Easy Travel in Japan
This is the classic “Hakone Loop” — mountain railway, cable car, ropeway, and lake cruise — compressed into a single, well-paced day from Tokyo. It’s an ambitious itinerary on paper, mixing four different modes of transport, but each leg is short and the transfers are well signed, so it’s far more relaxed in practice than it sounds. Start early, pick up a Hakone Freepass, and this whole loop is doable comfortably before dinner.
1Start early: the Odakyu Romancecar runs directly from Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto in about 80 to 90 minutes, and reserved seats sell out on weekends and holidays, so book a day or two ahead if you can. Pick up a Hakone Freepass from Odakyu before you board if you haven't already — it covers the mountain railway, cable car, ropeway, lake cruise, and regional buses you'll use for the rest of the day, so there's no need to buy separate tickets at every transfer.
2From Hakone-Yumoto, the Hakone Tozan Railway begins its climb toward Gora — Japan's oldest mountain railway, running since 1919, using switchbacks that reverse the train's direction a few times to manage the steep gradient. It's a scenic ride in its own right, running especially thick with hydrangeas in early summer, and the climb to the Chokoku-no-Mori stop, right by the Open-Air Museum, takes about 40 minutes.
3Get off at Chokoku-no-Mori Station, right at the museum's entrance, and give yourself a good 90 minutes to walk the grounds — more than 1,000 sculptures spread across mountainside lawns, including a dedicated Picasso pavilion and work by Henry Moore and Joan Miro. A hot-spring foot bath partway through the grounds is worth timing into your visit if your feet need the break before the transit-heavy afternoon ahead.
4Continue on the Tozan Railway to its final stop, Gora, a small mountain town with noticeably cooler air than the valley below. It's the natural lunch stop on this route — soba or a light set meal at one of the small restaurants near the station sets you up well for the string of transfers still ahead.
5From Gora Station, a funicular cable car climbs about 214 meters to Sounzan in around 10 minutes, passing through a residential hillside neighborhood before opening up to mountain views near the top. It's a short, easy leg, but also the transfer point where the day shifts from railway to ropeway.
6The Hakone Ropeway carries you from Sounzan over to Owakudani, the 'Great Boiling Valley,' a still-active volcanic area of steam vents and sulfurous hot streams formed by Mount Hakone's last major eruption roughly 3,000 years ago. Get off here to walk the short observation trail and try kuro-tamago — eggs hard-boiled in the valley's sulfurous spring water until the shells turn black, which local legend says adds seven years to your life.
7Back on the ropeway, continue from Owakudani down to Togendai on the shore of Lake Ashi — on a clear day, this stretch also offers one of the better views of Mount Fuji in the whole Hakone area, so keep a window seat if you can. The Sounzan-to-Togendai ropeway covers the whole route in under 30 minutes, not counting your stop at Owakudani.
8At Togendai, board one of the sightseeing cruise ships styled after 17th- and 18th-century European warships for the crossing to Hakone-machi or Moto-Hakone, about 30 minutes across the lake with mountains on every side. It's a genuinely relaxing stretch after several transfers in a row — a good moment to just sit by the window and let the day slow down.
9From Moto-Hakone port, it's a short walk to Hakone Shrine, over 1,200 years old and best known for the Heiwa no Torii standing in the water just offshore. The forest approach, lined with cedar trees and stone lanterns, is worth the walk up to the main shrine buildings even after you've gotten your photo of the torii.
10Buses run from Moto-Hakone and Hakone-machi back to Hakone-Yumoto in about 40 minutes, in time to catch a return Romancecar to Shinjuku. If you'd rather not rush the last leg, this is also the point where an overnight ryokan stay in Hakone-Yumoto turns the day trip into something considerably more relaxed — most of what makes Hakone worth the trip, the onsen included, rewards not rushing back.
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