Mt. Fuji and Hakone tour with cable car and cruise review
My verdict: the weakest product on this site, and this page exists to say so rather than to bury it. What it does well is real: the ropeway and the Lake Ashi cruise are both in the price and it collects you from your hotel. What you are buying alongside that is the longest day here, Owakudani as a drive-past rather than a stop, twenty minutes on the ropeway, and a coach ride back into Tokyo at the end of it. Other products on this page include the same two rides, stop for longer, and cost less. That is the honest summary.
Why it rates 4.0
4.0 from 65 reviews is the lowest score of the eight, and 65 is a thin sample, so treat it as a real signal rather than a settled one. I cannot read the missing reviews. What I can do is lay the itinerary next to the alternatives and let you see where the time goes.
Two hours on the coach out. Thirty minutes at the Fuji 5th Station. An hour for lunch, which is an optional paid extra. Owakudani for fifteen minutes as a pass-by. Twenty minutes on the ropeway. Thirty minutes on the Lake Ashi cruise. A pass-by at Odawara. Then about two and a half hours back on the coach.
Owakudani is the reason most people ride that gondola. It is a live geothermal valley with sulphur vents and the black eggs boiled in the springs, and here it is fifteen minutes of window. The most-booked tour gives it fifty, at ¥8,640. The best-rated tour gives it thirty, at ¥7,800. This one costs ¥14,400.
The price comparison, since it is the crux
At ¥14,400 this sits above every cheaper coach day and below the two that send you home by train. Both of those, at ¥18,160 and ¥24,000, include the ropeway and the cruise exactly as this one does, and replace the evening coach with a Shinkansen leg from Odawara of about thirty-five to forty minutes. One reviewer here asked for precisely that.
“Definitely need to add the Bullet train option for return.” — Mark, 5★. He is describing the difference between this tour and the ¥18,160 one, which does exactly that.
What the reviewers do praise
- “we chose to be dropped at Odawara station and continued our trip to Osaka. it was super convenient.” — Cynthia, 5★
- “There was some unforeseen traffic which cut the trip short, but this was unavoidable.” — Ryan, 5★
Cynthia found a use for it nobody advertises: the Odawara pass-by can be a drop-off if you are carrying on west, which turns an eleven-hour day into a transfer with a mountain in it. If your next stop is Kyoto or Osaka, that is worth knowing.
Ryan gave five stars and lost part of his trip to traffic anyway. Every coach day on this site is exposed to that, and an eleven-hour schedule with five hours of driving in it has the least room to absorb it.
Usually included
- A/C bus, English guide and hotel pickup and drop-off
- Hakone Ropeway ticket
- Lake Ashi cruise ticket
- Fuji 5th Station, thirty minutes
Not included
- Lunch, unless you select that option
- A stop at Owakudani — it is a fifteen-minute pass-by
- Any train leg: you return by coach, about two and a half hours
- Time. This is the longest day on this site at eleven hours
What works
- Ropeway and cruise tickets both included
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Fuji 5th Station, which the cheaper Hakone-focused tours skip
- The Odawara pass-by can work as a drop-off if you are heading west
Worth knowing
- 4.0 from 65 reviews, the lowest score of the eight here
- Owakudani is a pass-by, fifteen minutes, not a stop
- Twenty minutes on the ropeway, the shortest here
- Eleven hours, roughly five of them on a coach
- Returns to Tokyo by road, not by train
- Lunch is an optional paid extra
What to book instead
If you want the ropeway and the cruise together and a train home, pay the extra and take the ¥18,160 tour, which also includes hotel pickup. If you want the same two rides for less, do it yourself: the Freepass is ¥7,100 and covers both, and the ropeway alone is ¥2,000. The three ways of costing a day are set out on what a day really costs, and every product is compared on all tours.
The one case where this tour is the right answer is Cynthia’s: you want Fuji, the ropeway and the cruise in one guided day, you want collecting from your hotel, and you are getting off at Odawara to continue west rather than riding back to Tokyo.
Better value on the same ground
Shinkansen homeRopeway, cruise & ShinkansenFrom Tokyo: Mt. Fuji & Hakone Tour w/ Return by Bullet Train
Most bookedRopeway one-way includedTokyo: Mt. Fuji Tour, Hakone Ropeway, Owakudani, Lake Ashi
Best ratedRopeway ticket includedMt. Fuji & Hakone Tour: Arakurayama, OshinoHakkai, Owakudani
Frequently asked questions
Why is this tour rated lower than the others?
4.0 from 65 reviews is the lowest of the eight products on this site. The itinerary explains a good deal of it: eleven hours with roughly five on a coach, Owakudani reduced to a fifteen-minute pass-by, twenty minutes on the ropeway, and a two-and-a-half-hour road journey back instead of a train. Compare the alternatives on the reviews hub.
Does it stop at Owakudani?
Are the ropeway and the cruise included?
Yes, both tickets are included, along with an English guide and hotel pickup and drop-off. Lunch is included only if you select that option. Buying the same two rides yourself costs ¥2,000 for the ropeway one way and ¥1,700 for the cruise, as set out on the ropeway page.
Can you be dropped off somewhere other than Tokyo?
One reviewer describes being dropped at Odawara station to continue to Osaka, which suits anyone travelling west afterwards. Ask the operator before booking rather than assuming. Costing the day either way is on what a day really costs.