Hakone is a town in Kanagawa prefecture located on the eastern foot of Hakone pass. Hakone lake district has a reputation as one of the best holiday resorts of the world around the year and it has about twenty different qualities with nick name “Hakone Seventeen Spas”. In addition to spas, Hakone is also a home to various museums and large historical zone.
Hakone is a fantastic holiday spot which has population of just about 14,000 people. The total area of Hakone is 93 square km. There is also famous check point called “Hakone Checkpoint” which was actually renamed from “Ashigara Check Point” after the Edo period. The Hakone barrier was built on the Tokaido highway in 1619 to maintain peace with foreigners from the west. Due to this reason, Hakone barrier is called “the border between the east and the west” and it used to terrify the travelers passing through because of heavy inspection before passing through.
The major attraction in Hakone is Hakone Ropeway which starts from Lake Ashi along with Mt. Fuji. Apart from Hakone Ropeway, there are numbers of spots to visit such as O-Waku-Dani, Lake Ashi–No-Ko, Susukio-Sogen of Sengokuhara, Moto-Hakone, and the alpine trees along Kyu-Kaido Street. There are various methods of transportation to travel from one place to another including cruising boat and cable car. In addition to these, Hakone has various museums such as The Hakone Open Air Museum, The Narukawa Art Museum, The Pola Museum and The Venetian Glass Museum which are always crowded by the visitors around the world.
Traveling to Hakone Lake District
There are two main ways to reach HAKONE from Tokyo.
If planned by bus: SHINJUKU TERMINAL (ODAKYU EXPRESS BUS [97 MINUTES])
If planned by train: JR TOKAIDO LINE [35 MINUTES]