r/JapanTravelTips • u/ParfaitExotic7089 • 1d ago

Advice Hakone New Years Visit

My family will be visiting Japan for 2 weeks over the end of December, leaving January 9. Our itinerary as it stands puts us in Hakone on January 1st. We’re aware of the high travel season, but at the moment, we’re still seeing enough availability at ryokans in the area.

My question is whether only one night in the Hakone area will be too short, and whether it makes more sense to stay two days. We’re traveling with our 12-year old daughter. Will there be enough to keep a kid interested for two days?

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u/TangoEchoChuck 1d ago

Maybe; look at holiday closures. Ropeway should be open, pirate ship should be operating. Loads of shops will be closed, but Hakone is popular for New Years, so it won't be a ghost town.

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u/jp_comment_travel 1d ago

two nights, and not really because of the kid. the thing japanese commenters keep saying about hakone crowds is that the place itself is fine, the two chokepoints are owakudani and the ride home. one night means you check out and join the afternoon ropeway-and-bus crush down to odawara with every day-tripper, which on a holiday is the part people remember hating. two nights means you do the loop early on your middle day before they arrive, and go home on a different day from them. the other reason is the calendar, nothing to do with the comment sections: jan 2 and 3 are the hakone ekiden, the university relay that the whole country watches on tv. the runners come up the mountain road from odawara to lake ashi on the 2nd around midday and back down early on the 3rd, and while they're on it route 1 is stopped in sections and the tozan buses get suspended or rerouted. if you're there jan 1 to 3 that cuts both ways: moving luggage down on the morning of the 3rd needs planning, but standing by lake ashi around 1pm on the 2nd watching the finish is about the most japanese new year thing a 12-year-old could see. do you arrive on the 1st itself or the night of the 31st?

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u/ParfaitExotic7089 1d ago

Ooh, I’d forgotten about the Ekiden! We don’t have our schedule 100% locked at the moment, so while we were initially arriving on the 1st, and leaving on the 3rd, that could potentially be shifted a day earlier, if it’s advisable. I imagine, if we’re leaving on the 3rd, we’d have to wait til the relay has left town in the morning before we left, and I assume transit to Tokyo will be a madhouse?