Hakone

Cradled in the caldera of an ancient volcano just eighty kilometres southwest of Tokyo, Hakone has been Japan's most celebrated mountain retreat since the Edo period, when feudal lords and samurai paused at its hot springs along the old Tokaido highway. On clear days, the view of Mount Fuji reflected in the mirror-still waters of Lake Ashi is one of the most iconic images in all of Japanese aesthetics — a composition so perfect it appears almost contrived, yet which has inspired artists and poets for centuries.

The town — really a constellation of small settlements scattered across forested volcanic hills — offers an extraordinary density of cultural and natural attractions within a remarkably compact area. The Hakone Open-Air Museum displays works by Henry Moore, Picasso, and leading Japanese sculptors against a backdrop of mountain and sky. The Pola Museum of Art houses an exceptional Impressionist collection in a luminous building half-buried in the mountainside. And throughout the region, traditional ryokan inns offer the quintessential Japanese experience of soaking in mineral-rich onsen waters while gazing out at forests of cryptomeria and Japanese maple.

Hakone's culinary landscape reflects its position at the crossroads of mountain and sea. The region is renowned for kuro tamago — eggs boiled in the sulphurous hot springs of Owakudani until their shells turn jet black, said to add seven years to one's life with each egg consumed. Local tofu, made with pure mountain spring water, achieves a silken delicacy impossible to replicate elsewhere. Restaurants along Lake Ashi serve freshwater fish and soba noodles, while higher-end establishments offer kaiseki cuisine that showcases seasonal ingredients from both the mountains and nearby Sagami Bay.

The surrounding Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park encompasses an astonishing variety of landscapes: the steaming volcanic valley of Owakudani, where sulphurous vents pierce the mountainside; dense cedar forests crisscrossed by sections of the original stone-paved Tokaido road; and the serene shores of Lake Ashi, traversed by replica pirate ships and traditional pleasure boats. The Hakone Ropeway and funicular railway provide aerial perspectives across the caldera, while the Hakone Tozan Railway — Japan's oldest mountain railway — switchbacks up the steep slopes through hydrangea-lined tracks.

Hakone is most commonly visited as part of cruise itineraries calling at Tokyo or Yokohama, with the journey taking approximately ninety minutes by limited express train from Shinjuku. The iconic Hakone Free Pass provides unlimited access to the region's network of trains, cable cars, ropeways, and boats. Autumn brings the most spectacular scenery, when maple foliage ignites the mountainsides in November, but spring cherry blossoms and summer's lush greenery each have their devoted admirers. Winter offers the clearest views of Mount Fuji and the most atmospheric onsen experiences.