Hakone is a well-known tourist town in Japan, easily accessible from Tokyo. Most tourists visit Hakone to ride the cable car to eat black eggs at Owakudani, take a boat ride on Lake Ashi, or stay overnight to enjoy the hot springs. However, we also visited The Hakone Open-Air Museum.

To travel to Hakone from Tokyo, you can purchase a Hakone Free Pass 2-day pass for 5,140 yen. This pass covers round-trip travel from Shinjuku Station and includes train, tram, bus, cable car, and boat fares in one ticket. For those who already have a JR Pass, you can purchase a Hakone Free Pass 2-day pass for 4,000 yen for travel to Odawara Station. For those who plan to visit Lake Kawaguchiko, the Fuji Hakone Pass can be used for travel at a price of 8,000 yen.

We first departed from Shinjuku Station on the Odakyu Ltd. Exp. Hakone train using the Fuji Hakone Pass + Romance car ticket (Reserved seat). This train passes through Odawara Station and arrives at Hakone-Yumoto Station. The journey takes about 1 hour, and you can see Mount Fuji on the right-hand side.

For those purchasing the Hakone Free Pass 2-day pass at Odawara Station, please contact the Odakyu Sightseeing Service Center Odawara. The center is open from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM.

After purchasing your ticket, proceed to the Hakone Tozan Line platform and board the train.

Hakone Tozan Railway from Odawara to Gora

The train ascends the mountain, alternating between uphill and downhill runs. When the train reaches Chokokunomori Station, we decide to get off to visit The Hakone Open-Air Museum. After getting off the train, we take a picture of the train schedule from Chokokunomori to Gora on the left-hand side, to keep track of the time for our onward journey.

At this station, there is a Cafe Douce. We went in to order breakfast before we went sightseeing.

This is a small shop. We opted for simple dishes to eat first, as we hadn't eaten anything since morning.

Our breakfast this morning

Walk to the museum and use the discount card from the coupon book you received when you purchased the Fuji Hakone Free Pass to reduce the adult admission fee from 1,600 yen to 1,400 yen.

The Hakone Open-Air Museum is open from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM. It closes at 5:00 PM.

Take a walk around the outdoors first.

We spent a considerable amount of time exploring the outdoor environment, as the area was quite extensive.

Notes:

• The HTML structure is preserved in the translation.
• The tone of voice is simple and short, as requested.

Outdoor foot bath is free of charge. Hand towel fee is 100 yen. Food and drinks are not allowed.

I did not have enough time to visit the Picasso Exhibition Hall.

Zig Zag World looked interesting, but I didn't have enough time to go in and play.

We need to walk back to the meeting point at the entrance. Let's take some photos along the way.

Let's move indoors.

Hakone Adventure: A Scenic Journey Through Mountains and Volcanoes

Despite limited time, we explored as much as possible before continuing our journey. We boarded a train for one station, arriving at Gora Station. From there, we ascended the mountain via the Hakone Tozan Cablecar, reaching Sounzan Station. Here, we transferred to the Hakone Ropeway, offering breathtaking views of Mount Fuji along the way.

Approaching Owakudani Station

We disembarked at the Owakudani cable car transfer point and took some photos of the cable car we had been riding in.

Walk to the point where the black eggs are boiled. Along the way, stop to take pictures.

Path to the black egg boiling point

Tourists enjoy tasting kuro-tamago, eggs boiled in the hot springs of Owakudani Valley. The sulfur in the hot spring water reacts with the eggshells, turning them black. It is believed that eating one kuro-tamago will extend one's life by seven years.

A bag of five black eggs costs 500 yen, and comes with a small packet of salt.

On the way back to the station, we stopped for ice cream.

Let's take a picture.

It was time for our appointment. We continued on the Ropeway to Togendai-ko to board the Hakone sightseeing Cruise. We sailed across Lake Ashi, with Mount Fuji visible on our right.

We were among the first in line, so we were able to choose our seats on the boat before others. Some people who arrived later had to stand.

The Pirate Ship Sails Lake Ashi

The boat sailed to Hakone Machi-Ko Port first and then continued to Motohakone-ko Port, but we did not disembark.

I didn't see Mount Fuji at all on this boat ride.

We took a boat back to Togendai-ko pier.

Let's take a picture with the boat.

From the pier, we walked to the information desk and learned that the bus to Gotemba stops at sign number 2. We waited for a while and the bus arrived. (Refer to the timetable for Shinjuku Station as the bus will pass through Gotemba Station. According to the timetable, the bus will pass through the station every 30 minutes and takes 35 minutes to reach Gotemba Station. We used our pass to ride for free (please sit in the seats designated by the driver, as some seats are reserved).

We took a train to Gotemba Station and then rode the free shuttle bus to Gotemba Premium Outlets for about 15 minutes.

Upon arriving at Gotemba Premium Outlets, we discovered that the last bus to Kawaguchiko departed at 18:25. We therefore arranged to meet at the bus stop at 18:15, giving us only 30 minutes for shopping. (The previous bus departed at 17:05.)

It took us two hours by car to reach Kawaguchigo Station. The time was around 8:00 PM.

I'm staying at Kawaguchigo Station Inn tonight. Good night