Arriving in Hakone

Sep 12, 2023
4 min read

Wednesday 23 August, 2023, from the itinerary:

Have a Japanese breakfast at Keiunkan, and take time to absorb the beauty of this historic

ryokan. Then, start making your way to and head towards your accommodation in Hakone

Yumoto. Relax in an onsen and enjoy Japanese cuisine.

To Hakone Yumoto

• JR PASS: Minobu > Shizuoka (Fujikawa No.6 Limited Express for Shizuoka)

◦ Departure: Minobu 11:38

◦ Arrival: Shizuoka 13:02

• JR PASS: Shizuoka > Odawara (Shinkansen Kodama No.720 for Tokyo)

◦ Departure: Shizuoka 13:25

◦ Arrival: Odawara 14:09

• HAKONE FREE PASS*: Odawara > Hakone Yumoto (Hakone Tozan Railway for Hakone-

Yumoto)

◦ Departure: Odawara 14:33

◦ Arrival: Hakone-Yumoto 14:48

Local Transport

• *The Hakone Free Pass can be purchased at the Odakyu Sightseeing Service Center in

Odawara (buy the one, that is valid for 3 days). This entitles you to ride buses, cable cars

and boats throughout the Hakone area. Detailed information can be found on the

official website.

• You can also find a map of the entire region and other help to orientate yourself locally

at the following link.

Hakone Airu ****

• 1 x Japanese room with dedicated outdoor bath (with breakfast and dinner)

• Check-in: am 23.08. from 15:00

• Check-out: am 25.08. until 10:00

• Address: 499-1 Yumoto, Hakone, Ashigarashimo District, Kanagawa 2500311

• Luggage storage

• Access

• From the station to the hotel: Leave Hakone Yumoto Station through the east exit and

get on the Hakone Kyuu Kaido Line bus. Get off at the Yumoto Nakajuku bus stop.

Directions with a map can be found here. Otherwise, you can also go by foot: "Exit

Hakone Yumoto Station, take National Route 1 towards Gora and turn right at a

Chimoto Sweets Shop

Regretfully, my time at the Onsen was coming to an end. it's a bit cooler today And was able to listened to the river all night.

I had a morning Onsen in my room and read about how to make green tea because there were no tea bags here- only loose leaf tea.

Breakfast was delicious (and only had it for 1).

It included a sort of rice soup And a tofu dish which started liquify smooth and then hardened as it cooked

Had to laugh at the breakfast music- all of a sudden the United theme song started to play.

Waiting for the shuttle I went to the hotel gift shop and saw some bonsai for sale

I caught the 9:30 hotel shuttle and enjoyed the morning mist. As we were driving back through the Minobu mountain valley back towards Minobu I noticed a brown eagle-type bird on electrical wire. It might have been a black kite which appears to be more common, according to Merlin, than the eastern buzzard.

Below are my routes for today. The left is the trip from the Onsen to Minobu and the others are my route from Minobu to Odawara

Although charming, minobu has nothing to recommend it- walked through the town in about 5 minutes with nothing really to see.

Out of Fuji stop the train went backwards all the way to Shizuoka And most of the trip was through cities and areas that were not very pretty

And here's how to use the toilet on the train:).

While waiting to change trains I succumbed to a Starbucks and...

WOW - N700 trains are the Concorde of trains. I saw my first N700 train and they look so cool! I’m only sorry the portion between Shizuoka and Odawara is only an hour. I saw 2 of these trains come hurtling through the Shizuoka station at speed (100mph) was totally awesome . Unfortunately, I only got this video as it was leaving. I guess, according to google, they

can go 186 MPH. This video doesn’t do it justice and was an “E ticket ride” for both bunny and for me! Here's the inside and a few photos of the train. I was in the green car (first class)

Seems like I’ve been through the Fuji Station 3 times today and about 6 times over the past several days. I still can’t see Mt. Fuji….(see photo from today)

Odawara- is close to the sea

Took all sorts of transport to get to hotel (2 trains and a bus) and couldn’t find it. Turned out was right in front of me and hotel guy was watching me try to figure out where I was and didn’t say a word

History of Hakone and what it's known for: The town is a popular tourist destination due to its many hot springs and views of Mount Fuji. I didn't really experience either. Hakone has different vibe- and not in a good way- more touristy? Less friendly?

The Hotel staff appear to be Indian/Malaysian - the guy showing me to my room kept pushing their gift shop where all merchandise was from Malaysia- why would I want that? Also said the hotel was built in a Malaysian design. Here is the hotel and my room

Would rate dinner a 3 out if 10- awful after the gourmet food I’ve had for the last few nights. The sashimi shrimp tasted off and most of the rest of it just didn't taste good