Hakone Free Pass - Moto Hakone to Hakone Yumoto (part 7 of 7)

This is the last part of Hakone trip before going back to Shinjuku. From Moto Hakone, you need to take Hakone Tozan bus to Hakone Yumoto. The journey takes 45 minutes and the journey is up and down hilly terrain. I was asleep almost the whole journey and don't notice much during the part of trip.


You need to take K line bus to Hakone Yumoto.

Heading out of Hakone now. Bye-bye Hakone. This is a very good free and easy trip by Odakyu.

Hakone Free Pass - Hakone Machi to Moto Hakone (part 6 of 7)

The walking journey from Hakone Machi to Moto Hakone takes around 20 minutes. By walking thru the foot path, you will pass by checkpoint museum and Ancient Cedar Avenue.


Cute toy on the display.

Checkpoint museum.

Walking towards Ancient Cedar Avenue.

Ancient Cedar Avenue. Huge cedar trees.

Mount Fuji from Moto Hakone. It's 5.00pm now.

Me with Mount Fuji.

Hakone Free Pass - Togendai to Hakone Machi (part 5 of 7)

This part of journey offers the fantastic view of Lake Ashi, the surrounding mountains and Mount Fuji. The trip from Togendai to Hakone Machi is via pirate ship shaped boats. The boat journey takes around 30 minutes. You have to option to disembark at Hakone Machi or Moto-Hakone. However I would recommend you to just disembark at Hakone Machi and walk to Moto-Hakone to enjoy some of great view of huge pine trees.


I still have 1 hour before the next boat departs at 3.00pm.

Nice view of Lake Ashi.

Surrounding wooded forest in Togendai.

Onboard the pirate ship shaped boat.

Twin mountain.

Hakone Machi port.

Nice boat view with Lake Ashi as background.

Hakone Free Pass - Sounzan to Togendai via Owakudani - black eggs (part 4 of 7)

The journey from Sounzan to Togendai is via Hakone Ropeway. This is the best part of the Hakone trip. Before reaching Togendai, you will need a transfer of Ropeway at Owakudani. Mount Fuji can be clearly seen from here and visitors can also enjoy the volcanic activities. The whole journey by Hakone Ropeway from Sounzan to Togendai takes around 30 minutes if you don't stop by Owakudani. You must stop by Owakudani to enjoy this Hakone trip!


Hakone Ropeway. This cable car served the highest number of passengers in the world. Although the number of visitors are many but this cable car service is very frequent and its non-stop.

Volcanic activities near Owakudani.

Scenery along the Hakone Ropeway.

Reached Owakudani.

Spotted cute dog at Owakudani.

Mount Fuji is a very shy mountain. Always hide behind the clouds.

While waiting for better view of Mount Fuji, lets watch the preparation of black eggs. You can see that the eggs are white before the worker put the eggs into the hot volcanic water.

The eggs are all turn into black colour! The colour change is due to the egg shell chemical reaction with the volcanic water which contains sulphur.

The whole area is full of rotten eggs smell (sulphur). Really salute to the workers who can withstand the smell all day long. Some more, the smell is actually bad for health if stay for too long and people who are asthmatic, are not recommended to come here.

Visitors looking at the making of black eggs.

My portion of black eggs. I am thinking of buying just two. But it comes with minimum of 5 eggs. The eggs are not cheap though. Five eggs cost me 500 Yen (MYR20).

The black egg.

See. Its just a normal looking egg. However according to legend, consuming the eggs is said to increase longevity. Eating one is said to add seven years to your life. You may eat up to two and a half for up to seventeen and a half years. It is not advised to take three egg, but I already consumed all five.

Look at the egg yoke.

Can see Mount Fuji now. Lucky that the weather forecast is correct.

Using my longest camera lens. Max zoom to the peak of Mount Fuji.

Hakone Ropeway with Mount Fuji as background.

Time to go to Togendai heading towards Lake Ashi.

Reached Togendai. Can't wait to board these pirate looking ships.

Hakone Free Pass - Gora to Sounzan (part 3 of 7)

After reaching Gora, you need to take Hakone Tozan Cablecar to Sounzan station for the next transfer. This mode of transport is a bit different as this is a cable car. The cable is on the track. The journey on this cable car only takes around 15 minutes. The scenery you can see from the cable car is amazing. The surrounding beside the track are very colourful.


Waiting for the door to open.

Now you know what I mean. Beautiful right?

Hakone Free Pass - Odawara to Gora (part 2 of 7)

After disembark from Odakyu train in Odawara, you should take Hakone Tozan train to Gora. Please make sure you are on either platform 7 or 11 for train to Hakone-Yumoto ot Gora. This Hakone Tozan train is rather unique as it is a train which is capable of climbing mountain at a very high slope. Due to the difficult conditions, the line has three switchbacks used to ascend particularly tight spots. The train have 3 signal stations which have siding track and zigzag. The signal stations are at Deyama, Ōhiradai and Kami-Ōhidradai. The journey from Odawara to Gora took around 40 minutes.


Hakone Tozan Train. It climbs slope of 8%.

The view in the train.

Scenery view.

Slope going up mountain.

Finally reached Gora. Next is the transfer to Cable car. If you like, you can walk around Gora as well as they have very unique village settings. However, I don't have much time on that :-(

Hakone Free Pass - Odakyu Train (part 1 of 7)

The first step to visit Hakone is to purchase the Hakone free pass which is described in my previous post. From any area in Tokyo, you should take Metro to Shinjuku station to board Odakyu train which goes direct to Odawara. For those who don't familiar with the train system in Tokyo, its quite confusing to take this train. They offers many kinds of train from express to limited express which has more stops. For express, it will pass by some of the non-popular stations without stop. But just make sure that you taking the right train to Odawara. The journey from Shinjuku station to Odawara took me almost 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Tip: If you plan to take train earlier than 8.30am to Hakone, do make sure to purchase the ticket from Odakyu ticketing office in Shinjuku station a day before as their office only opens from 8.30am to 6.00pm.


Arrived Odawara station.

The station seems modern enough.

From here, we will go direct to Gora.

Hakone Free Pass - Gateway to Mount Fuji view

The Hakone Free Pass by Odakyu Railways is a special pass for exploring Hakone, and includes:
1)One round trip from the Tokyo area to Hakone by Odakyu Railways from Shinjuku station.
2)Unlimited use of Odakyu affiliated buses, trains, boats, cablecars and ropeways within the Hakone free area. I you go there for a day trip, you only have chance to use it once although they allow you to use the pass unlimited times.
3)Discounted admission to selected tourist attractions. I don't find it useful.

Why visit Hakone? From here you will be able to see the magnificent view of Mount Fuji. From each mode of transport in Hakone, you will be able to see different angle of Mount Fuji depends on the weather. Initially, I don't plan to view Mount Fuji as the price to go there via the bullet train (Shinkanshen) is very expensive. You will need about MYR300 for the return journey just for the train. But somehow, I did more research and found out this Hakone Free Pass. From Shinjuku station, the pass cost just 5000 Yen (MYR210) and it includes whole day journey on different types of transport and different viewing point plus enjoying the beautiful view around Hakone. This is the best deal for any free and easy traveller can possibly get.


Hakone Free Pass.