Our final destination in Japan, and for the trip as a whole, was Hakoné, a mountainous region just south west of Tokyo. This was a little slice of heaven, and a perfect way to finish our trip.

Getting there involved re-tracing our steps on the mountain train from Takayama back to the nearest bullet train station, then a bullet train, then a local train and finally a cute switch-back train to cover the steeper gradient of the (very scenic) final 15k to our destination.

We were staying in a tiny mountain village called Gora, at a ryokan called Gora Kadan. This was the same idea as the ryokan in Takayama, but was in another league in terms of style and facilities. Like the one in Takayama, this place also had its own indoor and outdoor hot springs (onsen). I could get used to the daily hot baths experience. It’s incredibly relaxing! The Japanese have the whole spa thing down.

For obvious reasons, I couldn’t take any photos of the hot springs, but this place also had a private hot spring bath in each room, so you could have a good soak in your own room instead if you preferred, so here’s a photo of that instead:

The Boy got into the dress code very quickly here too:

As did DW:

Hakoné is a weekend destination for Tokyo folk, known for its ryokans, wonderful mountain scenery and great opportunities for outdoor pursuits. It’s also generally regarded as the best place to come to get glorious views of Mount Fuji. But the guide books do warn you that this particular mountain is “notoriously shy”. How very true. In three days here, this was the best view we got of it (if you look carefully you can see the bottom of the snow-cap in the distance):

Just as well we got a great view of it on our train from Tokyo to Kyoto!

Aside from trying to glimpse Mount Fuji, we didn’t just relax in the onsen. There’s a nice transport loop that you can do around the region, so we did that on our first day here. First, you take the switchback train I mentioned (we’d already done this bit the day before):

Then you take a funicular cable-car straight up half a kilometre. The gradient is so steep for this bit that the tram has steps inside:

Then you take a gondola up to an active sulphur springs section of the mountain:

We got off here to go look at these springs, and to eat some of the black eggs sold here. They hard boil eggs in the sulphuric steam. This turns the shells black. Local lore says that eating one of these adds seven years to your life. All except The Boy ate one. Thankfully they tasted just like normal eggs:

Then you take another gondola over the top of this mountain and down to Lake Ashi on the other side. Here, you board a “pirate” ship to take you across the lake. You can then take a bus to complete the loop, or just re-trace your steps. We did the latter.

The pirate boats were funny. It was very odd to see this kitsch version of an English tall ship this far from home. Have a look:

It was a bit disconcerting to bump into this map onboard:

The Boy liked helping the crew though, and the ladies liked posing on the throne:

When we crossed the lake, we walked along a remaining part of the original Tokyo to Kyoto road, and visited a reconstruction of one of the shogun-era road checkpoints. It was an interesting diversion. The section of road was lovely. The shogun of the time had the route planted with cedar trees, to provide travellers with shelter from the sun in the summer and the snow in the winter:

I took this photo on the return boat journey. On a clear day you get a beautifully framed view of Mount Fuji. Not this time!

The visibility got steadily worse as the afternoon wore on. By the time we were on our last gondola stretch, you could hardly see in front of you:

This was that same view on our way up that morning:

The following day was similarly cloudy, so we gave up on trying to see Mount Fuji. Instead, we went to a kind of hot springs theme park nearby. Here we went around a circuit of bathing in different themed springs – from coffee, to red wine, to green tea, to sake, and so on and so on. It was good fun. Gimmicky, but fun. When we got back, I treated myself to a proper onsen at our ryokan before dinner.

On our final day (today!), it was a beautiful clear start to the day. So we ditched our pre-arranged plans for an early train back to Tokyo, and instead headed back up the mountain to see if we could finally catch a cloud-free view of Mount Fuji. Sadly not! While the whole of the rest of the area was cloud-free, the mountain itself and its surrounds had a bank of low-level cloud all around. It truly is shy!

I’m typing this up from our very exciting (not) airport hotel at Narita airport. Before we head for dinner, I’ll just pop in this one last photo which I snapped this morning at the gondola station in Hakoné. I think it’s excellent advice, both practically and philosophically:

Tomorrow morning, we fly back home!