Fuji-Hakone, Lake Ashi Cruise & Mt Fuji View

Fuji Hakone National Park is home to Mt. Fuji and the Fuji Five Lakes that encircle its base. The area is noted for its wild beauty and extensive network of lakes, waterfalls, forests, and alpine plants. Also, Hakone is one of the most popular inland hot-spring resorts for year-round in Japan. Wedged between Mt. Fuji and Izu Peninsula, it is a large region surrounded by several forested mountains and has beautiful scenery dramatically accented by deep glens and ravines. In the feudal era, Hakone was a very important checkpoint that safeguarded the security of Edo (now Tokyo) as the seat of the Shogunate.

The Komagatake Ropeway takes one to the top of Mt. Komagatake, which affords a view of Mt. Fuji, Lake Ashi, Mt. Futago and the mountains of the distant Izu Peninsula if the weather permits. Cable cars travel the 720-meter-long ropeway in five minutes. At the western base of the mountain lies the Hakone Picnic Garden. The grassy hills offer ideal picnicking with gardens of alpine plants, wild azaleas and rhododendrons at many places.

Lake Ashi, 725 m above sea level, is a principal attraction of Hakone. It has a circumference of 17.5 km with an area of 690 ha. The lake abounds in black bass and trout, which makes angling a main leisure activity, along with boating and swimming. It is also well-known for the inverted reflection of Mt. Fuji on its surface seen on a clear day. You will cross the lake by excursion boat.

You will also visit the Hakone Open-Air Museum containing numerous sculptures by artists from all over the world. The museum is especially known for its collection of 26 pieces by Henry Moore, including one that is more than 13 feet tall. The sculpted beauty of the art creates a stark contrast with the natural surroundings.