Hakone attract many people because of great view of Mt. Fuji, volcanic activity in front of you, various transportation, hot spring, historical site and etc. If you want to enjoy everything, you need to stay in Hakone at least 3 days. But you can enjoy Hakone even one day by taking golden route.
Check out what we are going to do.
Feel free to personalize this offer.
Odawara station or Hakone-Yumoto station. If you are staying in Hakone area, at your hotel
This shrine was built middle of 8th century and nice place to walk around. The path way to the shrine is covered by big cider trees and it is cool even during hot summer time.
Lake Ashi was created by eruption of volcano about 3100 years ago and is never be frozen even in winter. You can enjoy smooth 30 minutes cruise on the lake and if the weather is good, you can see Mt.Fuji from the cruise ship
Rope-way (cable car) is operated between To-gendai and So-unzan. At the middle of the route, you have to change the ride at Owakudani. You can enjoy nice excursion in the air and nice view of Mt.Fuji. Also, it runs over volcanic valley and view is magnificent.
This is one of the hi-lights of Hakone sightseeing. This is a valley where you can see actural volcanic activity and smell surfur.
This museum is unique to display most of art work in open air. We can walk in a garden and along to paths, you can enjoy many sculptures. Also it has a special building to display Picasso's work.
We learn how to make a wood combination pattern from real producer. Items he produces are sold only in Hakone area. It is impressive to learn how to make wood combination.
At your hotel, Hakone Yumoto station or Odawara station
We will start our tour from Odawara station or Hakone Yumoto or hotel you stay in Hakone area. We will take a bus from Hakone Yumoto to Moto-Hakone. This is the same route of marathon runners run in very new year. You will be surprised by the steep slope. After arriving at Moto-Hakone, we walk to Hakone shrine on a road beside Lake Ashi. Or on the way to Lake Ashi, we can stop at a traditional craft shop where you can see demonstration and hear explanation directly from National certified craft-man who produce Yosegi-zaiku(wood combination pattern)
At Hakone shrine, you may feel Japanese religious atmosphere. After Hakone shrine, pirate ship takes us to the other side of Lake Ashi. If the weather is good, you can see Mt.Fuji from the boat. But please remember, during summer time, visibility is very low. It means possibility to see Mt.Fuji is not high. After cruising Lake Ashi, rope-way is the next ride. This rope-way gives great view of Mt.Fuji and Lake Ashi. You may feel as if you are walking in the air. At Owakudani which was called "Big Hell" in old days and you can see volcanic activity. Here you eat lunch and famous "black egg" which is made in hot spring, to extend your life for 7 years. After Owakudani, we will take rope-way, cable cars towards Gohra where we take mountain train. If we have time, I take you to Open air museum where sculptures are displayed in outside. Then again, we take mountain train back to Hakone Yumoto.
guide fee only
all transportation, lunch, entrance fee for you and guide. Entrance fee of Open air museum is ￥1600/P
My recommendation is to purchase Hakone free ticket for 2 days. It cost ￥4600. This ticket cover all transportation from Odawara to Hakone area including bus, train, pirate ship, cable car and rope-way.
Cost from guide's home to Odawara station is 2800 yen for round trip.
You may not see Mt.Fuji because of weather condition. Visibility in summer is low and high in winter.
Operation of rope way is affected by wind and volcanic activity in Owakudani. Also, pirate ship operation may be suspended in case of strong wind and rain. In this case, I will take you to other places to enjoy Hakone. Followings are alternative places. Sekisyo which is old inspection gate. Old route 1 shaded by Japanese cedar. Hakone Yosegi-Zaiku studio where you can see and buy hand made mosaic woodwork. This woodwork can be found only in Hakone.
In high season, we have to wait in line for every transportation. It may push back our schedule.
Hiroshi was just the best guide. We saw fascinating places and had amazing unexpected experiences . Thanks Hiroshi
Thank you for youe very good review. I enjoyed a lot with you I hope you will have good time in Naoshima. If you need any help, please contact me. I will try to help you. Best regards
Hiroshi did a great job guiding us in Tokyo. He was very attentive to our needs given that we had a 1 year old baby with us and we had already seen many of Tokyo's attractions before meeting Hiroshi. He carefully chose the pending top spots and gave us a great experience explaining the history and context behind each location. Hiroshi is also very friendly and easy going with a nice sense of humor; my wife and I were very happy to have met him. Thank you Hiroshi.
Dear Fadi Thank you very much for the gtest review. I enjoyed being with your family. I was wondering how you spent on Jan 1 which is really a special day for Jaoanese. There are many other places to visit in Japan and hope to be your guide in future. Thank you again and best regards Hiroshi
Hiroshi is a very nice man and very good at what he does. We had a lovely day in the Hakone area , on one of the most beautiful days. Hiroshi was very patient and fair , when the forecast was bad, he rescheduled our tour for a better day. We really appreciated that. We understood that we would pay for his travel In Hakone, but did not expect any other surprise expenses. In fact I emailed Hiroshi to ask what was not covered in his fee , weeks before the trip. I was very clear that I did not want any surprise expenses. He told me there was the ticket in Hakone to pay for and that my passo card could not be used there. As we said good bye in the train station we were suddenly asked for his travel going to meet us in Yokohama and his trip home from Yokohama. We were surprised and felt this was NOT our agreement. We were also insulted because we took him for lunch and desert after lunch. Which we felt was over and above what we had to do. Even if he forgot to tell us about this extra fee when I asked in my email, we feel, given how kind we were, he should NOT have asked us for anymore money. For this reason, we will NEVER use his services again. Susan and David Rosenberg
Susan Thank you for your revieew. But did you see voucher of the tour? If you see it, you will find clearly that my transportation cost 7,524 yen was NOT included in the tour price you paid to Triplelights. What I learn from you is I should remind the cost before the tour.
Hiroshi made great use of out limited cruise shore time, In an afternoon and evening he enabled us to experience modern, historical, cultural and aethestic aspects of the city leaving us so we left having felt we had been throgh an informed imersive day. He is a charming and likeable guide and we are most grateful for the good time we had with him.
Dear David Thank you very much for writing a good review about thr tour. I enjoyed a lot with you and your wife. Your interest to our culture helped me to search places which you may satisfy. As I mentioned Nezu art museum is a not big museum. However I like the place very much because of real Japanese atmosphere which the museum has. Please make another chance to come to Japan and I wish to be your guide again to show more of Japan. Best regards Hiroshi