Hakone Caldera and Fuji Lakes Day Tour: Hakone Shrine, Ropeway and Lake Ashi Cruise

Hakone is not a mountain so much as the hole left by one. The whole resort area sits inside a caldera formed when an older volcano collapsed, and almost everything you see over this day is a consequence of that collapse: the lake filling the floor, the hot springs feeding the inns, and the bare sulphur ground still venting near the rim. This tour runs the standard circuit through it and then continues north to the Fuji Five Lakes, so you finish the day with the mountain itself rather than only its foothills.

The first stop is Hakone Shrine, founded in the eighth century in a cedar grove beside Lake Ashi. The approach is a stone path under very tall trees, and the shrine's best-known feature stands away from the main hall: a vermilion torii built out in the shallows of the lake, so that from the shore it appears to float. It is one of the most photographed structures in the region, and the queue for a picture beneath it can be long on weekends.

From Togendai Port the day continues across the water. The sightseeing boats on Lake Ashi are decked out as pirate galleons, which is pure showmanship, but the crossing itself is genuine and quiet, and on a clear morning Mount Fuji appears over the northern rim of the caldera. Afterwards the Hakone Ropeway climbs to Owakudani, the vent field created by the eruption that carved this part of the mountain. The smell of sulphur arrives before the view does. Vendors here sell eggs boiled in the springs, their shells blackened by the iron in the water, and local custom holds that eating one adds seven years to your life.

The second half of the day heads north. Lake Yamanaka is the largest and highest of the Fuji Five Lakes, and its swan-shaped pleasure boats have become an unlikely landmark on the shore. Then comes Oshino Hakkai, eight ponds fed by water that fell as snow on Fuji decades ago and has been filtering down through the mountain's lava ever since. The clarity is remarkable and the setting, among old thatched houses, is deliberately preserved.

Practically, this is a coach day with several transfers and fixed timings at every stop. The guide handles the boat and ropeway logistics, which on a busy weekend saves a genuine amount of queueing. Bring cash, expect to eat at your own expense along the way, and accept that Fuji reveals itself on its own schedule.