Explore more curated experiences in Hakone
View all Hakone toursThe Hakone Loop with a Local Guide: Tozan Railway, Owakudani Ropeway and Lake Ashinoko
The classic Hakone circuit done properly with an English-speaking guide: switchback mountain railway, ropeway over the Owakudani vents, black eggs, a cruise on Lake Ashinoko and Hakone Shrine. Available from Odawara by rail or door to door from Tokyo.
Highlights
- The full Hakone Loop, including the switchbacks of the Hakone Tozan Railway
- Ropeway over the steaming Owakudani volcanic valley
- Black eggs boiled in the sulphur springs, and black-egg ice cream
- Sightseeing cruise on Lake Ashinoko inside the caldera
- Hakone Shrine and its torii in the water, with Mt. Fuji beyond the ridge on clear days
- Optional swaps: Gora Park, the Open-Air Museum, Narukawa Art Museum, the Old Tokaido Road, the Hakone Checkpoint, Onshi Hakone Park and the Amazake teahouse
The Hakone Loop with a Local Guide: Tozan Railway, Owakudani Ropeway and Lake Ashinoko: Key Facts
| Price | From $526 per person |
|---|---|
| Duration | Public transport version ~8 hours (9:30 AM - 5:30 PM); private transport version ~11 hours (8:00 AM - 7:00 PM) |
| Group size | Up to 8 people |
| Languages | English |
| Tour type | Guided Tour |
| Booking | Direct with the local operator — no OTA markup |
Choose from 2 available options
The Hakone Loop with a Local Guide: Tozan Railway, Owakudani Ropeway and Lake Ashinoko
The Hakone Loop with a Local Guide: Tozan Railway, Owakudani Ropeway and Lake Ashinoko
Full description
Hakone's great trick is that the transport is the attraction. The circuit locals call the Hakone Loop strings together a switchback mountain railway, a funicular, an aerial ropeway and a lake boat, each handing you to the next, each climbing or crossing terrain that would otherwise be a slog. Working it out alone is possible; doing it with someone who knows which train to be on and which side of the cable car to stand is the difference between a day of transit and a day of Hakone.
The Hakone Tozan Railway begins the ascent, reversing direction at a series of switchbacks to gain height that the gradient will not otherwise give it. Above it, the ropeway lifts over Owakudani, the sulphur vent field left by a collapse around three thousand years ago and still steaming. This is where the black eggs come from: ordinary eggs boiled in the spring water, their shells blackened by the iron and sulphur, sold warm in bags of five. Local lore gives you seven extra years of life per egg, and there is black-egg ice cream for anyone who prefers their folklore cold.
Lake Ashinoko fills the caldera floor below, and a sightseeing boat crosses it. On the eastern shore stands Hakone Shrine, founded in the eighth century, with its red torii planted in the shallows. Beyond the far ridgeline, when the sky cooperates, Mt. Fuji appears. Hakone also carries real history: the Edo-period Tokaido road ran through here and the shogunate kept one of its most important checkpoints at the lakeside, inspecting travellers between Kyoto and Edo. The stone-paved Hakone Hachiri and the cedar avenue survive from that road.
The itinerary is not fixed. Depending on your interests and the weather, your guide can work in Gora Park, the Hakone Open-Air Museum with its hillside sculpture and Picasso holdings, the Narukawa Art Museum's Japanese painting and its picture-window view of the lake, the Old Tokaido Road, the reconstructed Hakone Checkpoint, Onshi Hakone Park on the former imperial villa grounds, or the Amazake Chaya, a thatched teahouse that has been serving travellers on the pass for around four centuries.
Two formats are offered. The public-transport version meets you at Odawara shinkansen station at 9:30 and runs about eight hours, with the railway, ropeway and lake cruise tickets included and your own bullet train fare separate. The private-transport version collects you from a central Tokyo hotel at 8:00 and returns around 7:00 PM, roughly eleven hours, with a licensed driver, private vehicle and highway tolls covered. Both are priced per group rather than per traveller, so the published rate is the total your party pays between you; the public-transport rate steps up with each additional person, and the private version is bracketed at one to four and five to eight. A 1.5% payment processing fee is added at checkout.
Tour Itinerary
The schedule below is a suggested plan and can be adjusted to suit your preferences.
Meet your guide
At Odawara shinkansen station at 9:30 on the public-transport version, or at your central Tokyo hotel at 8:00 with a private vehicle and driver.
Hakone Tozan Railway
Climb into the caldera on the switchback mountain line, reversing direction to gain height through the hillside.
Hakone Ropeway to Owakudani
Aerial crossing above the sulphur vents, with the whole valley steaming below the cabin.
Owakudani black eggs
Eggs boiled black in the spring water, plus black-egg ice cream, and views back towards Fuji when the air is clear.
Lake Ashinoko cruise
Cross the caldera lake by sightseeing boat, some of them styled as pirate ships.
Hakone Shrine
An eighth-century shrine in cedar forest, its red torii standing in the lake shallows.
Optional extra stop
Gora Park, a museum, the Old Tokaido Road, the Hakone Checkpoint or the Amazake teahouse, chosen with your guide.
Finish
Back to Odawara around 5:30 PM, or to your Tokyo hotel around 7:00 PM on the private version.
Detailed Itinerary
[{"time": "08:00 / 09:30", "title": "Meeting", "description": "Private version: pickup at a central Tokyo hotel at 8:00. Public version: meet your guide at Odawara bullet train station at 9:30, having made your own way there."}, {"time": "10:00", "title": "Hakone Tozan Railway", "description": "Board Japan's oldest mountain railway of its kind and climb through the switchbacks, hydrangeas lining the track in June and July."}, {"time": "10:45", "title": "Gora and the funicular", "description": "Change at Gora for the cable car up the slope. Gora Park and the Open-Air Museum both sit on this stretch if you want one worked in."}, {"time": "11:30", "title": "Hakone Ropeway", "description": "Aerial gondola over the ridge. The vent field opens beneath you on the descent towards Owakudani."}, {"time": "12:00", "title": "Owakudani", "description": "Time among the steam and sulphur. Black eggs and black-egg ice cream, and Fuji visible to the northwest on clear days. The area occasionally closes at short notice when gas levels rise."}, {"time": "13:00", "title": "Lunch", "description": "A local stop; the bill is settled on the day."}, {"time": "14:00", "title": "Lake Ashinoko cruise", "description": "Descend to Togendai and cross the caldera lake by boat towards Motohakone or Hakone-machi."}, {"time": "15:00", "title": "Hakone Shrine", "description": "Stone steps through cedar to a shrine founded in 757, with the much-photographed torii standing in the water below."}, {"time": "15:45", "title": "Optional stop", "description": "The reconstructed Edo-period checkpoint that controlled the Tokaido road, the stone-paved Hakone Hachiri and its cedar avenue, Onshi Hakone Park, the Narukawa Art Museum, or amazake at a teahouse serving the pass for four centuries."}, {"time": "17:30 / 19:00", "title": "Finish", "description": "Public version ends at Odawara around 5:30 PM. Private version returns to your Tokyo hotel around 7:00 PM."}]
Includes
- English-speaking guide, Station meeting/pickup (public transport option), Hakone Tozan Railway, ropeway and lake cruise tickets, Hotel pickup and drop-off (private transport option), Licensed driver (private transport option), Highway tolls (private transport option)
Excludes
- Bullet train tickets (public transport option), Meals, Entrance fees for additional activities, Parking fees (private transport option)
Important information
Meeting point
Public transport version: Odawara bullet train station. Private transport version: pickup at central Tokyo hotels.
Know before you go
- Free cancellation available up to 24 hours before the activity starts