Japan Guide
Around Tokyo
Hakone
South of Mount Fuji and 90km west of Tokyo is the lakeland, mountain and onsen area known as HAKONE. Most visitors follow the well-established day-trip route, which is good fun and combines rides on several trains or buses, a funicular, cable car and sightseeing ship, styled as a seventeenth-century galleon, across the lake, Ashino-ko. However, the scenery is particularly pretty, and there's much else to do besides – including visiting both the Hakone Open-Air Museum and the Pola Museum of Art, not to mention soaking in numerous onsen – making an overnight stay well worthwhile, especially if you want to unwind at one of Hakone's top-notch hotels and ryokan. Weather permitting, you'll also get great views of nearby Mount Fuji. As with all such popular onsen areas, the golden rule applies: avoid visiting on weekends and holidays if you don't like crowds.
The traditional day-trip route through Hakone runs anticlockwise from Hakone-Yumoto, gateway to the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, then over Mount Sōun, across the length of Ashino-ko lake to Moto-Hakone and back to the start. Approaching Hakone from the west, you can follow a similar route clockwise from Hakone-machi on the southern shore of Ashino-ko to Hakone-Yumoto. If you're combining your visit here with a trip to the Fuji Five Lakes you'll enter Hakone through Sengoku to the north, passing through the major town of Gotemba, known for its premium outlet mall.