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Hakone- Attractions While traveling to Hakone, you'll most likely pass through Odawara, the area's main city and transportation center. Odawara faces Sagami-wan Bay and has numerous overly crowded beaches. Use it only as a stopover on your way into the park where ancient spas, lined with ryokan and minshuku, await with magnificent views of Mount Fuji. If time permits, visit Odawara-jo Castle, a reconstruction of one of Japan's oldest fortresses. The first stop heading west on the Hakone Tozan Tetsudo Railway is Hakone-Yumoto, an ancient onsen where the streets are jammed with souvenir shops and dozens of hotels and ryokan offer a night's lodging. Miyanoshita farther west offers the greatest cluster of spas, many of which sit at an altitude of 400 meters or more and offer cool nights, even in midsummer. This onsen area has been popular since the 1500s, when Hideyoshi Toyotomi came here to relax in an open-air bath after the hard-fought Battle of Odawara. Nearby, down a one-lane road, is Dogashima, a secluded spa along the Hayakawa River that features ryokan with their own private ropeway. A few minutes along a riverside path brings you to Sokokura, an even more isolated spa with a traditional ryokan that displays a copy of the Shichiyu-no-Shiori, a 250-year-old illustrated guide to the local spas. The train dips to Kowakudani, the Valley of Lesser Boiling, so named after a nearby cave that emits steam clouds of sulfurous fumes. The train turns north just before entering Gora, a picturesque alpine village and the end of the line and beginning of the Hakone Ropeway. En route, it passes Chokoku-no-Mori, an open-air museum of sculptures and paintings by renowned Japanese and international artists. Besides sculptures by great artists like Rodin, there is also a Picasso Room featuring his works in different media. The ropeway from Gora to Togendai on the shores of Lake Ashino-ko runs cars every 15 minutes. En route, you pass Mount Sounzan and Owakudani, the Valley of Greater Boiling, where the earth emits a cloud of steam and gasses from a fumarole-packed landscape. The ropeway also passes through Ubako, a secluded but fascinating spa with some of the best mountain views in the area. Togendai is the end of the line. Here buses are available that skirt the shores of Lake Ashi-no-ko. Tour boats also cruise south, disembarking at Hakone-en or Hakone Jinja. Buses are available from either point back to Odawara; from Togendai, buses continue on to Mount Fuji. |
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