Japan Guide: How (Not) to Take a Day Trip to Hakone

After jolting awake at 4:30am due to lingering jet lag while in Tokyo, I don’t recommend deciding that you might as well take advantage of the long day ahead by taking a spontaneous day trip to Hakone, Japan.

Hakone is a resort town in Japan known for its lovely views of Mt. Fuji and its onsen (hot springs). It also has a scenic lake (Lake Ashi), a cable car system with stunning views on clear days, interesting volcanic landscapes, hiking, and some nice museums and places to shop and grab a bite to eat.

I did absolutely zero planning for my spontaneous day trip to Hakone and managed to do almost everything wrong. 

Based on my first-hand experience (and written in second person), here’s my guide on what not to do when taking a day trip to Hakone from Tokyo.

How (not) to get to and around Hakone

1. First off, don’t do your research and don’t purchase a Hakone Freepass, which would have saved you significant money on your train trip to and transportation around Hakone (the Freepass is a little pricey but worth it, as it covers virtually all transportation in Hakone and gives you the option of a discount on your roundtrip train to and from Tokyo). Instead, go through the hassle of waiting in lines and buying individual tickets for all the transportation you take (and you will take many, many modes of transportation this day).
2. Next, don’t look at a map (digital or otherwise) and after taking a train, cable car, two ropeway trips, and an (unexpectedly) pirate-themed sightseeing cruise across Lake Ashi in a failed attempt to see Mt. Fuji (who hides behind clouds all day), you decide to turn around and take the exact same transportation route back to the train station, not realizing you could’ve saved at least a couple of hours by taking a bus from Motohakone-ko to the train station.

One thing to note: I do recommend taking the Hakone Ropeway, especially if Mt. Fuji is visible on the day that you visit. On this cable car system, you’ll get excellent views of Japan’s highest and most famous volcano (Mt. Fuji) and its surrounding nature (and the trip is covered by your Hakone Freepass). During your cable car transfer, stop and check out the Owakudani sulfur springs, an active volcanic area where smelly, otherworldly steam rises from cracks in the earth and you can buy the famous Hakone black eggs, which get their unique black shell color from being boiled in the area’s sulfurous waters.

Things (not) to do in Hakone

1. After riding the pirate-themed ship across Lake Ashi from Togendai-ko (where the cable car ends) to Hakonemachi-ko, aimlessly wander around the touristy areas of Hakone. Find a kitschy little outdoor museum commemorating a few-hundred-years-old Japanese highway checkpoint, Hakone Checkpoint (note: this might be a fun activity for families with kids, but I didn’t really find it worth seeing), and spend a fair amount of time feigning interest in fully costumed actors animatedly playing out scenes in Japanese at the Checkpoint because you aren’t sure what else to do (and you don’t speak a word of Japanese).

2. Leave the Hakone Checkpoint and try to go to the next town over but realize that things are much farther than you thought and turn around after a half hour or so. Walk back to the boat dock area and take another pirate-themed boat to Motohakone-ko Pier near the Hakone-jinja shrine, which is pretty but feels a little like a social media check-the-box with a massive line for taking photos.

Things to do in Hakone

1. Due to your aimless exploring and the inordinate amount of transportation you took today, you don’t have time to go to an onsen (a traditional Japanese hot springs and bathing facility) for which Hakone is famous, like the highly recommended Tenzan Onsen. (Note: If you can, I’d recommend spending a night or two in Hakone – there are a number of hotels and ryokans – traditional Japanese inns – with onsen on site.)
2. Given your poor planning, you also don’t have time to visit the Hakone Open Air Museum, a charming outdoor sculpture museum. Other museums and sights to check out, which you also don’t have time for, include the Pola Museum of Art, Hakone Venetian Glass Museum, Hakone Museum of Art, and Hakone Botanical Garden.

3. Given the whirlwind of a day, you also don’t have a chance to do any of the hikes in Hakone, which is known for its beautiful nature. Well-known hikes in the area with varying levels of difficulty include Mt. Kintoki, Old Tokaido Road, Chisuji Falls, Lake Ashi, and Mt. Myojingatake.

4. You decide to wait to purchase the famous black eggs that Hakone is known for (they’re boiled in Owakudani’s natural sulfuric hot springs, which result in black eggshells – lore has it that these eggs extend your lifespan). You then panic-buy some black eggs at the train station right before you head back to Tokyo. Discover on the train that the eggs you panic-purchased at the train station are not Hakone’s famous black eggs but actually eggs fermented in soy sauce that are so vile you’re convinced after eating one that it has likely shortened your lifespan.

After a very long day, you finally return to Tokyo totally exhausted from taking a gazillion modes of transportation, smelling of fermented eggs, and utterly convinced that next time, you’ll know what to do by virtue of knowing what not to do when taking a day trip to Hakone from Tokyo. 

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My trip to Hakone was a bit of a (hilarious) disaster, but I can’t wait to go back and give it another go. I’d recommend staying at least one night in this resort town to fully take advantage of the onsen and enjoy the area’s sights at a more manageable pace.

I hope this “what not to do” guide helps you plan an absolutely incredible visit to Hakone, Japan.