Tokyo, Japan - Hakone - 1 day tour

As mentioned in an earlier post, the Hakone Free pass covered 8 forms of transportation in Hakone. If you purchased the ticket at the Shinjuku Odakyu Tourist Centre, it will come with a timetable for all transportation.

For 1-day trips, visitors are encouraged to start from the Hakone Yumoto Station （箱根汤本站). If you have the Hakone free pass and follow the map below, you can tour most sightseeing spots with no additional transportation cost! 

(map from http://www.hakonenavi.jp/english/freepass/)

As we stayed over at Ichinoya Shinanoki the previous night, we decided to start off from Togendai instead of Yumoto station. From the Highland Hotel station, we took the T Tozen bus bound for Togendai followed by the Hakone Sightseeing Cruise, designed as a Pirate Ship.

(Oresama Teacher's Usa- chan- man mask)

We were lucky enough to board the red and gold ship, which looked similar to the One Piece‘s Thousand Sunny. The ride across lake Ashi took 40 minutes and we dropped off at Moto Hakoneto visit the Hakone Shrine.

After Hakone Shrine, we went back to the port and took the Hakone Tozan K bus to Yumoto Station. The bus route follows the old Tokaido hiking trail and there are many Chaya's (tea houses) along the road. We initially wanted to visit the Amazake- Jaya, but the mountains was extremely foggy due to the rain. I doubted we could even see our fingers, much less anything else.  

Hence, we continued on to Yumoto Station for the Tozan Train. Surprisingly the Tozen train is much slower than the Tozen bus, and there wasn't much to see in early April. I did sight a wild boar, but other than that, the trip was a big yawn fest.

At Gora we had our lunch at Tamura Ginkatutei, which is highly raved among tourists. We arrived shortly after 2pm and the queue was shorter than expected. I found the pork cutlet salty, but liked the gourd pickles so much that I bought a pack at the counter for 680 JPY. We then headed on to Owakudani for the legendary black eggs.

(Tofu set meal 1,300 JPY, comes with  rice, pickles as well as the Tofu/minced meat Katsu)

To reach Owakudani, take the Hakone Ropeway to Owakudani Station. There is a long walk to Owakudani from the station, with lots of steps in between. It was really tiring even for me, and we turned around after reaching the shop selling the black eggs. 

Overall Owakudani and the Hakone Ropeway were big disappointments as we did not have a good view among all that rain and fog. Well ending on a bright thought, this experience might just be the right excuse for us to come again next time. 

Tamura Ginkatsutei: 

opening hours: 11 to 14:30; 17:30 to 19:30

closed on Tuesday evening and Wednesday

Access: Turn left at station exit and cross the rail way track. Walk straight and turn left again after the pharmacy. Walk straight for a short distance, the restaurant is on the right hand side.