Up the mountain by switchback railway and cable car, over a sulphur valley by ropeway, across the crater lake by boat, and back along the shore to a shrine standing in the water.
Segments
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Hakone-YumotoOdawara → Hakone-Yumoto Station
Town streets
The gateway to Hakone and its oldest hot-spring town, sat where two rivers meet. The main street is a run of soba shops, sweet stalls and day-use bathhouses. Buy the Free Pass here if you haven't already, and save the onsen for the way home.
About this place
Hakone-Yumoto Station is a railway station on the Hakone Tozan Line in Hakone, Kanagawa, Japan.
Read more on Wikipedia ↗Photo: Kounoichi · CC BY-SA 4.0
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The switchback railway to GōraHakone-Yumoto Station → Gōra Station
Mountain railway, then station streets
The Hakone Tozan Line is one of the steepest adhesion railways in Japan, and it climbs by reversing direction at a series of switchbacks — the driver and conductor swap ends of the train at each one. Hydrangeas line the track in June. Break at the Hakone Open-Air Museum a stop short of Gōra if you have time.
About this place
The Hakone Tozan Line is a mountain railway in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is operated by Odakyu Hakone, an Odakyu Group company that also operates the Hakone Tozan Cable Car, Hakone Ropeway and Hakone Sightseeing Cruise.
Read more on Wikipedia ↗Photo: まも · Public domain
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Cable car and ropeway to ŌwakudaniGōra Station → Ōwakudani
Funicular, aerial ropeway and crater walkways
A funicular climbs to Sōunzan, where the ropeway lifts you over Ōwakudani — a bare, steaming valley of sulphur vents blasted open by an eruption some three thousand years ago. Get out and walk the boardwalks: the smell is spectacular, and the stalls sell black eggs boiled in the hot springs, their shells stained by the sulphur. Fuji looms behind on a clear day.
About this place
Ōwakudani is a volcanic valley with active sulphur vents and hot springs in Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It was created around 3,000 years ago, as a result of the explosion of the Hakone volcano.
Read more on Wikipedia ↗Photo: Ajay Suresh from New York, NY, USA · CC BY 2.0
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Down to Lake AshiŌwakudani → Tōgendai
Aerial ropeway
The ropeway carries on down the far side, and the view opens all at once — Lake Ashi below, filling the floor of the caldera, with Fuji standing over the far end of it. Land at Tōgendai on the northern shore, where the boats leave.
About this place
The Hakone Ropeway is the name of an aerial lift, as well as its operator. The funitel line links between Sōunzan and Tōgendai via Ōwakudani, all within Hakone, Kanagawa, Japan. The line became funitel in 2002, the second of its kind in the nation, after Hashikurasan Ropeway. It makes a part of the sightseeing route between Odawara and Lake Ashi. The company belongs to the Odakyū Group.
Read more on Wikipedia ↗Photo: Ikusuki · CC BY 2.0
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Pirate ship across Lake AshiTōgendai → Moto-Hakone
Sightseeing boat
The sightseeing boats are gilded mock galleons, which is silly and completely committed to, and they cross the crater lake in about half an hour. Sit on the open deck facing back up the lake: this is the classic Fuji view, and the only one you get without walking.
About this place
Lake Ashi , also known as Hakone Lake or Ashinoko Lake, is a scenic lake in the Hakone area of Kanagawa Prefecture on Honshū, Japan. It is a crater lake situated along the southwestern wall of the caldera of Mount Hakone, a complex volcano that last erupted in 1170 CE at Ōwakudani. The lake is known for its views of Mount Fuji, its numerous hot springs, historic sites, and traditional ryokan. It lies along the historic Tōkaidō road, the main route linking Kyoto and Tokyo. Pleasure boats and ferries operate on the lake, several of which are styled after sailing warships.
Read more on Wikipedia ↗Photo: 663highland · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Hakone Shrine and the lake toriiMoto-Hakone → Hakone Shrine
Cedar avenue and stone steps
A path of stone steps climbs through towering cedars to a shrine founded well over a thousand years ago and long revered by samurai. Below it, the vermilion Torii of Peace stands in the shallows with the lake behind — the most photographed thing in Hakone, with a queue to prove it. Buses run back to Hakone-Yumoto from Moto-Hakone.
About this place
The Hakone Shrine is a Japanese Shinto shrine on the shores of Lake Ashi in the town of Hakone in the Ashigarashimo District of Kanagawa Prefecture. It is also known as the Hakone Gongen (箱根権現).
Read more on Wikipedia ↗Photo: Aimaimyi · CC BY-SA 3.0
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