Hakone: Cable car and Ropeway
The rest of our day, starting here, was spent circling the region by five different means of transport (train, cable car/funicular, ropeway, boat, and bus), using the Hakone Free Pass. It is referred to as the Hakone Round Course. We started it in the unconventional location of the museum, but since it is a round-trip, it really doesn’t matter.
After leaving the open-air museum, we took the train back to Gōra Station (強羅駅) 🗾. This is where the Hakone Tozan Cable Car (箱根登山ケーブルカー) starts. This historic 1.2 km [funicular railway has operated since 1922, connecting Gōra Station (強羅駅) 🗾 and Sōunzan Station (早雲山駅) 🗾 with a 209-meter altitude climb. The funicular station was extremely busy when we got there. Departures are about every 20 minutes. The ride up was fun, but everybody was kind of packed into the cars like sardines.
At Sōunzan Station (早雲山駅) 🗾 you can transfer to the Hakone Ropeway (箱根ロープウェイ), where a gondola takes you further up the mountain. Exiting at Hakone Ropeway Ōwakudani Station (大涌谷駅) 🗾, a transfer station, you enter a large area with vista points and cafes.
You can view the Ōwakudani (大涌谷, lit. “Great Boiling Valley”) area, which is a volcanic valley with active sulphur vents and hot springs. It was created around 3,000 years ago, as a result of the explosion of the Hakone volcano. For us, these sights and smells were familiar, as we have seen and smelled similar features in Yellowstone National Park many times. After walking around a bit and seeing the sights, we got some refreshments (the weather was quite hot) and went back to the station to transfer to the segment of the ropeway to Tōgendai Station (桃源台駅) 🗾.
This is the longer portion of the ropeway and descends towards Lake Ashi (芦ノ湖). On clear days, this segment offers views of Mount Fuji in the distance. While we sort of could make out the outline, it was barely visible, and photos could not capture it.
At the Togendai View Restaurant (桃源台ビューレストラン) 🗾 in the ropeway terminal, we had a quick lunch. From there, a short walk to the Tōgendai port, where we boarded a pirate ship for the Hakone Sightseeing Cruise. There is probably a reason why the ships used look like pirate ships, but we did not figure out why.
