Private day trip to Hakone only for your group, starting from Tokyo. Surrounded by great nature with Mt.Fuji view, lots of museums and hot springs, Hakone is one of the most popular destinations as a break from Tokyo. By using ”Odakyu Hakone Freepass”, we can enjoy various types of transportations such as Ropeway, Lake Ashi Boat Cruise, cable cars and Tozan Train(mountain tram) to get around.
Car Option is recommended for smooth travel. Ending could be your accommodation in Hakone.
This itinerary can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Send me a message with your requests!
Meeting Point
At your hotel in Tokyo 23 wards or Shinjuku station
- I'll meet you at your hotel in Tokyo 23 wards. Or, Shinjuku station to take a train to Hakone. Following itinerary is【Basic Plan】by Romance Car with Hakone Freepass.
Take Hakone Romance Car (1h45m)
Take Romance Car train from Shinjuku station : 8:31 Shinjuku to 10:17 Hakone-yumoto.
*All reserved seats rapid train.
Hakone sightseeing
Hakone sightseeing is basically loop route. How to get around depends. You can rely on me to take either of clockwise or counterclockwise.
--- Basic itinerary to visit --- *Lunch flexible
- Hakone Tozan Train
- Cable car via Gora
- Ropeway via Owakudani
- Owakudani (Volcanic activity and eat black shelled eggs)
- Togendai (pier of boat cruise / ropeway station / restaurant)
- Pirate Boat Cruise on Ashi Lake
- Moto-Hakone (Lake shore area)
- Back to Hakone-yumoto
Important
Hakone is a very popular destination for both Japanese and overseas travelers. It gets crowded even on weekdays at peak season.
So, when we do counterclockwise, we want to take a taxi from Hakone-yumoto to Hakone Shrine (20-30min, approx. 6,000JPY/taxi up to 4 people) . Same with reverse (from Ashi Lake area to back to Hakone-yumoto station), as local buses are often awfully packed on this route.
Take Romance Car from Hakone-yumoto to Shinjuku (1h30m)
Flexible time: Take Romance Car from Hakone-yumoto to Shinjuku. Ex. 17:02 Hakone-yumoto - 18:28 Shinjuku
Back to Tokyo
I'll take you back to your hotel in Tokyo 23 wards, or we can end at Shinjuku Station for your dinner afterwards.
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*End could be your hotel in Hakone area. Or, Odawara station end would be convenient for travelers heading to Kyoto after Hakone. Tour price would be the same, as guide goes back to Tokyo anyways. Let me know in advance.
(Option) Hakone Open Air Museum (Sculptures, Picasso Gallery, Foot-bath)
Open air museum with its nature as back drop. The most unique, loved spot in Hakone. *open year round
Admission : Adult :1600 yen, University/High School Students: 1,200 yen, Jr. High/Elementary School Students: 800 yen
Free for Guide with a national license when accompanying you.
(Option) Hakone Art Museum + Gora Park
For art & garden lovers,
- Hakone Art Museum (Art with beautiful moss garden. Green Tea. )
- Gora Park(French-style garden and traditional Japanese Tea Garden)
*Closed on Thursdays
Admission :Hakone Art Museum : Adult 800 yen, High school/college students 400 yen, Children up to junior high school : Free of charge, Seniors aged over 65 :700yen
Gora Park is free of charge with Hakone Freepass holders
(Option) Hakone Checkpoint & Yosegi craftsman's shop
For history & culture enthusiasts,
Hakone Checkpoint
Admission : Hakone Checkpoint : Adult 400 yen, Child 150 yen with Hakone Freepass
Yosegi craftsman's shop - Yosegi is inlaid box, which is local special craft in Hakone.
(Option) Amasake Chaya tea house (Only when by Car Option)
One of my favorite places in Hakone, but access is limited due to its location and poor local public transportation. We visit only when we use hired car or my car option.
Amazake-chaya Tea House was founded 400 years ago. Their architecture of thatched roof still retains Samurai period atmosphere. Daimyo (feudal lords) took a rest at this type of rest house which served amazake to get re-charged when they traveled between Tokyo called Edo and their home town.
Amazake (sweet rice wine) is made with a recipe that has remained unchanged since opening. Also, their soft Mochi (rice cakes) is so nice to try.
Ending Point
At your hotel in Tokyo 23 wards or Shinjuku Station. Or, your accommodation in Hakone or Odawara Station for Shinaksen to Kyoto upon your request.
This tour can be customized to meet your needs and preferences. Click below to send me a message with your requests.
guide fee, hotel meet-up, send-off in Tokyo
transportation fee (you and guide), food and drink (you and guide), admission (you and guide) *showed on itinerary above
[ Major transportation fees on tour day ]
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【Basic Plan】By Romance Car total : Adult : 8,500 yen, Child : 2,700 yen
Details: Hakone Freepass from Shinjuku (Valid for 2 days・All inclusive ticket ) : Adult 6,100 yen, Child 1,500 yen
Romance Car Express charge : (Adult 1,200 yen, Child 600 yen) × round trip
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【Shinkansen Plan】
With JR-pass : Adult 5,000 yen, Child 1,000 yen. Without JR-pass : Adult 11,560 yen, Child 4,280 yen.
Details : With JR-pass, Shinkansen 0 yen +Hakone Freepass from Odawara
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Without JR-pass, Shinkansen (Tokyo - Odawara) Adult 3,280 yen × round trip = 6,560 yen, Child 1,640 yen × round trip=3,280 yen
+Hakone Freepass from Odawara (Valid for 2 days・All inclusive ticket ) : Adult 5,000 yen / Child 1,000 yen
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【 Private Car from/to Tokyo 】
- Hired Car : I'm happy to do this tour by a hired car you arranged at your end.
- My Family Car (Toyota Alphard 7 seater) : Only available with Photo Option with my husband, who is a professional photographer, as a driver. Can assure the best experience with the best flexibleness. Feel free to ask me for quotation. I'm happy to send you a proposal of Hakone by my car.
- Important【Volcanic gas warning for people with diseases.】
Owakudani is a popular tourist site with volcanic activities. But for those people who have Heart diseases, Asthma, Respiratory diseases and other health prpblems are not supposed to use ropeway between Ubako and Sounzan (including Owakudani) . If your group have someone with health problems, please let me know in advance. I'll make a plan without visiting gas area.
- In case of extremely bad weather such as heavy rain, strong winds, storm, foggy and snow, the ropeways and Ashi Lake Boat Cruise might either be suspended or unable to operate as scheduled. Please understand that we'll take alternative transportations instead in the emergency.
- We can enjoy the view of Mt.Fuji from many places in Hakone if the weather permits. Visibility is higher in winter time.
This tour is only available on Weekdays to escape from congestion in Hakone.
- Kindly make an inquiry only for my available days on my calendar on GoWithGuide.
- I do tours up to 4 people to maximize each person's experience.
- I'm Tokyo based. My tours basically start/end in Tokyo. If you like to start/end outside Tokyo 23 wards, kindly cover my transportation fee from/to there. Thank you for understanding.
Kon-ni-chi-wa. Hello! I'm Kaori, having lived in Tokyo for more than 20 years since I got married to a photographer who lives here. Originally from Shizuoka prefecture which has Mt.Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan. I took 2 working-holiday-visa stays in my younger days. One is in Toronto, Canada, and another is Australia touring by motorcycle. One year respectively.
I love travel both international and domestic. That's why I love helping individual travelers rather than group tours, because I myself love travel freely. Love nature, gardens, trekking, greenery, also anime. My favorite is taking you to the off-the-beaten tracks where I love.
As a national government licensed guide, I've got deep knowledge of Japanese culture and history. I really enjoy talking about the way of life with people from different cultures. We see what you like and talk what you are interested in. That's my style. If you don't know what to want, I can help you with that.
I'm happy to make tailor-made tours only for you (up to 4 people) upon your request.
・Half Day as you like (up to 4 hours) : 40,000 JPY
・Full Day as you like (up to 8 hours) : 64,000 JPY
・Extra hour over 8hours : 6,000 JPY/hour
I'm quite an outgoing person, ( but organized well! ), easy to get along with anybody, including small kids to teenagers. Can't wait to see you soon!
Tom C.
“100 star rating for Kaori and her husband.”
My family of 3 visited Tokyo during peak cherry blossom season in early April, 2025 and spent 4 wonderful days with Kaori and her husband Ichiro. It's our first time vacationing in Tokyo so we spent a lot of time contacting tour guides for more information starting in October, 2024. After a few email exchanges with all of them, we decided to go with Kaori with complete confidence. She was most responsive, patient, flexible, and informative during our search for a tour guide in Tokyo and after we decided to go with her, we continued to email her with additional questions and changes and she always replied within 24 hours and in most cases, much less than 24 hours. After we met in Tokyo to start our tour, we were even more impressed with how personable she was, how attentive she was all day to take care of our needs, and how flexible she was to new requests and changes. Here are just some small examples to show her big heart: 1. She provided hand warmers and stick-on heat patches for us when it was cold and raining during the first 2 days of our trip. She even brought her own ski jacket for my wife to wear on the second day to keep her warm. 2. We told her about a special, hard to find, high end type of orange we tried during breakfast in our hotel and she bought them for us the same night to try the next day. 3. We asked for her opinion re. a specific type of Japanese cuisine (okonomiyaki) served at a specific restaurant that she was not familiar with so she and her husband went to that restaurant to eat to make sure and she then made hard to get counter seat reservation for us. She treated us like her own family and we felt completely at home and at ease with her the entire 4 days. In addition, we also totally enjoyed spending time with her husband Ichiro who drove us around in their spacious and comfortable family mini van and took many precious once-in-a-lifetime professional photographs for free! Book with her now before it's too late!
Melissa H.
“Excellent customized tour”
This was my husband and my first time in Tokyo. We wanted a tour guide to show us a little bit of everything mixing in recommendations from friends and also teaching us the Metro system. Kaori was very timely and attentive messaging with me to plan the trip and took in all my recommendations mixed in with her suggestions and planning a great itinerary. She also took the time to get us into Shibuya Sky which is very difficult to reserve. On our tour Kaori spent the time teaching us the Metro system and ensuring we knew exactly what to do to easily get to hakone after our time in Tokyo before we started touring. From then on we had a lovely time with her and learned so much about Japan and the culture. In addition to touring Tokyo and doing some great shopping. Highly recommend her particularly for those that have never been. Domo arigato Kaori san!!
Kaori S.
Dear Melissa-san, thank you very much for taking your precious time to write an excellent review on me and sharing nice photos from our time here! Shibuya Sky was fabulous, wasn't it! I’m so delighted to hear you navigated yourself in Tokyo and Hakone transportation on your own after two days with me. Being of help is always my pleasure. I was so glad that both of you showed me many photos to introduce your family and things surrounding you. Getting to know new things is also much pleasure for me. I am so happy guide. Thank you again for letting me share my favorite Tokyo in this beautiful season! Looking foward to seeing you in anther adventure! Arigato gozai mashita! Big hugs, Kaori
Jill R.
“Kaori-san was lovely!”
We had a wonderful 3 days with Kaori-san. She planned a great itinerary, arranged lunch reservations and was flexible and offered alternatives when our children were tired, hungry, etc. truly wonderful experience.
Kaori S.
Thank you for taking your time to give me an excellent review. The time with you, your husband and three lovely children was truly memorable to me. I’ve felt like their aunt Kaori while I was together! Every scene makes me smile when I reminded it time to time. Wishing to see you in another adventure! Big hugs, Kaori
$527/ per group