Private Hakone Tour from Tokyo: Live Nippon Day Trip Review

What Is in the $508.76

Five things are included: private transportation, an English-speaking driver-guide, drivers who hold a commercial driving permit, commercial insurance, and a green number plate commercial vehicle. The operator is pointed about the last one, warning readers to avoid unlicensed white-plate vehicles. Hotel pickup and drop-off are part of every vehicle option.

The price is per vehicle, not per person, and the listing prices by vehicle option, so check the total for your option on the booking page.

What You May Pay on the Day

Budget separately for food, activity tickets and the Mt Fuji entrance fee of 2,800 yen per group, which the listing excludes. The road closes to private cars in the climbing season, though the listing says that during hiking season the vehicle takes you all the way to the 5th Station.

In Hakone the tickets add up. The Hakone Ropeway costs 3,000 yen round trip for adults and the Lake Ashi Sightseeing Cruise is 3,000 yen round trip or 1,700 yen one way, both official prices since the October revision. On the surrounding-area itinerary the Mt Fuji Panoramic Ropeway at Kawaguchiko is 1,000 yen round trip. At Oshino Hakkai there are vendors of food and souvenirs, so lunch there is easy, but nothing on this tour feeds you.

Options and Supplements to Know Before Booking

The listing shows a from price above the base because of optional add-ons, so read the option list before you pay. The supplements that exist are the Spanish-speaking guide at 30,000 JPY and the French-speaking driver-guide at 20,000 JPY, plus any customization the operator prices separately. There is also a two-day option that adds a Kyoto day, which is really a different trip, and if that appeals look at the site's guide to a 3 day trip from Tokyo first.

The Mt Fuji and Hakone Itinerary

Your driver collects you at your hotel and heads for the Fuji area. The first stop is the Mt Fuji 5th Station, the highest point a car can reach on the mountain at about 2,300 metres, and the listing is blunt that visiting it is not guaranteed because the road sometimes closes for bad weather or maintenance. The listing gives 30 minutes to an hour for this stop.

Next is Oshino Hakkai, a small village with eight ponds, Mt Fuji views and food and souvenir vendors, again about an hour. Then the vehicle moves to Hakone for Owakudani, the black-egged volcanic valley, and the Lake Ashi pirate cruise, about an hour each. The listing says the vehicle starts moving back at around 4:00, which makes this a roughly 10-hour day hotel to hotel with the overtime meter running after that.

The Mt Fuji Surrounding-area Itinerary

This plan stays on the Yamanashi side. After the 5th Station if weather allows, it runs Lake Kawaguchiko, the Kachi Kachi ropeway and Oishi Park on the north shore, then Oshino Hakkai, then the Arakurayama Sengen shrine pagoda. The Chureito Pagoda sits nearly 400 steps up the mountain from the shrine's main buildings, so there is a real climb, and the listing allows about an hour for it.

Optional stops on this plan are Fuji-Q Highland, if you tell the driver in the morning, and Hakone-jinja shrine, which the listing describes as a 5-minute stop if time allows. The key rule is different here: the vehicle starts moving back at the 7th hour of the tour, and overtime is charged if you run past the 8th hour from the start. If you want more time in the lakes area than that, a 2 day trip from Tokyo fits the region better.

Travellers on a Per-person Budget

At $508.76 per vehicle, a couple or a solo traveller carries the whole vehicle price, where a shared coach is priced per person. The same Hakone circuit in a group of up to 43, with the ropeway, cruise and bullet train return in the ticket, is $159.54 per person on the Mt Fuji and Hakone day tour with bullet train return, and a 10-hour Hakone coach day with one-way ropeway fare included is $76 per person on the Mt Fuji, Hakone Ropeway, Owakudani and Lake Ashi day tour.

Anyone Who Needs Tickets and Lunch Bundled in

Neither itinerary includes a single ticket. On shared tours the inclusions differ, so if walk-in simplicity matters, compare what each listing covers in the site's day trips from Tokyo overview before you book.

People Who Cannot Spare a Full Day or Climb Steps

The tour is listed as suitable for all fitness levels and infants can ride in a pram, with specialized infant seats available, but the Chureito Pagoda means nearly 400 steps and the whole day runs about 10 hours door to door. Wheelchair-accessible transportation options are listed, though the volcanic trails at Owakudani are a different matter. If 10 hours is too long, the shorter shared formats above cover the same ground.

Travellers Who Must Have Mt Fuji in the Photo

The listing itself says any negative review about unexpected bad weather will not be accepted, the 5th Station visit is not guaranteed, and Hakone has lower odds of a clear Fuji view than the Fuji Five Lakes because both places need clear skies at once. Pick the surrounding-area itinerary for better odds, and remember Mt Fuji shows best in the early morning, in colder months, and on more than 120 days a year even from central Tokyo.

Hakone by Train

The Odakyu Romancecar runs from Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto in about 80 minutes with all seats reserved, for a surcharge of 1,200 yen for adults on top of the regular fare. From Hakone-Yumoto the Hakone Freepass, 7,100 yen for 2 days from Shinjuku, covers the Tozan train, the cable car, the ropeway, the sightseeing cruise and the main buses, which is almost the entire circuit this tour drives. The Tozan train to Gora takes 35 minutes.

One honest warning: Hakone is hard to compress into a day. The 2-day Freepass exists for a reason, and the ropeway can stop for wind or maintenance with substitute buses running instead.

The Fuji Five Lakes by Train or Bus

The Fujikyu highway bus from Busta Shinjuku to Kawaguchiko Station takes about 1 hour 45 minutes with fares from 2,200 yen, or 2,000 yen booked online. By rail, the limited express from Shinjuku to Otsuki takes 70 minutes for 2,430 yen, then the Fujikyu line to Kawaguchiko takes 55 minutes for 1,170 yen. Local buses on the lake, including the red line every 15 minutes, make the ropeway, Oishi Park and the lake shore easy without a car.

Chureito Pagoda is free, though it is nearly 400 steps up.

So Where Does the Tour Earn Its Price?

Doing both Mt Fuji and Hakone in one day by public transport means two long transfers and tight timing, and the 5th Station sits at the end of a mountain road closed to private cars for part of the year. For a group sharing one vehicle, the charter removes every connection. For Hakone alone or the lakes alone, the train makes this day easy, and the site's guide to free day trips from Tokyo by train covers the cheap versions.