Hakone Loop

Up at 6 again for breakfast before leaving our wonderful Tokyo Airbnb. As always, time has flown by. We made the short metro trip to Tokyo station for our first Shinkansen - bullet train. A short 30 minutes later, we arrived in Odawara to start the Hakone Loop. Hakone is a popular day trip from Tokyo with beautiful mountain views and a chance to see Mt. Fuji - we bought transport passes at the station and then started with a short train ride to Hakone Yumoto. From there, we switched to a mountain train that climbs the 6-10% grade using a series of 3 switchbacks ending in the village of Gora. At Gora, we boarded a funicular (called a mountain train) to take us up to the cable cars (called rope ways). Unfortunately, today’s weather did not cooperate - cold and rain and, worst of all, heavy fog. Ideally we would have taken our time but with sights blocked out, we continued on to Owakudani. Famous for its boiled eggs in the sulfur-rich volcanic hot springs, eating one is said to prolong your life by 7 years. They tasted yummy though you could definitely smell the sulfur in the air. Given the lack of views, we took the ropeway down the other side of the mountain to the village of Togendai. Though many of the local restaurants were closed for some reason, we found a place by Lake Ashinoko and had a delicious (and cheap) lunch of ramen and udon before walking down to the boat pier. Just as we arrived, the skies cleared and the sun came out! The boats had been limited by the fog but returned to normal schedule so we were able to get right on. For some reason, they were pirate ship themed on the 19km lake and took us to the opposite side in about 35 minutes. We finally got to enjoy the beautiful scenery before disembarking at Motohakone. At this last leg, we made the 15 minute walk to the Hakone Shrine, famous for its lakeside temple gate. The shrine itself was peaceful and small up the hill. We got the goshuin stamps before heading down to the water. As there was a 1 hour line to get pictures directly underneath the gate, we settled for a photo set back in the woods before heading back to our bus. We caught one just in time before the 25 minute ride back to the Hakone Yumoto station. We were able to catch two Ubers to our nearby Airbnb in Hakone and ordered groceries via UberEats. While waiting for burger meat and sides to arrive, we all enjoyed the outdoor sauna (and the boys enjoyed the sauna hats) and the amazing views along with a Sakura across the road. It was a beautiful Airbnb. After Joce made dinner in the grill, we watched the first half of The Last Samurai with the kids before bed. A relaxing finish to a cold and wet start to the day.Read more