A Day Excursion to Hakone
A Day Excursion to Hakone
Hakone is one part of Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park, located a little over an hour away from Tokyo. It’s a very popular tourist destination (actually, a bit too popular for our taste -- even on a weekday during the “off” season it was impressively crowded.) We took the one-day round trip excursion to be able to get a quick look around the area. As most guide books would tell you, and which we agree with, if you come here, we’d recommend staying overnight. I think we spent more time waiting to get on cable cars/buses/trains than we did enjoying the scenery; and sometimes the ride itself was so crowded there was little more than a few moments of good views.
October 27, 2008
Part 1: First a short train cable car ride to get partway up into the mountain, where you can stop at the small but scenic Gora Park:
Part 2: Then a cable car ride taking you over the steaming hot sulfuric springs of Owakudani, an area around a crater created by the last Mt. Hakone volcano about 3000 years ago.
You can get off the cable car at Owakudani and walk fairly close to some of the hot springs. And of course, you can purchase eggs that have been boiled in the natural hot springs. The sulfuric acid turns the shell black (still taste like a freshly boiled egg inside, though); eating these eggs is said to prolong one’s life by seven years -- and for only 500 yen (~$5) for five of them!
Part 3: A scenic boat ride across Lake Ashi:
Part 4: A rather crowded bus ride back to the entrance station...not very picturesque...
There are a lot of places you can get out to take walks, in addition to museums and other interesting activities, which we missed in order to get around the circuit within the day. Hakone is also just one part of the entire national park; it seems to be more popular for its resorts and onsen hot spring baths (for people -- not the ones the eggs are boiled in!) but it was enjoyable to see. Plus, I ate three eggs (21 years worth), saw Hello Kitty in an eggshell, and added extra value to our JR Rail Pass.