Two Days in Hakone – Ryokan Experience

One of our bucketlist experiences when visiting Japan is to stay at a Ryokan. A Ryokan is a traditional hotel which typically also serves a set breakfast or dinner. They often also have onsens which are relaxing Japanese hot springs that adds to the experience. Hakone is the closest town to Tokyo that offers this Ryokan experience and it’s a very worthwhile side trip! Read on for how we spent 2 days in Hakone!

Day 1

9am – Travel to Hakone from Shinjuku

We boarded the Romancecar from Shinjuku at 9am and made our way to Hakone. The train was clean and spacious and we arrived at Hakone Yumato Station in just over an hour. We purchased the Hakone Free Pass which includes local transportation. I was a bit hesistant about taking a local bus with our luggage but surprisingly, it was very easy to navigate. If you’re spending 2 days in Hakone, I’d highly recommend to purchase the Hakone Free Pass (you really can’t go without it!)

Our first order of business was dropping off our luggage before exploring for the day. If I were to do it again, I’d recommend the luggage service where they will take your luggage from the Romance car directly to the hotel.

1pm – Owakudani

The main tourist attraction in Hakone is Owakudani. After taking the bus to Gora station and then boarding the cable car, we got on the gondola at Souzan station.

The view via the Gondola ride is really spectacular and the sulphur flats are quite unique. The go to item here is to buy the charcoal egg which claims to give you a longer life! However, the line for this was so long and you’ll have to buy a pack of four! Also, I’m not sure about you but I can’t eat four hard boiled eggs. Also, apparently it tastes exactly like a normal egg.

Here are some other items we bought instead that I would highly recommend

• Curry Bun
• Black Bun
• Egg Yolk Icecream

3pm – Hakone Sightseeing Cruise

As part of the Hakone Free Pass, you get free admission on the Hakone Sightseeing Cruise! From Owakudani, we continued down the Gondola to Togendai station where we had a nice lunch. However, this afternoon ferry was SO busy that it was hard to enjoy. There was no room to sit and even standing room was crowded. Luckily, we took this trip again the next morning and it was so much better!

5pm – Enjoy your Ryokan and Dinner

After making our way across Lake Ashinoko, we went back to relax and enjoy our Ryokan. Depending on where you are staying, there’s likely an onsite onsen which is amazingly relaxing after a day of exploring. Most of the ryokans also include a full dinner. Check out our amazing menu at the Hakone Kowakien Mikawaya Inn. I’d highly recommend this ryokan as it provided great value for money.

Day 2 – Hakone Shrine + open air musem

8am – Hakone Shrine

We tend to be early risers on vacation and left the hotel extra early in order to visit Hakone Shrine without the crowds. There are actually quite a few of these tori (gates) scattered around town. But this one on the water is the most famous!

10am – Hakone Ferry (again)

If you have more than one day in Hakone, I would really recommend taking the ferry in the morning. Since most people do a day trip from Tokyo, the early morning cruises are empty as only tourists who stayed over night would make it. Luckily, this time on the boat was a calm and peaceful experience. We even saw Mount Fuji!!

Noon – Hakone Open Air Museum

Although we are not big art people, the open air museum is definitely worth a visit. It’s a very unique attraction with contemporary art scatter out in the open. There were many interactive elements as well including a free foot bath which I thoroughly enjoyed.

3pm – Onsen + DINNER

We wanted to dedicate more time to relax in the onsens. For our ryokan, there were communal onsens (gender separated) as well as a few private onsens that you can book. We really enjoyed the 30 minutes in a small private onsen since otherwise, you’re likely by yourself. And yes, no bathing suits in these onsens.

I also forgot to mention that our ryokan also serves a full breakfast set

Continue the adventure in Japan by checking out what we did in 3 Days in Kyoto!