Hakone is the first getaway everyone makes from Tokyo, for good reasons. 90 minutes by train, a thermal town surrounded by mountains, a volcanic lake, Mount Fuji in the background on a clear day, dozens of traditional ryokan, and an artistic heritage you wouldn’t expect for such a small region. The real question isn’t whether you go to Hakone, it’s how to avoid doing it the way everyone else does. One night minimum, two ideally.
Hakone Is Worth More Than The One-Day Tourist Loop
Hakone is technically a 400,000-year-old volcanic caldera, half of which is occupied by Lake Ashi in the south. Mount Hakone (1,437 m) is still officially active, which explains the hot springs (17 onsen villages spread across the region) and the sulfur fumaroles of Owakudani. Beyond geology, Hakone is a historical waypoint: this is where one of the main sekisho (checkpoints) of the Tokaido road between Edo and Kyoto stood, and the town has kept the soul of a well-polished way station.
The problem is that everyone does the exact same one-day circuit: Hakone Yumoto, Owakudani ropeway, pirate ship on Lake Ashi, open-air museum, back to Tokyo. Six hours of buses and queues for a decent but exhausting result. The secret is to slow down and sleep on site. The moment the tour buses head back down in late afternoon, Hakone reverts to what it has always been: a calm hot-spring town in a cedar caldera.
Hakone-jinja’s Floating Torii And Lake Ashi
The great red torii planted in Lake Ashi is one of the most-reproduced photographs of central Japan. Hakone-jinja shrine, of which it is the maritime entrance, dates back to the 9th century and was an important place of worship for samurai en route to Kyoto. Go early in the morning (before 8 AM) or late evening: otherwise the photo queue easily exceeds 40 minutes in high season.
The lake itself is crossed by kaizoku-sen, the colorful “pirate ships” that shuttle between Moto-Hakone and Togendai. It’s very kitsch and surprisingly pleasant. On a clear day, Mount Fuji appears in the background, and it’s one of Japan’s best views from water. On an overcast day (half the year), the crossing has its own misty charm. No Fuji guarantee: that’s how it is.
Owakudani, The Great Boiling Valley
Owakudani means “the great boiling valley”. It’s an active geothermal area where sulfur fumaroles escape from the ground, and where eggs are cooked in the 80°C natural spring water. Shells turn black (sulfur chemistry), and legend says eating one extends your life by seven years. Count ¥500 for five eggs. It’s touristy, it’s fun, and it’s also the only thing to do once you arrive at Owakudani.
Access is via the Hakone Ropeway, one of Japan’s longest cable cars (4 km), with sweeping views over Owakudani and Mt Fuji. Important note: the ropeway shuts down regularly due to volcanic activity. The phreatic eruptions of 2015 and 2019 closed the sector for months. Check the day’s status before going up.
The Ryokan Experience, Hakone’s Real Heart
If you’re only doing one night in a traditional ryokan during your trip to Japan, do it in Hakone. The density of quality establishments is higher than anywhere else: about 200 ryokan for the region’s 12,000 permanent residents. This creates healthy competition and many options across budgets.
The standard ryokan program unfolds like this: check-in around 3 PM, change into yukata, first bath in late afternoon (ideally outdoor rotenburo), 8-12 course kaiseki dinner served in your room around 6:30-7 PM, futon laid out during dinner, second bath at night (silence, moon, stars), sleep on futon, third bath at dawn, traditional breakfast at 7:30 AM. Check-out at 10 AM. Eleven hours of baths and food for ¥30,000 to ¥80,000 per person depending on category.
For establishment picks, see my full Best Ryokan in Japan guide. To understand bath etiquette before arriving, see Onsen Etiquette in Japan.
Offbeat: What The One-Day Loop Misses
👉 Hakone Open-Air Museum. 70 sculptures by Picasso, Henry Moore, Niki de Saint Phalle, Rodin, scattered across a 7-hectare park with mountain views. A unique art experience in Japan, worth 2-3 hours. The Picasso pavilion alone justifies the visit (300 permanent works, one of the world’s largest private collections).
👉 Kuzuryū Shrine, on the western shore of Lake Ashi, 30 minutes’ walk from Moto-Hakone. Much less crowded than Hakone-jinja, more authentic, with a torii in the water too but no queue. Reserved for people willing to walk 20 minutes.
👉 The old Hakone pass (Hakone Hachiri). For hikers: you can still walk a section of the 17th-century Tokaido, on 4 km of stone-paved paths through the forest, between Moto-Hakone and Hatajuku. The original stone markers are in place. Probably the best-preserved Tokaido segment.
👉 The green tea fields at the foot of Fuji (on the Shizuoka side, accessible by train from Hakone). A day out from Hakone that completes the picture, especially in spring.
👉 Hakone Yuryō, a modern architectural public onsen for those not staying in a ryokan. Steps from Hakone-Yumoto station, beautiful in autumn, gorgeous gardens, and tattoo-friendly with notice.
(I keep my Hakone itineraries on Ikuzo, particularly useful for planning the order of the loop without backtracking.)
For Foreigners, For Japanese
Foreigners do Hakone as a day trip from Tokyo, 80% of the time. Efficient but suboptimal. Japanese visitors come differently: for a couples’ weekend, one night in ryokan, one single activity (open-air museum OR lake OR Owakudani, not the three). Enthusiasts return several times a year for the seasons. Hakone in November (momiji), in February (early sakura along the streams), or in June (hydrangeas along the railway) are three different Hakones.
Lesser-Known Facts
- Hakone has its own small switchback railway (the Hakone Tozan Railway) that climbs the mountain by zigzagging back and forth, because the gradient is too steep for direct ascent. Opened in 1919, it’s the only Swiss-style system in Japan, and particularly spectacular in June when hydrangeas line the tracks.
- Mount Fuji is visible from Hakone only about 50% of the days, much less in summer (cloud cover). Best odds are in winter (December-February) between 6 and 10 AM. Don’t plan your trip counting on seeing it.
- The black eggs of Owakudani are boiled in iron-sulfurous spring water. The chemical reaction between hydrogen sulfide and iron blackens the shell. The egg inside is normal, just slightly saltier.
- The Hakone Free Pass is Japan’s most-used regional pass. It covers the train from Tokyo, all local transport (train, bus, ropeway, boat), and gives discounts on museums. At ¥6,100 for 2 days from Shinjuku, it pays off as soon as you do the full loop.
- The Pola Museum of Art, in the Hakone forest, holds one of Japan’s finest collections of Japanese and French Impressionists (Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Picasso). The museum’s architecture (by Yasuda Atelier) is itself remarkable: a glass roof inside the canopy, full integration with the landscape.
- The Hakone shrine is linked to the Kuzuryū legend, the nine-headed dragon that terrorized Lake Ashi in the 8th century and was converted to Buddhism by the monk Mangan. The monthly ceremony at Kuzuryū shrine (the 13th of each month) still draws hundreds of pilgrims.
When To Go, How To Get There
From Tokyo: Odakyu Romance Car from Shinjuku, 75 minutes, ¥2,470. The most comfortable, most direct option. JR via Odawara also works (and is covered by the JR Pass to Odawara).
When: November for the momiji (probably the most beautiful period), June for hydrangeas along the Tozan Railway, February for early sakura near the onsen and the clearest Mt Fuji views. Avoid Golden Week (first week of May) and the momiji weekends: the region is saturated and ryokan rates double.
How long: one night minimum, two ideally. With two nights, you do the classic loop on day 2 (without rushing back to Tokyo) and keep day 1 and day 3 for the less crowded things (Open-Air Museum, Tokaido hike, second ryokan, café break in Gora). On a day trip, you check a box, you don’t live the place.
Hakone, Japan In Miniature
Hakone is probably the Japanese region that condenses the most into the smallest space: an active volcano, thermal baths, a large lake with Fuji view, two world-class art museums, ancient cedar forests, a section of imperial road, and 200 ryokan. It’s both the most visited and the best preserved. The key isn’t to do less, it’s to stay longer and let the thermal town slow the trip down. Two nights, and you understand why Tokyoites have been returning four times a year for thirty years.