Charlie fong, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Hakone
A volcanic caldera an hour and a half from Shinjuku, where the standard evening is a hot spring bath before a dinner served course by course. Most people come for one night and wish they had booked two.
A caldera that people sleep in
Hakone is a working town of about eleven thousand people spread through the crater of an active volcano, most of it inside Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park. That is the whole character of the place: the sulphur is real, the steam coming off the hillside at Owakudani is real, and the reason there are hot springs here at all is that the mountain has not finished. What Hakone is not is a day trip that happens to have hotels. The town is built around the ryokan evening — you arrive in the afternoon, you bathe before dinner, dinner is served course by course, and you bathe again before bed. Compressing that into a day out from Tokyo is the single most common mistake, and it is why almost every itinerary that includes Hakone stays the night.
Explore Hakone on the map
City locations, drawn from our published destination data. Attractions, hotels and restaurants are not mapped yet.
The unmissable Hakone
What a day here can be
The classic circuit is a loop rather than a list, and it is designed to be taken in one direction using a single pass. Doing it slowly is the point.
🚡 The loop
- The mountain railway up the valley from Hakone-Yumoto, which climbs by switchbacks — the train stops, the driver and guard change ends, and it sets off again the other way
- The funicular from Gora up to Sounzan, then the ropeway over the ridge
- Owakudani, where the ropeway passes directly above the fumaroles and the smell arrives before the view does
- Down to Lake Ashi at Togendai and back across the water by boat
⛩️ On the lake
- Hakone Shrine, whose torii stands in the water at the lake edge and is the most photographed thing in the caldera
- The reconstructed Tokaido checkpoint, where everyone travelling in or out of Edo was stopped and examined
- The old cedar avenue along the lake, which is the surviving stretch of the highway itself
🖼️ Indoors, and worth it
- The Open-Air Museum, where the sculpture is arranged across a hillside rather than in rooms
- The smaller art museums scattered through Gora and Sengokuhara, which are the standard wet-afternoon answer
♨️ The reason to stay
- A ryokan bath before dinner, which is the local rhythm rather than a luxury
- Kaiseki dinner served in sequence, often in the room
- A second bath after dark, when the outdoor pools are at their best
Two nights in Hakone
Arrive and bathe
Up from Tokyo late morning, bags to the ryokan, and the afternoon on the first half of the loop — the railway to Gora and the funicular. Bath before dinner, dinner served in sequence, bath again afterwards.
The loop and the lake
The ropeway over Owakudani, down to Togendai and across Lake Ashi by boat. The shrine and the checkpoint on the far shore, then back up the valley. A second night means none of this is rushed.
Getting there, and getting round
The whole caldera runs on one integrated network of train, funicular, ropeway and boat, and it is designed to be used as a circuit rather than out-and-back.
🚄 From Tokyo
- The Odakyu Romancecar runs from Shinjuku directly to Hakone-Yumoto and is the simplest arrival
- The ordinary Odakyu line reaches Odawara from Shinjuku in about seventy minutes, with the Tozan line onward
- Shinkansen to Odawara is the fastest option if you are already on a rail pass, and connects to the same mountain line
🎫 Inside the caldera
- The Hakone Free Pass covers the train, funicular, ropeway, boat and buses for a set number of days and is the standard way to do the loop
- Buses fill the gaps the rail network does not reach, particularly around Sengokuhara
- Luggage forwarding between hotels is normal here, and worth using — the loop is difficult with suitcases
⚠️ When it does not run
- The ropeway suspends service on volcanic activity and in high wind, with buses substituted along the same route
- That is a normal occurrence rather than a crisis, but it is worth checking on the morning rather than assuming
Hakone in practice
Three things that decide how the stay actually goes.
Signage across the transport network is bilingual and staff at the ryokan expect foreign guests. Away from the loop it thins out quickly, but nothing about a standard stay requires Japanese.
Most rooms here are traditional — tatami, futon laid out after dinner, and a shared or private hot spring bath rather than a shower room. Dinner and breakfast are usually included and are part of the price, not an extra.
The evening meal is the point and is almost always taken where you are staying. Restaurants outside the ryokan close early, so a late arrival with no dinner booked is the one thing that goes wrong here.
Which part of Hakone to sleep in
Hakone is not one settlement but a string of them along the valley and around the lake, and they are genuinely different places to wake up in.
Hakone-Yumoto
- The gateway, where the Romancecar terminates and the mountain railway begins
- Busiest and most convenient, with the shortest transfer from Tokyo
- Best if you are arriving late or leaving early
Miyanoshita and Gora
- Halfway up the valley, on the railway, and the traditional choice
- Gora sits at the top of the line where the funicular starts, which puts the loop on your doorstep
- Quieter in the evening than Yumoto, and closer to the museums
Sengokuhara and the lake
- Highest and most spread out, with the pampas grass slopes above it
- Furthest from the station and the most car-dependent
- Best for a second night, when you no longer need to be near a train
Where to photograph
Three that reward the walk, and one honest warning about the mountain.
The lake torii
- Early morning, before the first boats, when the water is still
- The queue for the exact spot forms later in the day and moves slowly
Owakudani
- From the ropeway car rather than the platform — the vents are directly beneath you on the crossing
- Clear cold mornings give the most steam
Fuji, honestly
- Fuji is visible across Lake Ashi on a clear day and is not visible at all on many others
- Winter mornings are the most reliable; summer afternoons are the least
- No itinerary should depend on it, and Atlas packages are written on that basis
Within reach of Hakone
What pairs with a night in the caldera.
Frequently asked
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