day this pass would have been a waste of money and it would have been cheaper to pay for everything individually.
2. Highly recommend the romance car upgrade (you can buy tickets online and it’s slightly cheaper), you just show your Hakone pass and romance car ticket on your phone at the ticket gate and they will stamp your pass and let you through. There’s no food on the train buy some at the convenience store before getting on.
3. The views from the ropeway are so cool highly recommend taking it to the boat and back to get the most out of your pass. Just be aware that it stops at 16:45 so if you are taking it back to Gora make sure you are in line at Owakudani (the stop with the volcanos) by then. I would recommend leaving Togendai by 3:30ish to make it as I had to wait in line for around 35-45 minutes here since everyone was trying to get back and it gave me 10 minutes to watch the sunset at Owakudani (which was stunning) and make it in line by 16:40.
4. The sightseeing cruise is really nice I actually got off at the first stop and walked through the park to get to the next pier (which is where you can see the torii gates). The torii gates also had a ridiculously long queue (1hr+) to take a picture so I unfortunately had to skip this, you need to get here really early to avoid it or just be willing/have the time to wait. If you skip them you can see them from the boat.
5. They will collect your Hakone pass when you arrive back in Shinjuku but you ask them to keep it as a souvenir they will stamp it and return it to you.
6. Hakone open air museum was really cool and highly recommend spending time here! The top of the tower with all the stained glass has a beautiful view at sunset. Make sure you get here before 16:40 as they close the gates and I saw some people just miss their chance to go up.
7. There’s a lot of free foot baths everywhere so I would recommend bringing a small towel so you can enjoy them!
8. I could have probably spent an extra day in Hakone just to enjoy more and take a more relaxing trip.
by -rhaella