Hakone / Lake Ashi

箱根 / 芦ノ湖 : Hakone / Lake Ashi


Hakone is located in the Kanagawa prefecture (神奈川県) of Japan. It is a small area in the prefecture which is populated with tourists and views of the beautiful Lake Ashi (芦ノ湖). The last highlight of my tour for the day come to this stop, Hakone. At here, we are to take a ferry across Lake Ashi and alight on the opposite side where we will take the Hakone Komagatake Ropeway (箱根駒ヶ岳ロープウェー) to the summit of Hakone Komagatake (箱根駒ヶ岳) where we will get to see the whole of Lake Ashi.


Hakone Ferry Terminal.


Souvneir and snacks inside the terminal's store.

Well, the day which I visited was really cloudy day hence, we don't get to see much. It's a pity as it was summer time in Japan and therefore the clouds hovered around these areas. As mentioned before, best time to explore and to see these beautiful views will be in the winter season where the sky would be clear of clouds. Still, I enjoyed the rides on the ferry and cable car.

View of Lake Ashi from the terminal's habour.


Our ferry to the other side of Lake Ashi.

The ferry across the lake take about 10 to 15 minutes where I get to see the wide spread water and enjoy the sea breeze. I took some photos onboard the ferry as usual. In my opinion, the ride was quite a short one. As we touched down onshore of the other side of the lake, we walked over to the cable car station to take the cable car to the top. At the base of this side, there are numerous restaurants, cafes and souvenir shops too. However, due to that we are rushing for time. We don't get to explore these places.

View of Lake Ashi from the ferry. Nothing much to see...arh.


Spotted these hotels and people relaxing onshore while snapping photos on the ferry.


Reached the other side of Lake Ashi!


Some tourists relaxing their time away...


Cooling weather but still got ice-cream truck! Hmm...

The cable car ride took about 7 to 10 minutes where if it is winter time, you will get to see the beautiful Mount Fuji. Hmm...well, I don't get to see as mentioned earlier. At the summit, the temperature drops to about 16 to 18 degrees which is qutie cold if there is wind blowing towards you. As usual, I took photos around the area. It was quite disappointing as I don't get to see many of the nice views here. I hope to explore more and see more the next time...Definitely, this time round, I will visit during the winter season.

Entrance to the Hakone Komagatake Ropeway's Station


My ticket to the ride.



The station at the summit!


In conclusion, the whole trip last about 8 hours. I give this tour a 8 out of 10 stars, I would recommend it to most of my friends. First point, transport is really not convenient when you travel out of Tokyo. Second, people living out of Tokyo seldom speak English nor they would understand you either. I have come to the end of my Japan travel posts and this is the last one. Well, don't be sad as I will be posting up many interesting reads in the months to come. So, do drop by soon to check them out.

Story Closed on 12.10.2013.

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