Tokyo Day 3 - 19 Nov 12

Odawara Station

Today we will be doing an excursion to Hakone. For this purpose, we bought the Hakone Free Pass tickets at Shinjuku the night before.

For the 2 day pass, we paid 5000Yen per person. This pass inlcudes a round trip from Tokyo to Hakone and buses, trams, cable cars and boat trips for the Round Course.

Before sunrise, we took a very early train from our hotel hotel to Shinjuku, then change to the Odakyu train bound for Odawara. At Odawara, we change to another bound for Hakone Yumoto.

Train to Hakone Yumoto

Just behind Hakone Yumoto Station was a lovely stream. Since we were early and the Baggage Delivery Counter at the Station only opens at 8.30pm, we decided to get breakfast first.

What the Baggage Delivery Service does is that it will deliver your baggage to your hotel/ryokan for a fee while you do the round course unencumbered. Do show your Hakone Free Pass for a discount.

Oden 325Yen for 3 pieces   Rating 4/5

Meat Pau 105Yen   Rating: 4/5

Pudding 126Yen   Rating: 4/5

Hakone Yumoto Street with 7-11 at the end

Got our breakfast from 7-11 further down the road from the station and I must say that I'm impressed. Nothing beats tucking into the hot steaming Oden and Pau on a cold autumn morning. Notice that the streets are quite devoid of activities as it was still early.

Beautiful autumn leaves abound

After breakfast and completing the Baggage Delivery Service, we took a bus from Hakone Yumoto to Moto Hakone. Beautiful autumn scenery such as the above greeted us on the bus ride.

Large tori gate next to Lake Ashi

Another tori gate at entrance to Hakone Shrine

The first place we visited was the Hakone Shrine. It was quite a distance away from the bus stop but was a pleasant walk nevertheless. Since it was early in the morning, it was rather chilly and I got a can of hot coffee from one of the ubiquitous vending machine. More for the heat than the drink!

Hakone Shrine tori in Lake Ashi

Above is the famous Hakone Shrine's Tori Gate within Lake Ashi, visible when you are taking the boat across.

Lake Ashi cruise boat

From MotoHakone we took a cruise boat to Togendai. The ship is design to look like pirate boats with chests of treasures within. The ride it self was about 30 mins in duration and there were plenty of scenic views of autumn displayed.

Beautiful autumn leaves

More autumn foliage seen on the cruise. We then took the ropeway from Togendai to Owakudani.

At Owakudani, we had lunch at this restaurant.

Hot Udon with Tempura - 1350Yen   Rating: 3.5/5

Black Curry - 1200Yen    Rating:- 3.5/5

Pretty decent lunch, especially at a tourist area. However, prices were on the high side as expected. The black curry was not spicy but was quite tasty.

After lunch, we proceeded to visit the Owakudani, well known for it's black eggs. Alas, we did not try as they were selling in lots of 5 and were feeling full after lunch. Each egg when eaten is purported to extend your life by 7 years!

We then proceeded to Gora via cablecar. From across the street, we took a bus to our next destination.

Which is the Hakone Open Air Museum. We paid 1600Yen per adult for the entrance fee.

They have many exhibits, mainly sculptures on display and we spent a few hours leisurely strolling through the compound.

They even have a section of the museum dedicated to Picasso. It's really been a pleasure visiting this museum, viewing the exhibits, accented by the fall colors.

We also spent sometime soaking our feet in the hot bath for 100Yen per person. Really soothes your aching foot! Absolutely love this! They even have some lemons and oranges thrown in for that citrus flavor.

After the museum, we checked into our Ryokon Gora Ichinoyu.

I decided to splurge and went for the room with outdoor private onsen. So the first thing we did was to enjoy the onsen.

Feeling refresh after our onsen, we proceeded to have our dinner dressed in yutaka. Feeling ravished after the long walks, we attacked our dinner with gusto. Everything was great, save for the squid, which was too tough for our palate, which was a pity.

Retired to our room for more onsen. Yeah, it really feels great to be freezing your butt then dipping it into hot water. Truly sublime!