How to Beat The Crowds on the Hakone Loop

Helen Foster

The Hakone Loop is the most popular thing to do in Hakone. Every single person I spoke to there was doing it. Get it right, and you’ll see some cool sights and enjoy everything from cute trains to cable cars. Get it wrong, and you’ll experience a massive time suck, surrounded by people, and an experience that feels a bit like a sheep being herded. So, here’s how to do it the right way.

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How Do You Do The Hakone Loop?

In case you don’t know exactly what The Loop is, it’s a circular sightseeing route around the middle of Hakone that uses a mix of trains, cable cars, ropeway, boats and buses to see the area.

It is the most popular thing to do in Hakone, whether people stay here for a few days or arrive on a day trip from Tokyo, and it can get jam-packed.

One handy transport ticket called The Hakone Free Pass covers the trip and includes all the transport, which means you don’t need to buy tickets for each type of transport individually – and there is a lot of them.

These are the different sections of the sightseeing loop and the ways to get between them.

Hakone Yumuto – Start of the Loop

Whether you’re coming from Shinjuku directly on the Romancecar train or have arrived on a local train connection from the bullet train station in Odawara, the most common version of the Hakone Sightseeing Loop starts at Hakone Yumato Station, the gateway to Hakone.

This riverside town is full of wooden-fronted shops selling snacks and a pretty walk alongside the bubbling river. However, most people doing The Loop don’t jump out here. Instead, they get moving and head straight for the Hakone Tozan railway to Gora. 

Hakone Yumuto to Gora – By Train

This stretch of the loop takes about 35 minutes and sees you climbing through the hills of Hakone on a tiny two or three-car train. Because the climb is so high, the train can’t do it in a straight direct line, so it uses a series of switchbacks, which see it going back and forth to climb toward to Gora Station.

The cute orange and white trains that run between the main areas of Hakone

The train stops at six stops between Hakone Yumuto and Gora and there’s an on-train commentary explaining what’s nearby if you do have time to get off. Most people doing The Loop just stay onboard until Gora Station, before they change to the next mode of transport.

Gora Station to Sounzan – by Cable Car

This ten-minute stretch of The Loop uses what Hakone called ‘the cable car.’

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I hear the words ‘cable car’ I think of something that swings high above the ground – but while there is one of these as part of the loop, this isn’t it. This cable car is actually more like a funicular railway that’s pulled up the exceedingly steep slope to your next stop.

At Sounzan Station, you can be high above the clouds, and there’s a lookout at the top, along with a warm footbath that you can soak in for a little while. There’s also a cute ‘cloud’ drink that you can buy here. If you’re a candy floss fan, it’s a must-try – there’s a picture below so keep reading!

Sounzan to Owakudanai – By Ropeway

Ropeways in Japan look like what most of us think of when we hear ‘cable car.’ I’m sure there’s some technical reason why it isn’t called that, but if, like me, you’re not good with heights, I think it’s important to know that there aren’t three actual cable cars on the loop – there are two!

This part of the ropeway carries you across the steaming sulphur vents and yellow-flecked hills of the Owakudanai volcanic area.

Despite not liking heights, this was the part of the loop I liked most, and if you aren’t height-phobic, you’ll want to try and get a window seat so you can look down into the steaming valley below.

Owukandani Visitors Area – Walking About

At the end you’ll alight at the visitor’s area and experience this very active volcanic area. If the smell of the sulphur didn’t give away that there’s a lot bubbling away under them there hills, the popping and banging sounds you hear as another vent lets out some gas will.

The ‘must-do’ here is eating black eggs. Steamed in volcanic water, the sulphur turns their shell an inky black – and it’s said that every one of them you eat will add seven years to your life – which you’ll need because the queue to buy one feels a bit like it’s seven years long! It’s ridiculous.

Usually, I’m all over weird food in Japan (like ramen you set on fire or giant snails) but, the combination of the chaotic queue and the fact that I hate boiled eggs (unless they are mashed with mayonnaise and added into one of Japan’s famous egg sandwiches) meant I wasn’t queueing up to buy one.

Thankfully, I had thought ahead and asked my friends Paula and Charlie to try one for me when they were here a few weeks earlier. Despite their blackened shells, the eggs don’t take on any charred taste—Charlie’s slightly underwhelmed verdict was, ‘It tastes just like a boiled egg!’

Sorry, mate, but at least I’ve bought you a few extra years!

Owakudanai to Togendai – Ropeway 2

Once your stomach has had its fill of black eggs and your lungs have had enough of the sulphur, you take the second half of the ropeway down to the stop of Togendai.

This part of the ropeway leaves the steaming sulphur and yellow rocks behind and instead floats over the top of leafy green trees with the stunning view of Lake Ashi in the background.

It’s like a different world from the first half of the ropeway.

There are no real worries about checking timetables on the ropeway. It runs constantly meaning I never waited more than five minutes to get on either section – although queues can build up a bit later in the day.

Togendai to Moto Hakone -By Pirate Ship

At Togendai you pick up a giant pirate ship that sails you 40 minutes across the lake to Moto-Hakone past the view of the Hakone Shrine and its beautiful red torii gate on the water.

Moto-Hakone to Hakone Shrine – Walk

From the pirate ship dock, you can walk 10-15 minutes to see Hakone Shrine close up and have your photo taken by the famous gate.

Once you’ve finished, catch the bus back to Hakone Yumato to explore there or catch the train straight back to Shinjuku.

And that’s The Loop.

How to Beat the Crowds on the Hakone Loop

The sightseeing loop is immensely popular.

Everyone is doing it, and after a while, you start to see the same people at every spot, like some strange sci-fi movie. It gets very busy, and involves a lot of standing in queues waiting to get on the next transport.

Don’t get me wrong, Hakone Shrine is pretty, and I enjoyed the ropeway over the volcanic area and the view at Owakudanai, but the rest felt a bit like a production line, with a lot of wasted time between the two cool sights.

So, how might you avoid that? Here’s some ideas…

Book the Hakone Free Pass in Advance

The first queue I had to stand in in Hakone was the one to buy a Hakone Free Pass, but you can prevent this by purchasing your pass in advance.

You can buy passes to cover the journey from Shinjuku via Klook and have them delivered straight to your smartphone. The pass is valid for two days, but, even if you’re only in Hakone for a day, it will pay for itself with the return trip from Shinjuku, and the transport within The Loop.

Carriage of one of the local trains in Hakone

You can also book a physical ticket if you don’t like QR codes or don’t have a smartphone (it’s one ticket per phone) but you will have to pick this up. This is best done in advance or, you’ll end up in another queue.

One thing to note—the Hakone Pass does not fully cover travel from Shinjuku on the RomanceCar trains. If you wish to use this, you’ll need to pay an extra Limited Express Fee of 1200 yen. If you don’t want to pay for that, you can use the local train, which takes a little longer and see you change at Odawara – but, as you’ll see later; that might not be a bad thing.

Go in the Week

Hakone is a popular weekend destination for Japanese travelers, so crowds will be bigger on Saturday and Sunday. Going in the week will immediately decrease the number of people following the loop.

My schedule meant I couldn’t do that, and I arrived in Hakone on a Saturday lunchtime (in a very bad mood). Therefore, I left the loop to the next day so I could start early—which is tip 2!

Need Extra Planning Help?

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Start Early

The earlier you can start The Loop, the fewer people there will be on it. One of the big benefits of staying in Hakone overnight is being able to start The Loop before the day trippers arrive so you can miss most of the crowds. I had breakfast included in my hotel so I was a little later than I might have liked, but I was still at Hakone Shrine by 9am the day I visited.

You are also restrained a little bit by the timings of transport here. The first cable car leaves Gora Station for Souzanan at 8.45 am, while the first pirate ship leaves Togendai at 9.30 am or Moto-hakone at 9.40 am but even being on those will get you ahead of the pack.

If you’re coming in from Shinjuku, the first Romancecar that goes all the way to Hakone Yumato leaves Shinjuku Station at 7.37 and arrives in Hakone at 9.22

There is a slightly earlier one that only goes as far as Odawara where you’ll need to change trains to get to Gora – but this will still get you to Hakone about 40 minutes before everyone on the direct train. Or, you can jump on a bus from Odawara and utilise the next queue-busting idea.

Go Backwards

So above, I told you how to do The Loop the traditional way. Almost everyone coming from Tokyo for the day, and even most people staying in Hakone, do the loop this way, and because everyone is following the same path, the queues to get on the different types of transport really start to build up.

So, the easiest way to beat the crowds is to do it backwards.

When you do The Loop backwards, you take one of Hakone’s many buses to the Hakone Shrine, visit that, then get on the Pirate Ship, and then go to the volcanic area. You finish your journey by getting the cable car to Gora and taking the train back to Hakone Yumuto.

Another benefit of doing The Loop backwards is that starting at the Hakone Shrine means you’ll probably find a shorter queue for the famous photo standing in front of the waterfront torii gate – the above was part of the queue at about 9.30 am on a Saturday. Imagine what it’s like at 2 pm.

You’ll also start to visit sights relatively quickly on your journey – otherwise, it’s a lot of queuing and swapping transport before you see anything remotely interesting – especially if you’ve come all the way from Shinjuku.

And lastly, if you get things done quite quickly, you can free up time to see some of the other cool sights in Hakone like the fantastic Open Air Art Museum or the fun red wine baths at Yunessen hot springs park – and, because you end at Gora this way they are much easier to get to.

I’ve also heard that the buses to come back from Moto-Hakone at the end of the day can get a bit too full. Going backwards will avoid the risk of missing your train back to Shinjuku, especially if you head back a little early and spend some time wandering around Hakone Yumuto.

It’s very easy to do The Loop backwards from hotels in Hakone, there’s likely to be a bus to the shrine from your hotel. It’s also possible when coming in from Shinjuku; there are buses to Hakone Shrine from both Odawara and Hakone Yumuto. It will add a bit to your initial journey time, but, if you get on that first train to Odawara you should still reach Hakone Shrine by 9.30am.

I actually really enjoyed the long bus journey I took one afternoon around Hakone, as it allowed me to see far more of the pretty scenery.

Visit the Torii Gate First

If you do want the picture of you at the torii gate go there first rather than seeing the rest of the shrine. Instead of taking the obvious walkway through the entrance torii to the shrine, a pathway along the lake takes you right to the gate.

You can access it from the main road, take that set of steps you can see in the picture.

I don’t have my own gate photo as, when I arrived at a little after 9am on a Saturday the queue was about 30 people long. That’s short in the scheme of things but still too long for me to stand in for a photo! The fact that they have a Disneyland-style rope to wind people around the queue gives you an idea of how big it can get.

Thankfully, the aforementioned Paula and Charlie went to the shrine early in the morning on a weekday in February when it was deserted and took far better photos than mine, which they’ve let me use!

The Meaning of the Hakone Shrine Torii Gate

I wonder how many people who have their photos taken at the Hakone torii gate actually know why it’s there. Not that many is my guess—so let’s change that.

While Hakone Shrine was built in 757, the gate was only built in 1952 to commemorate the 1951 signing of the Treaty of San Francisco. This signified the restoration of peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers after WW2. The shrine’s official name is heiwa-no-toriigate of peace, and a plaque reading ‘peace’ was added to it in 1964.

Other memorials to the signing of the treaty in Japan include the Heiwa no To Peace Pagoda in Saitama Prefecture and the stone memorial in Shimomaruko, Ōta ward, Tokyo.

Forget the Transport

Okay, this is kind of the nuclear option, but you don’t have to use The Loop transport to get to the two most exciting sights on the circuit. Both the Okuwandai volcanic area and the Hakone Shrine can be reached by bus from various parts of Hakone, and, with a little walking at either end, there is also a bus that goes between them. Few people will be doing this so, while you won’t escape crowds at the sightseeing spots, you’ll avoid all the queues in the middle.

You can also walk through Gora Park to travel between Gora Station and the ropeway station at Sounzan in about 30 minutes – although it will be hilly.

Riding the different types of transport is part of the fun of The Loop, but they are not the only way to get there if you don’t want to get sucked into it all.

Other Tips to Improve Your Loop Experience

Take Your Time at Hakone Shrine

The gate might get all the headlines, but the shrine has other interesting touches you shouldn’t miss.

To the right of the main area, there’s a large cedar tree known as the baby-wishing tree. Women pray here to conceive and to have a safe birth once they have.

Also, the Hakone Shrine is one of the shrines in Japan where the water has some ‘magic’ properties. It said drinking it can improve your luck in love (there’s another shrine in Kyoto with ‘powers’ too).

Fountain at Hakone Shrine sees seven dragon heads each with a stream of water flowing from it's mouth

The spring pours through an ornate dragon fountain, which relates to the nine-headed dragon that’s said to guard nearby Lake Ashi.

Keep your eyes peeled for people practising archery or martial arts in the training hall in the grounds.

If you’re interested in Japanese history, you should also visit the Treasure House at the shrine. It costs 500 yen to visit, but it contains several important statues and scrolls.

Don’t Forget to Look for Mount Fuji

If you’re very lucky and the skies are clear, Moto-Hakone is one of the places in Hakone where you can get an incredible view of Mount Fuji.

To the right of this is roughly where it should appear below…. oh, yeah right! Can someone please draw in a mountain?

As you can see above, I wasn’t lucky enough to get a Fuji view during my visit, but if you do, the cafe in the Narakawa Art Museum opposite the Pirate Boat dock has a picture window with the most stunning outlook.

The downside of making The Loop backwards was that I couldn’t go in here and try the blue beer they sell in a Mount Fuji-shaped glass – 10.10 am is too early for beer, even on holiday!

The ropeway can also have an excellent view – but not for me!

Check the Pirate Ship Timetable

The Pirate Ship is handy for getting from A to B, and it gives you a view of a different angle of the heiwa-no-torii as you sail past it so you can see it from the water. However, in itself, it isn’t that interesting, except maybe for kids.

The main problem is that if you get the timings for it wrong and just miss one, it will chew up a frustrating chunk of time as it only runs at 30- 40-minute intervals. Check the timetable and get to the dock at least 10 minutes before the next ship—earlier in high season or on a weekend when queues can build up.

If you’re fit and aren’t bothered about riding the Pirate Ship, you can walk along the lake to Togendai in about an hour and a half. This will also allow you to explore Kuzuryu Shrine, known as the Dragon Shrine. I couldn’t do that on this trip, but it’s on my list for when I go back.

Don’t Fear the Ropeway

I don’t like heights or cable cars, but I didn’t find the Hakone Ropeway that scary.

You are fully seated, and it’s possible to sit in the middle of the car, away from all the windows. I was gripping on with white knuckles during the first ride, which greatly amused the Japanese family I was in the car with, but, it didn’t actually seem to be that high – nor did it do that swaying thing that most cable cars do when they go over the pillars.

I got off it feeling quite calm – and I enjoyed the second ride over the volcanic area so much I nearly came back and did it again in the afternoon (but then I went past the twinkly trees of the Venetian Glass Museum and that was the end of that idea).

If you are terrified of heights though, you can get to and from the Owakudanai area by bus taking the Ropeway out of, erm, The Loop. Use Google Maps to help time things so you don’t miss a bus, as you might have to wait a while between services.

See, look, I’m smiling (I do look completely shattered, though!).

Book the Walk at Owakudanai

Because it is so active, visitors can’t just wander around Owakudanai; you are restricted to the overlook area. That’s cool, but it would be much cooler to be among the bubbling vents – and the way to do that is to book one of the daily guided walks in the area.

Tours run four times daily (currently at 10, 11.30, 1.00 and 2.30), and you can book as far as three months in advance. They do book out, but it’s not one of those things where you have to wake up at 3am to snag a spot – probably because most people don’t know about it.

If you want to book in advance, the website is here. It is Japanese, so use a translation mode on your computer.

You don’t pay in advance; you pay on the day – as I write this, it costs 800 yen – and they don’t take cash, only IC Cards or Credit Cards. You can also check on the day to see if any slots are available but, don’t bank on it.

I didn’t know exactly when I would be in Owakudanai, so I didn’t book it, which I regret.

Chill Out With a Cloud Drink.

The top of the cable car stop at Sounzan overlooks the valley – and because you’re up fairly high by this point, it can be in, or even above, the clouds. To reflect this, they sell a drink with candy floss clouds on the top.

There’s also a footbath up here so you can relax for a bit, which might come in handy as the Cable Car is another point in The Loop that can chew up time. It only runs at 20-minute intervals, so if you don’t time things right, you can end up waiting a while to get back down to Gora.

And that’s about it. It took me about 3 hours to do The Loop, and at least an hour of that was spent waiting for transport. Most people will spend a lot longer, but I like smaller, quirkier sights, and the sheer number of people on The Loop and the feeling of being herded made me rush through it somewhat.

I wouldn’t say ‘don’t do the Loop’, but go into it with some planning so you don’t waste time that you could spend doing more fun things in Hakone. What fun things you ask? Well, here are all the things I enjoyed in Hakone far more than my time on The Loop. 

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