Hakone

Hakone (Japanese: 箱根町) is a hot-spring town in Ashigarashimo district, Kanagawa prefecture. It has established itself as a resort among the Japanese going back to the 9th century. Today, it is a major tourist destination with both cultural as well as natural sights.

At the start of the Edo period, Hakone was a checkpoint marking the start of the Kanto Region on the Tokaido road to Kyoto. During the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate, all travellers entering and leaving Edo on the Tokaido road had to stop here to have their goods and travel letters examined by officials.

Today Hakone is noted for its many onsen hot spring bath resorts. Due to its proximity to Tokyo and to Mount Fuji, it is easily reached and attract many visitors, making the town extremely crowded at times.

View of Mount Fuji from Lake Ashi in Hakone (3 April 2008)


View of Lake Ashi, Hakone


Ships on Lake Ashi, Hakone (3 April 2008)

Planning your trip to Hakone

Let's look at both the budget and non-budget options for getting to Hakone. The most affordable is to take the Odakyu Odawara Line from Shinjuku station. The Odakyu Express train takes two hours to reach Hakone, and costs ¥1150. Slightly faster than that is the Hakone Limited Express train, which takes 85 minutes to reach Hakone and costs ¥2020.

The fastest and most expensive option is to take the Tokaido Shinkansen Kodama train from Tokyo to Odawara, and then transfer to the Hakone-Tozan Line on the Odakyu Railway, to reach the Hakone-Yumoto station. This option can be completed in one hour, and costs ¥3430 one way. If you hold a Japan Rail Pass, you only need to pay ¥300 for the Hakone-Tozan Line.

Lunch at Hakone

Planning your travel within Hakone

Within Hakone, there is a variety of transport options. The Hakone-Tozan mountain railway goes from Odawara to Gora via Hakone-Yumoto. The Hakone-Tozan Cablecar goes from Gora to Sounzan. The Hakone Ropeway goes from Souzan to Togendai. And most flamboyant of all, there are the Hakone Sightseeing Ships, all decked out like pirate ships or galleons.

Places of Interest in Hakone

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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

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