We woke up really really early just to catch our train to Hakone, but seeing the beautiful sunrise & the peaceful quiet streets always feels good.
GETTING THERE: There are 2 ways you can get to Hakone; first way via Tokaido Shinkansen from Tokyo to Odawara.
I took the Romancecar which departs from Shinjuku Sta. to Hakone-Yumoto Sta. directly. It wasn't easy for us to find the Romancecar railway exit so, you just have to look out & check out the signboards. I think you can get tickets for the Romancecar on the spot, but it's really not advised because it'll most probably be full. Do book it online at least a few weeks before you go to Hakone because the train is usually full if you book last minute. The earlier the train, the better (it takes about an hour to reach Hakone-Yumoto).
*This is where I myself am confused as well. So there is this thing called Hakone Freepass. Basically if you purchase this, you can hop on/off the bus/railway for "free". When we arrived at the Shinjuku Sta. to get to the Romancecar, the ticket-guy didn't allow us to go in unless we purchased the Hakone Freepass. The dude wasn't really helpful & we didn't understand him at all so I myself am not too sure about what to do, but you can always ask the ticket-guys there, some of them are really nice & helpful.
[Refer to this ^ it's much easier to understand]
Okay, so once you've arrived at Hakone-Yumoto, take the Hakone Tozan Train all the way to Gora. There's where you take the Hakone Tozan Cable Car. You can get off at any stop you want, but most people got off at Sounzan. Once you've arrived at Sounzan, there's the Hakone Ropeway that takes you aaaallllll the way up the mountain Owakudani!
The wind was so strong that day, it almost blew us away, literally. I think it went to almost 5°C. It was so cold we had to buy gloves because our hands were numb.
Guess who we saw?! Mr. Fujisan!
Next, we wanted to go on the cruise at Lake Ashi.
HOW TO GET THERE: Take the Hakone Ropeway again all the way to Togendai-Ko. Just follow the crowd and soon you'll find yourself at the entrance getting into the cruise. The cruise is about 30 minutes.
I loved the super long cruise ride because I got to see the lake, it was really beautiful which many mountains & trees. You're allowed to go on the upper deck which has a really amazing view.
You can choose to stop at either Motohakone-ko or Hakonemachi-ko pier. I stopped at Hakonemachi-ko pier. Once you get off the cruise, you can find various shuttle buses that will take you to your next destination. [Here] is the shuttle bus map, there's also a much clearer map at the counters available at the pier.
WHAT DID I DO IN HAKONE? I didn't do much. It was more of sightseeing. Once we got to Owakudani, we just walked around & took pictures. There wasn't much to eat as well, just mini light bites but there are a lot of cute souveniers.
When you searched up about Hakone, I'm pretty sure the Onsen Tamago is everywhere. There's also the onsen ice-cream, but the queue was too long for me to wait. We almost visited the Open-air museum but we couldn't make it in time for our train if we went in. That's pretty much it, as I said, it's more of the beautiful scenery.
It'd be great if you can stay for 2 days because the Hakone Freepass lasts for 2 days and you can really explore the museums & other places.
Check out my previous post: [Hakone]
It'd be great if you can stay for 2 days because the Hakone Freepass lasts for 2 days and you can really explore the museums & other places.
Check out my previous post: [Hakone]
Taken with Honor 4x with an additional wide angle lens.
Editing apps: Snapseed, VSCO.
