Hakone

What the guides say about Hakone

Winter is onsen season, and Hakone is the classic move. Ninety minutes from Shinjuku on the Odakyu line, then a day of hot-spring baths, mountain scenery and the best Fuji views in the region, sharpened by the same dry winter air that helps the Tokyo observation decks. Sitting in an outdoor rotenburo bath with cold air on your face, and sometimes snow on the hills, is one of the best arguments for a winter trip to Japan. The day trips guide covers the logistics and the Hakone Free Pass. Without leaving the city, a Tokyo sento or onsen does the same job on a cold evening for ¥600.

34. Onsen ryokan for one night. Not in the city. Take the Romancecar or the shinkansen out to Hakone or Yuzawa, check into a ryokan with a private rotenburo (outdoor hot spring bath), and have the kaiseki dinner served in your room. The format, seasonal food in small lacquered dishes, a procession of courses, warm sake, matters at least as much as any single ingredient. You'll come home with a different idea of what a meal can be.

Should you book a ryokan in the city at all? A business hotel in Asakusa plus a night in Hakone or Nikko gets you a better version of the experience for similar money, because the mountain inns have the hot-spring baths and the setting. The ryokan guide walks through both plans. One night at Shigetsu works well if there's no room in the schedule for a trip out.