My son and I visited Hakone for one night
Owakudani
November 2022
My birthday was coming up in November and my 11 year old and I are in Japan. After binge watching way too many travel youtube videos during the pandemic (such as Abroad in Japan and Sharla in Japan), I was itching to explore of more of Japan and treat myself to a relaxing onsen. My son loves volcanoes and we thought we could find one to visit since Japan has it’s fair share of them. Unfortunately the late fall meant many volcano peaks were closed and some are further in the south. But there is Hakone and Owakudani which is close to Tokyo.
Hakone
Hakone is well visited by tourist and locals as a destination due to proximity to Tokyo, known for the mountain landscapes, Owakudani, its large scenic lake with view of Mt Fuji, onsen towns, plenty accommodations, and cultural sites. Owakudani is the volcanic crater area/valley formed a few thousand years ago from eruption of Mt Hakone. There is a popular visitor center at the top of this crater with view of the sulfur vents and hot springs.
Waiting for train at Ofune to get to Odawara station.
How to get to Hakone
There are a few ways to get to Hakone which are well documented online; here is a useful resource. We departed by train from Yokohama station using google map app and picked up our 2 day Hakone Freepass and other tourism information at the Visitors Service counter inside Odawara station. The Hakone Freepass (2 and 3 day) is a good deal and great for easy travel around the Hakone area. It covers trains, cable cars, ropeways (gondolas), cruise on the lake on “pirate” ships, and buses.
From Odawara we hopped on the Hakone Tozan train using our Hakone Freepass which winds up through the mountain with lovely forest and valley views. Since we departed from Odawara rather late in the morning, our train was quite full with tourists and it was standing room only for almost an hour. If you can, I would suggest waiting for the next departing train (they depart every 14 minutes or so, check the schedules) at Odawara if the train is already quite full when you get to the platform. Be the first ones on queue for the next train and you get a seat with view.
If you want to head directly to the cable car leading to Owakudani, you would disembark at Gora Station.
Museums at Hakone
There are several interesting museums around Hakone (Hakone Art Musuem, Venetian Glass Museum, Pola Museum, Doll House Museun, Okada Museum, Geo Museum, even Little Prince Museum) and I wished we allowed more time to visit them. But truth is, there are only so many museums a child can take in a short time.
We got off at Chokoku-no Mori station/stop which is only one station away from Gora to visit the world class Hakone Open Air Museum. It is a short walk away from the station. There are luggage lockers at the tiny train station and at the Open Air Museum. We stowed our rolling carry-on at the lockers before walking in the museum.
I wanted to stop for lunch at a popular dumpling restaurant called Gyoza Center near the Chokoku-no Mori station but there was a bit of a wait due to lunch hour. It was too bad because the food looked really good there. We were starving so decided to eat at the museum restaurant and had decent pasta with a nice view.
Hakone Open Air Museum
View at Open Air Museum
The museum is an outdoor sculpture park with a view of the distant mountains. There are easy paths to wander around to see all the different large sculptures and installations amid gardens and trees. This is great for kids to walk around and explore. Some installations are interactive. My 11 year old’s favorite installation is this one by Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam where kids can climb in and up into the colorful netting; he didn’t want to leave:
Forest of Net Pavilion
You can climb up this beautiful Symphonic Sculpture tower as well and see the view up top.
We could have easily spent many hours at the museum with zero complaints from the kid but I wanted to make it to our hotel by the lake before dinner time. We hopped on the train again at Chokoku-no Mori station to Gora station. From there we walked the few feet to take the cable car/train that goes up the steep hill to take the ropeway (gondola) to Owakudani.
Visiting Owakudani
Sign at Owakudani. Remember it is an active volcano.
The ropeway cars will take you over the sulfuric vents to the visitor’s center at Owakudani. We were greeted by the smell of sulfur when we disembarked at that station. There are amazing viewpoints, black eggs, and black ice cream.
The sulfurous gas that day was too much for us unfortunately so we hurried back to the ropeway and rode the rest of the way down to Togendai Station at Lake Ashinoko.
Be careful if you have small children if the sulfurous gas is strong on your visit. The place is worth visiting but my son felt a bit sick from the gas for a couple of hours afterwards. He thought the volcano was cool but not the smell. Ah well, maybe it burst his bubble a bit about volcanoes.
Owakudani area can be closed due to weather, volcanic activities and gas levels, and maintenance of ropeway. Check before visiting.
Our stay at Hakone
A couple hundred feet from Togendai Station is our accommodation at Hakone.
One of the open air private baths at Hanaori
The nicest traditional onsen accommodations around Hakone are often booked well ahead especially for the spring and fall. But good thing there were still choices available for me to book last minute.
Our stay for one night is at Hakone Ashinoko Hanaori by Lake Ashinoko. It was a splurge to celebrate my birthday. Their website provides detailed instruction to get to the hotel. I had decided on this modern hotel with onsen bath with views, private onsens and buffet meals with western and Japanese cuisines. Private onsens are great if you have children along and they are shy or of the opposite sex. You just tell the reception when you want to book it (for a fee).My son is not used to traditional Japanese meals (which I love) so the buffet was great for both of us. We get to eat exactly what we want! The food was beautifully prepared and plentiful.
The hotel gives women a choice of pretty yukatas (light kimonos) of different colors. There are yukatas for men too. There are options for kids. You can wear it around the hotel and to the dining hall. It really makes the experience. The public baths (segregated by sex) at the hotel are large with several pools and outdoor areas to enjoy. It was not hard to communicate in simple English with staff. The hotel feels like a modern ryokan. Our well appointed room was spacious with wood floors and our own private bath on the patio.
Our room with a bath on the patio
Other things to do around Hakone
The next morning we head down to the lake to catch the pirate ships departing for the lake towns across Lake Ashinoko. The ships are cute and have plenty of room.
Lake Ashinoko
sightseeing ship timetable fall 2022
The sightseeing ships loop around Togendai station, Hakonemachi and Motohakone, the other towns on the lake. We stopped at Hakonemachi to see Hakone Shrine situated in the forest and the picturesque red torii gate on the lake. We grabbed some snacks at a yummy bakery on the way from the port but I noticed there were many places to eat at Hakonemachi and even at the shrine. There were plenty of tourists but despite that, the shrine was a peaceful place.
There are so much more to see at Hakone, including Komagatake Ropeway to Komagatake peak at Mount Hakone, Hakone checkpoint, other museums and shrines, festivals and events. We didn’t get to stop by Motohakone either. Next time I would spend more days here exploring the other onsen towns and sights.
However we are meeting my aunt at a 400 year old ryokan in Izu peninsula later in the day so we used our Hakone Freepass for the bus departing at Hakonemachi to Mishima station to take the train to Izu. On the way, the bus passed by the Mishima skywalk, which is Japan’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge with scenic views of Mt Fuji and Suruga Bay. It looks like fun but alas we did not have time to stop there.
Koi pond at Hakone Shrine with very friendly fish.
Travel information and links for Hakone:
I booked Hakone Ashinoko Hanaori hotel using Agoda.com. Link here.
