Where to stay
Where to stay in Hakone
Hakone is a ring of hot-spring villages in the hills south-west of Tokyo: Yumoto and Tonosawa at the bottom of the valley, Miyanoshita and Gora up the mountain railway, Sengokuhara on the high plain beyond, and Lake Ashi at the top. The choice that matters most is between the villages on the railway, easy to reach and to move between, and the higher, quieter places that need a bus or taxi.
How to choose
A first visit
Gora and Miyanoshita: on the railway and the classic loop
Food
Sengokuhara: inns where the dinner is the point
Quiet
Sengokuhara: the high plain, away from the railway
Close to the trains
Yumoto and Tonosawa: the Romancecar from Shinjuku ends here
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Have it reviewed for USD 85Gora and Miyanoshita
The middle of the mountain, up the Hayakawa gorge on the switchbacking Hakone Tozan Railway. Miyanoshita is an old resort village of antique shops and hillside inns; Gora, at the end of the line, has the Gora Park garden and the cable car up towards Owakudani. Both are quiet by early evening.
- Suits
- A first visit, and the classic loop by railway, cable car, ropeway and boat
- Bear in mind
- Steep streets and few places to eat out at night; the railway is crowded at weekends
- Getting about
- Miyanoshita and Gora stations on the Hakone Tozan Railway, about 40 minutes up from Hakone-Yumoto; Odawara is about 30 to 35 minutes from Tokyo by Shinkansen
Sengokuhara
A high plain of pampas grass, woods and golf courses on the north side of Hakone, with the area's museums, among them the Pola Museum of Art and the Little Prince museum. Spread out and very quiet, with the milky hot-spring water piped from Owakudani.
- Suits
- Quiet, museums, and an inn as the reason for the trip
- Bear in mind
- No railway; you rely on buses and taxis, and there is little to walk to
- Getting about
- No station; Hakone Tozan buses from Hakone-Yumoto take about 30 minutes, or about 40 minutes by taxi from Odawara
Sengokuhara, Hakone
AubergeThe Hiramatsu Sengokuhara
THE HIRAMATSU HOTELS & RESORTS 仙石原
Miró and Chagall on the walls, an Italian dining room
Sengokuhara, Hakone
HotelKanaya Resort Hakone
金谷リゾート箱根
French eaten with chopsticks, milky Owakudani water
Sengokuhara, Hakone
RyokanKinnotake Sengokuhara
金乃竹 仙石原
Nine rooms round a grove of 8,000 bamboo, for adults
Yumoto and Tonosawa
The gateway to Hakone at the foot of the valley, where the Romancecar ends. Yumoto is a busy spa town of shops and day baths along the river; Tonosawa, a stop up the line, is a few old inns in the gorge above the Hayakawa.
- Suits
- A short stay or a first night, with the train from Tokyo at the door
- Bear in mind
- Lower and busier than the villages up the mountain, with fewer views
- Getting about
- Hakone-Yumoto, about 75 to 90 minutes from Shinjuku by the Odakyu Romancecar; Tonosawa is one stop up on the Tozan Railway
Lake Ashi
The crater lake at the top of Hakone, with Hakone Shrine's torii in the water at Moto-Hakone, the old Tokaido checkpoint and the sightseeing boats, and Mount Fuji beyond on clear days. Lovely early and late; full of day visitors in between.
- Suits
- Views of the lake and, on a clear day, Mount Fuji
- Bear in mind
- Furthest from Tokyo, and a long bus ride when the roads are busy
- Getting about
- No railway; buses from Hakone-Yumoto or Odawara, or the ropeway from Sounzan to Togendai
More on Hakone
Q&A
Gora or Miyanoshita, on the mountain railway, so the loop by cable car, ropeway and boat starts from the door. Gora Kadan and Fufu Hakone are in Gora; Hakone Ginyu looks over the gorge at Miyanoshita.
One night is enough for a ryokan stay with dinner and the baths, and the loop the next morning; two nights give a full day in the hills and a fair chance of seeing Mount Fuji. Many people stay one night on the way between Tokyo and Kyoto.
Hakone is one of the best places to do so, close to Tokyo: most inns have hot-spring water, and many rooms have a bath of their own, as at Hakone Ginyu, Kinnotake Tonosawa and Kinnotake Sengokuhara. Dinner and breakfast are usually part of the stay, which suits a place with few restaurants open late.
By the Odakyu Romancecar from Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto, about 75 to 90 minutes, or by Shinkansen from Tokyo or Shinagawa to Odawara and on by the Tozan Railway or bus. Sengokuhara has no railway, so the last leg there is a bus or taxi.