4 Days Hakone Trip from Tokyo Questions

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  Baa on 23/01/2020 - 23:26

  Is this your first time in Hakone? As an adult I could potentially stretch it to 3 days but 4 days with young kids seems like a large amount of time.

  • 

    msugi on 24/01/2020 - 00:03

    Yep first time, one of the reason we set it to 4 days so we can take our time travelling without having trying to rush things with the kids.

    • 

      one man clan on 24/01/2020 - 08:52

      Agree with the poster above, there's not that much to do to be honest. It's beautiful and relaxing but I don't think you'll be rushed

  • 

    87percent on 24/01/2020 - 09:56

    +1

    agree.. went with a tour a few years ago (with our 2 year old), and even then it felt like we were just spending way too much time there. 2 days maximum i would think

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  TheMindsetTraveller on 24/01/2020 - 08:38

  We spent 4 days in Hakone but this was a while ago. Lucky we did because we caught that cable car from Gora up the mountain; you can see Mt Fuji but for the first three days we were there, due to low clouds, did not see it, then on the last day we tried one more time and bang - Fuji-san appeared!

  Gora is a quaint town and you will feel refreshed after being in behemoth Tokyo.

  We stayed in a 300+ year old ryokan, was an awesome but expensive experience, but not sure how kids can/would handle such adult activity however.

  • 

    msugi on 24/01/2020 - 10:31

    we're building our itinerary around the kids mainly, there will be lots of walking and we'll be carrying prams as well, this prob won't work too well on those off track roads, one of the reason why we'll be sticking to main roads and tourist attactions.

    Really hope we can catch Fuji mountain while we're there, although March isn't the best time for this.

• 

  msugi on 24/01/2020 - 10:26

  Effectively out of the 4 days, it will only be 2 and half days worth since the first and last day we'll be on the train and busy unpacking and packing up.

  The itinerary we're thinking:

  1st day:
  - Arrive and check-in at Gora
  - Check out the surroundings
  - Onsen

  2nd day:
  - Gotemba
  - MotoHakone (maybe)
  - Amazake-chaya Tea House
  - back to Gora

  3rd day:
  - Gora > MotoHakone bus stop
  - Ashi shrine
  - Hakone Checkpoint
  - Ship cruise
  - Ropeway
  - back to Gora

  4th day:
  - Gora
  - Back to Shinjuku

  However, my dilemma is when and where should I get/activate Hokone Free Pass, and we can extend the Pass into a 4 day Pass

  • 

    dazweeja on 24/01/2020 - 10:41

    I thought the Hakone Open-Air Museum was really good and the kids there seemed to be enjoying themselves too:

    https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review-g298171-d32…

    There's a foot bath near the end! I don't have kids though so probably not the best judge ;)

    • 

      msugi on 24/01/2020 - 11:08

      Heard good reviews about the open air museum, might do this as well. Cheers

• 

  jason101 on 25/01/2020 - 00:11

  +1

  Consider travelling there via the romance train if travelling with small kids otherwise it’s a very long and tiring typical public transport ride. Prams in Tokyo are a nightmare, if you must bring a pram bring the one and make the kids take turns walking. I’d also agree with the above re spending too much time there especially with kids - we knocked off hakone in 1 very full day: getting there, rope car/tram, cable car, lunch, boat ride and bus back to the station, train back in to Tokyo. This was too short a time and I wish I’d allocated an extra day, but 4 days is too long in my view. From memory we had a very hard time finding the correct ticket counter at Shinjuku station to buy the correct ticket package, so spend time researching this in advance or be prepared to walk around in very large circles with kids (not fun), I wish I could give more precise guidance but I think the booth/outlet we needed was in a building external to the main station.

  Edit: unrelated but don’t miss Disney Sea.