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.
11 comments
Free foot baths?
I’m intrigued. Are these like mini onsen for your feet?
We took the ropeway/gondola from Gora to Togendai. Then we rented little e-bikes (like Lime/Bird) at the gift shop. We rode them on the trail around the lake, stopping at all the shrines on our way to the town. It was ridiculously fun. We loved being outside, peddling our comically undersized bikes, and seeing so many cool spots along the way. I much preferred it over the boat ride across the lake.
Thanks for all the tips! About the railway closing, did you know know when you got there or did you see on their website (or something similar)?
This is very helpful! Is there a website where you can check whether the ropeway/boat is cancelled / will be cancelled?
Literally came back from Japan/Hakone couple of days ago, there’s couple of observations regarding your suggestion:
1) You can buy Hakone Free Pass online directly with Odakyu (the company that manage the transit system in Hakone/Odawara area) and you can even get a small discount (I think 500 yen), you just need to keep your phone have a a reliable internet connection, as the online/mobile Hakone Free Pass need constant internet access (the QR code is animated, so screen shot don’t work)
2) you don’t have to buy both the regular Odakyu fare and Romance car fare together, you can just buy the romance care reservation, print the reservation, then go through the gate at Shinjuku/whatever station you get on the train with just your regular IC card. All the conductors on train in Japan has an updated app that notified them which seat is occupied, so they don’t check your ticket as long as you sit at right seat (I never got my ticket check on any train in Japan, including Shinkansen and Aonoyoshi/Haruka express in Kansai area.)
4) you don’t have to wait in line for the lake torii gate for the full blown selfie (the one with you under the Torii gate), you can actually just take a selfie at the cross section between the road to torii gate and the exit path, its further away (like 20 feet away), but you don’t have to wait. Or you can just take the picture from the boat.
8) absolutely stay at least one night in Hakone/Lake Ashi area, just so you can enjoy the view/feel of the place. You can either stay at Gora (up in mountain), or stay right at Lake Ashi (lake view in AM), just remember, the cable car ride DOES NOT allow luggage onboard, so you have to plan accordingly.
I’m going to the Open Air Museum when I visit this summer. Thank you for mentioning when the tower closes! About how long did the museum take you?
The Pola art museum is also excellent
My advice is to stay one night in Hakone, then take the first cable car to Owakudani for a spectacular view of Mount Fuji. The reason why I suggested the first cable car is because it is more likely for you to have a clear view of Mount Fuji in the morning due to lower humidity. It will get progressively harder to view Mount Fuji as the day passes. I tried viewing Mount Fuji during sunset from Mishima Skywalk and it was really misty.
I second spending an extra day. We squeezed it in and it was so worth it even if you only have 1 day but would have been nice to have 2! We got veeeeeeery lucky with weather and visibility for Fuji views but the next day it was belting rain. You need the weather on your side, probably better chance of that if you take the 2 days.
We got a private hot spring bath in our Ryokan for all my tattooed friends out there. Definitely worth it.
Some additional info:
1. Hakone Digital Pass requires 1 phone per person so it’s not suitable for family with kids who don’t use phones. You don’t wanna carry an extra phone just for this.
2. The romance car is worth almost double, especially if you don’t start in Shinjuku area, then it’s an extra transit + costs more. We started on the South side of Tokyo and managed to use an Express route (no extra ticket, just IC card) so it’s better if you check the route from your hotel.
Edit: there’s 1 footbath place near the Hakone Open Air museum where they also allow dogs to bathe. If you like dogs, you can stop by and see if any families bring their doggies to have an onsen bathe.
Literally just got back from Hakone, Japan today. Additional tips:
If you’re getting physical tickets on the Romance Car, take pictures in case you’re unlucky and lose them. They’re already in your name anyway and the conductor won’t check as long as you’re seated in the right place.
I actually stayed three nights: first day was just chilling at my ryokan, second was for going around the Hakone Loop, third was going to Gotemba Premium Outlets for a day of shopping. It’s about an hour away by bus from Gora and covered by the Free Pass. Branded sneakers (Nike, Adidas, Asics, New Balance) are ridiculously cheap there — and we happened to go during their Black Friday sale so most stores had additional discounts. It also has a breathtaking view of Mt. Fuji — literally took up the entire horizon whenever I looked at its direction.
Edit: I think we were in the same area when you experienced that ropeway cancellation lol I remember hearing the announcement when we arrived in Gora for our first evening.