Hakone Adventure Monday 4th & Tuesday 5th February

Grabbed an early lunch before heading off to Hakone. I had to catch the train to Odawara from Shinjuku then transfer train to head to Hakone after purchasing my 2 day free pass. (The two day free pass allows you on all modes of transportation in Hakone as often as you want in the two day period and very cost effective).On arrival at Hakone it was windy and wet so not the best conditions for sightseeing so I headed for a coffee to make a plan of action.
The plan was to wander around the Hakone Yumoto area grab a bite to eat and some snacks and beers from the local shop before heading to the hotel for the night and hope for better weather tomorrow. My evening in was basically me lying in the hot bath for hours on end drinking beer and grabbing an early night for the busy day that lay ahead the next day.



Tranditional Japanese Hotel Room

Private Open Air Bath

Early morning Japanese breakfast at 8 oclock to kick start the day and another soak in the hot bath before checking out.

Japanese Breakfast yum yum

 

I caught the bus at Hakone Yumoto station at 10.10am and took a 40 minute bus journey to Moto Hakone where the views at Lake Ashi were amazing so I wondered around for an hour before catching the sightseeing Pirate Ship to Togendai.

Lake Ashi

 

Pirate Ship

 

After the cruise ship I boarded the Hakone Ropeway to Owakudani on route I had a terrific view of Mount Fuji and transfered onto another ropeway at Owakudani to take me to Sounzan where I caught the cable car to Gora. The views and sights along the way were beautiful.

Steam rising from the Hot Springs

 

 

Ropeway

 

Cablecar

 

At Gora I headed to the Hakone Gora Park for a wonder round the gardens before taking a 10 minute walk to the Hakone Open Air Musuem which was my favourite part of the day as it was pretty cool - and the Hot Foot Spring Bath immense.

Hakone Gora Park

 

High five to the Open Air Museum

 

Foot Spa

 

How I felt by the end of the day

 

I headed on the zig zag train back to Hakone Yumoto station which concluded the round trip and as it was only 3pm I had time to catch the bus (20 minute journey) to Hakone Kowaki-en Yunessen (Hot Springs). I am afraid I dont have photos of the baths but  can tell you it was amazing I spent 2 hours relaxing in both indoor and outdoor hot spring baths such as coffee bath, waterfall bath, japanese sake bath, green tea bath, charcoal bath, outdoor wine bath and my favourite of all the chocolate bath. This is just some of the baths I had the pleasure of relaxing in.

Before heading off I was tempted by the Dragon Waterfall slide and the Turkish Hamam (Doctor Fish's Foot). The fish foot bath was a bit of a bizare feeling but enjoyable all the same.

It was time to shower and catch the bus back to the Station where I boarded the Romancecar back to Shinjuku.

A beer on the Romance car on route home

 

Headed off for some Noodles on the way back and as I had been on the go since 7.30am I was very tired so arrived back to Nippori at 10pm and it was bedtime.