Hakone is famous for its onsen, mountains and luxury ryokan. Less well known is its wonderful network of buses, trains, switchback trains, ropeways, cable cars and even, to my great delight, a pirate ship.
A day ticket (¥2850) allows you to take the ropeway through the mountains from Sounzan Station to Togendai via Owakudani and the pirate ship across Lake Ashinoko to Moto-Hakone and Hakonemachi, then all the way back.
From Sounzan, you can then take the cable car to Gora (¥410) and the switchback train to Hakone-Yumoto (¥650).
It's a lovely way to see the best of Hakone.
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Find out more about Owakudani.
Hannah Warren @hannah.warren
Hannah lives in Sydney and spends most of her time dreaming of being somewhere else. She loves karaoke, hates making plans in advance, and will probably never be able to read a map.