Where to stay in Hakone: five bases, from onsen ryokan to Odawara

Hakone is a mountain resort area, not one town, and where you sleep decides how much of your trip is spent on trains, buses and cable cars. The Hakone travel guide covers the sights; this page settles the question of where to base yourself, and how it fits with the rest of a Japan trip.

The loop that most visitors do runs from Hakone-Yumoto up the Tozan railway to Gora, by cable car and ropeway over Owakudani to Togendai, then across Lake Ashi by boat to Hakone-machi or Moto-Hakone. A base at either end of that loop shortens the day. A base in the middle costs you less time on both mornings. Bases with the best onsen and dinner are often the ones that are hardest to reach without a bus, so you trade convenience for atmosphere.

Three things decide the choice. The first is whether the hot spring is the point of your trip. If it is, choose a ryokan with dinner and breakfast, and accept a location that may need a bus. The second is how you arrive: the Romancecar from Shinjuku runs straight to Hakone-Yumoto in about 80 minutes, while the shinkansen from Tokyo stops at Odawara in 35–50 minutes. The third is your dates. Fuji views are best in the cooler months, and the boats and ropeway are busiest at weekends and in the autumn color weeks of November.

The price bands below are rough guides per night for a double room, not quotes, so check live rates: $ is a business hotel, $$ a mid-range hotel or simple ryokan, $$$ an upscale ryokan or resort. At ryokan, rates often include dinner and breakfast, so they look higher than a room-only hotel but cover the two biggest meals of the day.

Hakone-Yumoto is the gateway. The Odakyu Romancecar from Shinjuku ends here, and the Tozan railway that climbs the mountain starts here. The town runs along a river with a shopping street, small restaurants and ryokan on the slopes. It is the easiest place to arrive, the easiest place to leave, and usually the lowest-priced onsen stay in the area.

The trade-off is distance. Gora is about 40 minutes up the Tozan railway, Lake Ashi is about 35 minutes by bus, and the ropeway is further still. If you stay in Yumoto and do the loop the next day, you add roughly an hour and a half of transit, round trip, to a long day. If you only want a bath, dinner and a slow morning, that does not matter.

Restaurants are easy to find, so a room-only rate works here. That is not true higher on the mountain, where most ryokan expect you to eat in. Look for a ryokan with a bath overlooking the river and check whether it has a shuttle from the station.

Gora is the top of the Tozan railway and the start of the cable car up to Sounzan, where the ropeway to Owakudani begins. If you stay here, the loop starts within a short walk of your room, and you avoid the crowds that arrive by the same trains later in the morning. It is the best base for a first overnight stay in Hakone.

The village is small. There is an open-air art museum, a formal garden and a few restaurants, and most of it closes by early evening. Many of the ryokan and small hotels here are set into the hillside, with private baths and mountain views. Book dinner with the room, because there is not much to choose from after dark.

Getting there takes a little planning. From Yumoto, the Tozan railway climbs in a series of switchbacks, and services can be slower on wet or windy days. Carry a small bag for the cable car and the ropeway and leave the rest at your ryokan. Most ryokan will hold your bags on the last day so you can do the loop back down to Odawara.

Sengokuhara is a quiet highland north of Lake Ashi, known for its pampas grass hills in autumn and for a scatter of upscale ryokan, art museums and small inns. It suits couples and slow travelers who want big baths and long dinners, and who do not mind depending on buses.

There is no train here. Buses run from Gora, Hakone-Yumoto and Odawara, and the ropeway is a bus ride away. That is fine if you plan to hire a car, take a taxi, or travel at your own pace. It is a poor choice if you rely on tight train timetables or plan to leave early for another city.

The rewards are the quiet and the space. Evenings are still, mornings start early, and the highland has walks that most Hakone visitors never see. In late September and October the pampas grass hill turns gold, which is worth a stay on its own.

Moto-Hakone sits on the southern shore of Lake Ashi, with the Hakone Shrine's lakeside torii and an old cedar avenue that leads toward the Hakone-machi pier. Staying here puts you on the lake at dawn, before the boats and buses arrive. On clear mornings in the cooler months, Mt Fuji rises behind the far shore.

Transport here is by bus and boat. The Tozan bus links Moto-Hakone with Odawara and Hakone-Yumoto, and boats cross to Togendai for the ropeway. That works well if the lake is the point of your trip, and less well if you need to be at Gora at 9am. Evening options are limited: many restaurants close early, and some inns serve dinner only to guests.

The rooms are a mix of lakeside inns and small hotels, with a wide price range. Choose one with a lake view if the weather is likely to be clear, and one with a good bath if not.

Odawara is the shinkansen stop at the foot of the mountains, with a castle, a lively shopping street and the lowest room rates in the area. It is not onsen country, and the classic Hakone scenery is a train ride away. What it offers is convenience: the shinkansen from Tokyo in 35–50 minutes, the Odakyu line to Shinjuku, and the Tozan railway to Yumoto in about 15 minutes.

Stay here if you arrive late, leave early for Kyoto, or want to save money and can take a day trip up the mountain. The trade-off is that you sleep in a regular city and pay for a ryokan visit on top if you want one.

The area around the station has plenty of restaurants and convenience stores, so a room-only rate works. For a full Hakone experience, book one night in a ryokan higher up and use Odawara for the first or last night.

Book early for weekends, Golden Week, Obon and the autumn color weeks in November. The best ryokan sell out weeks ahead, and Saturday nights cost more than weekdays. If your dates are flexible, a Sunday to Thursday night is cheaper and the trails, boats and baths are quieter.

Ryokan rates usually include dinner and breakfast. Dinner is a set multi-course meal served at a fixed time, often 6pm or 7pm, so tell the ryokan if you will arrive late or have food restrictions. Business hotels and some pension-style inns offer room-only rates. Small ryokan may prefer cash for extras, so carry some yen; see our note on money in Japan.

Hakone town charges a bathing tax of ¥150 per person per night for overnight guests who use hot spring baths, and ¥50 for day visitors. The town has also been studying a separate lodging tax, so check the town site and your booking total for any new charge, and ask the property how it collects the tax if the booking site does not show it.

Book the room first, then decide how to travel. If you are staying two nights or more, price the Hakone day trip or overnight options and the Free Pass before you buy tickets. If you are adding Hakone to a longer route, see whether the JR Pass is worth it and pick your dates using the best time to visit Japan. Get an eSIM for Japan before you go, in case the signal drops on the mountain.

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