One of the benefits of living in Odawara is that it's incredibly easy (and pretty cheap) to get to Hakone. The most expensive part is the bus. Right. Today's journey was as follows...
- Kamonomiya to Odawara, 190円, Tokaido Line
- Odawara to Hakone-Yumoto, 310円, Hakone-Tozan Line
- Bus from Hakone-Yumoto to Motohakone, 960円
- Walked around for a while
- Bus from Hakone-en to Hakone-Yumoto, 1180円
- Back to Kamonomiya via Odawara, as always
The bus from Hakone-Yumoto to Motohakone takes about 35minutes and you can get some really good views across the valley on the way. I recommend getting off at Motohakone as it's got pretty much everything there; pirate ship, shrine, shops, buses etc. It isn't too far from the rope-ways either if you fancy a stroll.
So, first stop was Hakone-jinja 箱根神社.
It's a short walk from the Motohakone bus stop, so it's easy to get to. It's definitely not the biggest shrine in the world, but it is very atmospheric (even with building work going on, like today). The shrine is located in a cedar grove, so it's sheltered and pretty quiet. There is no entry fee for this one, which is always a bonus.
The shrine is also well-known for the Heiwa-no-Torii - 平和の鳥居 - the Torii of Peace. It's pretty common to queue to take a photo without people standing beneath it, but the shrine was quiet today so I didn't have to wait long.
From here, it's possible to walk along the edge of the lake (there's a paved path) to Kuzuryo-jinja, and that's what I did. For the most part, you're on a path beside the road but there is a short section where you have to walk along the road before you reach Hakone-en. It took me about half an hour to get to Hakone-en, and another twenty minutes from there before I arrived at the shrine entrance. It's not a bad walk, but if it's hot and humid then I think the bus would be a much better idea!
Anyway, here's some photos from my walk to Kuzuryo-jinja.
Kuzuryu-jinja has an entrance fee of 500円, which I thought was a bit much considering that most shrines/temples that you have to pay to enter are only around the 200円 mark. Still, it looked a fair size on the map and the old lady behind the desk was adorable so I coughed up and headed in.
I'm not convinced it was worth it. Not at all. You have to walk a fair way to get to the shrine building and the area seems to be mostly run-down holiday cabins. That being said, I imagine that it would have been glorious last month when the hydrangeas were flowering. Still, I took some photos and managed to see to Torii that is out in the lake, which was good. I got a few pictures of it before the wake from one of the ships caught me and left me with one wet foot.
Thus concludes my day-trip to Hakone. I got the bus back to the station from Hakone-en and got to use some Japanese which is a plus. I bought a few souvenirs for people, and shall spend the next few hours studying in Starbucks so I can use their wifi.
じゃ、またね ~
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