Private Hakone Tours

Hakone appears in 5 of our itineraries across Japan, ranging from 9–14 days. Every one is private, and every one can be reshaped around the time you want to spend here.

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From our itineraries

What a day in Hakone looks like.

Taken from the itineraries themselves — these are real days from trips we run, not a generic description of the city.

Day 4 · Essence of Japan

Hakone: Mt Fuji's Reflection

The drive from Tokyo to Hakone takes ninety minutes through the southern Kanto plain, and the approach to Hakone — the volcanic region with Mt Fuji on its northern horizon — is the first encounter with a Japan that is not urban. Hakone's defining experience is Ashinoko Lake on a clear morning, when Mt Fuji appears in perfect reflection in the still water and explains in an instant why this mountain has been the central image of Japanese art since the 17th century. Your private guide takes you through the Hakone Open-Air Museum — one of the finest outdoor sculpture collections in Asia, set in the mountain landscape — and the Hakone Barrier (Checkpoint) that controlled the road to Edo for two centuries. Your overnight accommodation is a traditional ryokan: tatami mat rooms, a kaiseki dinner of ten or twelve courses served in the room, and yukata robes. The shared or private onsen (hot spring bath) is fed by the volcanic water of the Hakone caldera.

Ashinoko Lake — Mt Fuji reflected in still water
Hakone Open-Air Museum
Traditional ryokan with kaiseki dinner

Day 3 · Ryokan & Onsen Japan

Hakone: The Volcanic Onsen

The drive from Tokyo to Hakone takes ninety minutes into the volcanic region southwest of the capital. Ashinoko Lake on a clear morning is the first encounter with the Japan that exists away from the city: the Fuji reflection in still water, the torii gate at the lake's edge, the pine-forested shores. The Hakone Open-Air Museum — one of the finest outdoor sculpture parks in Asia — in the morning. By early afternoon, your ryokan: the okami (inn hostess) greets you at the entrance, guides you to your room, and explains the routines of the house. The tatami mat room, the wooden bath with the volcanic water already drawn, the yukata robe, and the kaiseki dinner of ten or twelve courses served in the room as the mountain grows dark outside. The onsen baths — fed by the volcanic water of the Hakone caldera — are available morning and evening. The quality of silence at a Hakone ryokan after dinner is something Tokyo does not prepare you for.

Ashinoko Lake — Mt Fuji in the reflection
Hakone Open-Air Museum
Traditional ryokan arrival — the okami and the routines

Day 5 · Japan: Cherry Blossom Season

Hakone: Fuji and the Mountain Blossom

Hakone's cherry blossoms arrive slightly later than Tokyo's and often coincide with the full bloom of the Ashinoko lake region's flowering cherries. The most celebrated image in Japanese art — Hiroshige's and Hokusai's depictions of Mt Fuji with cherry blossoms — has its living counterpart at Ashinoko and in the Chureito Pagoda at Fujiyoshida: the five-storey pagoda on the hillside above the Fujisan Hongu Sengen shrine, with Fuji above and the cherry trees of the Fujiyoshida approach in the foreground. Your private vehicle makes the circuit in the morning. The Hakone Open-Air Museum for the afternoon. Your ryokan in Hakone for the night: the kaiseki dinner of seasonal spring ingredients (bamboo shoots, wild mountain vegetables, the early freshwater fish), the volcanic onsen.

Chureito Pagoda — Mt Fuji with cherry blossom foreground
Ashinoko Lake with sakura on the shore
Hakone Open-Air Museum

Day 5 · Japan with Disney

Hakone: Mt Fuji and the Ryokan

The drive from Tokyo to Hakone takes ninety minutes through the Kanto plain and into the volcanic region southwest of the capital. Hakone's Ashinoko Lake — on a clear morning with the wind down — reflects Mt Fuji in its surface with the completeness and clarity that makes it one of the most photographed natural views in Japan. The Hakone Open-Air Museum is one of the finest outdoor sculpture parks in Asia, with works by Rodin, Picasso, Henry Moore, and Japanese sculptors set in a landscape of volcanic hills and maintained gardens. The afternoon arrival at your ryokan: tatami mat rooms, yukata robes, the onsen bath fed by Hakone's volcanic water, and the kaiseki dinner of ten courses served in the room by your okami (inn hostess).