Mt Fuji visit in Hakone with Enoshima bonus

Today I want to share with you one of the most popular trips from Tokyo: Hakone. It is part of the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, known for its onsen, lake with views of Mt Fuji, and outdoor activities around the park. Those coming to Japan for 2 weeks may go only as a day-trip, but it is challenging to do the whole loop on a day, plus you miss out on the onsen experience.

The first tip is that weather should be as sunny and as cloud-less as possible, if you want to have any hope of seeing Mt Fuji. It is said it is only visible 43-70 days per year, be it because of the fog or clouds. But Hakone is a placee that can be enjoyed even if Fuji is not entirely visible as there are other activities to do. In contrast, Kawaguchiko, which I talk about in my Autumn post, is exclusively for Mt Fuji viewing.

There are 2 passes that you can take to save travel cost, offered by Odayuu train company:

• Hakone Freepass: covers roundtrip line from Shinjuku Tokyo to Hakone and transport within the park such as ropeway, cable car and sightseeing boat. 6100 yen for 2-3 days

• Hakone Kamakura Pass: same as the previous one but includes travel to Kamakura, Enoshima and on to Hakone. It is interesting if you wish to visit these places as well within 3 days. 7520 yen.

Both passess can be booked by Klook and redeemed at Shinjuku station where the train departs.

One thing to note about the passess in Japan is that they are not necessarily the most efficient way of travel. For example, we booked the Hakone Kamakura pass, but from Enoshima, we had to go about 1 hour back-track, in order to change to Hakone line, while there was a faster train between those places. In the end we paid the extra fee for the more direct route. For this reason, if you are visiting Enoshima-Hakone, I would still recommend booking only the Hakone Freepass.

This trip was done the first weekend of August, Friday to Sunday, as part of my mum's visit to Japan.

Day 1: Magical evening in Enoshima island

Most people will tell you that Shinjuku station is a nightmare to get out. Well, that is true, but so is to get in. It is the largest and most transited station in the world, and it cannot be taken lightly.

We had booked the pass from Klook, but to redeem it,g we had to find Odakyuu's Information Center. We spent about 1 hour walking around lost, until we finally found it. For some reason as it was after 5 PM, they kept saying they could not redeem the Klook ticket and that there was nothing to be done. But then strangely they told us we could buy a new pass right there. So they refunded us the Klook pass on cash, and we had to pay anew for the new passess. We were so confused on the procedure, but finally we made it to the Odakyuu train.

It took 1 hour to Fujisawa station, and then just another 5 minutes on the Enoshima Line to Katase-Enoshima station - a Chinese temple looking station. As it was already 5 PM we checked in our hotel for the night, close to the beach and the station, 3rd Place by Hideout.

The beach is only 5 minutes walking. During the summer days there are many beach stands selling coctails and food, and Japanese tend to come for the whole day and do activities like volleyball. A point to note is that beaches in Japan are officially open only July and August, meaning there are no lifeguards asides these season and swimming is technically not allowed.

After a drink at the beach we crossed the Enoshima Benten bridge to the actual Enoshima island. It is only a 4-kilometer circunference island connected by this bridge to the mainland, known for its shrines and botanical garden.

In summer evenings the island is lit up in a magical way. We walked along the main street to Enoshima shrine, and then red lanterens lit up our way to the top. In a separate post on day-trips from Tokyo I will go more in detail on other things to do on the island.

Day 2: Hakone and view of Mt Fuji

Before leaving Enoshima I took a quick swim at the beach as it was still not too hot and day-trippers still hadn't arrived.

It took 40 minutes to Odawara station. As I mention at the beginning of the post, we had some misunderstanding with the pass, as if we wanted to use it we had to back-track halfway back to Tokyo. Instead, from Fujisawa station we boarded the Tokaido line to Odawara that took only 30 minutes, to then transfer to a local bus to Hakone Yumoto (20 minutes).

Hakone is a popular trip from Tokyo, and as such, it is easy to navigate around. There is a popular circular route, the "Hakone Loop", that most people do, that is 100% recommended to follow. Again, the pass does not cover all buses so it is important to make sure to follow this route to avoid extra fees. However, it is difficult to do the whole loop on a day, unless you start early, which was not our case, so we had to split it in two days.

After leaving our luggages in a locker, we took the local bus 30 minutes to Lake Ashi, the main highlight of Hakone. The lake is surrounded by volcanic mountains, including Mount Fuji, but this is only visible from certain angles of the lake. We really liked Bakery & Table Hakone, a bakery next to the lake that even has a footbath that you can enjoy while eating fresh bakery. From there, Motohakone port, we took the Hakone Sightseeing Cruise - the pass covers unlimited rides, and there are two versions of it, with own being a pirate boat. It has several ports, but most people cross the lake to the opposite end (30 minutes), to Togendai port. Half-way, if it is sunny enough, you will be greeted by mt Fuji! In our case there were some clouds so we could not see it in its entirety but was still a nice view. Hakone Shrine's Heiwa no Toori, a famous toori overlooking the lake, is also visible from the boat.

After getting off, we took the Hakone Ropeway, also covered by the pass, from Togendai Station to Owakudani. I think the ropeway is the best place to catch a nice view of Fuji.

Owakudani is a volcanic valley with active sulfur vents, created about 3000 years ago from eruptions of Mt Hakone. Note the sulfur smell is quite strong and I kind of wished we had taken some face masks.

With Fuji in the background, it is quite an impressive sight.

We did not have too much time there that day as it was about 5.30 PM, so we caught a bus back to Hakone Yumoto - unfortunately it was not covered by the pass and we found out too late. The Hakone Loop technically continued on to the cable car, but as we had dinner booked at the ryokan, we had chosen to take the bus.

Our accomodation for the night was Tenseien, a ryokan in Hakone Yumoto. Most people that come to Hakone stay overnight at a ryokan for onsen experience, and I have to say it did not disappoint. The ryokan even had two waterfalls at the back garden, and a shrine, that you can walk around.

You can choose to stay in western or Japanese style accomodations. Dinner and breakfast were buffet style with live cooking. And the rooftop outdoor onsen was simply the best.

Day 3: Finishing the Hakone Loop

It was a rainy day, but in spite of that it was a good day, as we had already seen Mt Fuji the previous day and Hakone had many things to do asides Mt Fuji viewing. This time as we had the whole day we chose to follow the whole Hakone Loop.

We first took the train from Hakone Yumoto to Gora, a scenic ride that was actually quite packed with tourists. There we visited Gora park, a western style botanical garden. There were many workshops to learn embroidery and knitting as well that you could book in advance, and a nice tea house overlooking the garden. Thankfully while it was cloudy and rainy, it was not heavy or continuous so there were breaks in between.

From there we took the Hakone Tozan cable car from Gora Station to Sounzan Station. As it progressed everything was whiter and whiter due to the clouds, so I can hardly say we could appreciate the views. It was still fun though. After 10 minutes we arrived to the viewpoint station, although not much could be seen due to the weather. There was even a footbath there.

From there we repeated the loop from the previous day but in reverse, by taking the Hakone Ropeway to Owakudani. Again, due to the fog we could not see much, but at least in Owakudani it was clearer. We had the popular black eggs, "kuro tamago", eggs boiled in natural hot springs of the valley. The sulfur is what makes them turn black.

You can do a short guided tour around the more volcanic area, but it indicated it could be hazardous and the sulfur smell was too strong for us, so we chose not to, and progress on the ropeway down to Lake Ashi - this time no Mt Fuji view.

After taking the boat again, this time we stopped at Hakone Machi Port. It was 4 PM and there were hardly any people already as we walked along the shore of the lake, and to Onshi-Hakone park, a western style park that we liked for lake views. The trail back to Moto-Hakone port was filled with cedar trees and, again, hardly tourists.

Finally we arrived at Hakone Shrine, and its famous torii overlooking the lake. But too many people were queuing to take a picture with it, maybe expecting a 45 minute wait, so instead we got a photo from the sidelines. You can see all the people waiting on the right picture below.

We took the last bus back to Hakone Yumoto at around 6.30 PM, and then headed back to Tokyo.

Overall in spite of the weather the second day, I think we adapted the itinerary well, by being able to see Mt Fuji on the first day, and doing stops when it was raining. It also reduced the scorching summer temperature down after the rain making it easier to walk around. For next time I would recommend focusing only on Hakone without combining it with Enoshima - it is best to combine the latter with Kamakura- and if you have 1 day and a half like we did, cut the loop a bit earlier on the first day.