How to get to Owakudani Hakone ropeway from Gora Station

Kon’nichiwa!

The best way to get to Owakudani is by taking the Hakone ropeway! This means that the popular way to go to Owakudani is from Gora Station.

Gora Station is not the start of the ropeway, but it is a main gateway to get on the Hakone Ropeway. From Gora Station, you’ll get on a cable car to Sounzan Station. And then from Sounzan Station is where you will get on the Hakone Ropeway to Owakudani Station!

If you pay for this route by buying individual tickets along the way, the cost of the tickets from Gora to Owakudani is around 1930 yen (US$13). That is one-way, and it’s the cost of one cable car ticket and one ropeway ticket.

To get a visual, you can look up the route of each segment on google maps using the public transit option: Gora Station to Sounzan Station and Sounzan Station to Owakudani Station.

It is the ropeway ride between Sounzan Station and Owakudani Station that will take you across the volcano valley and you will see the volcanic steam vents below you.

There are signs at each station (in English too), so it will be easy to find your way.

It is also possible to get to Owakudani by bus. (Google maps can work for this.) But the ropeway is the most dramatic way to see the volcanic activity! The ropeway can get shut down if it gets too windy, and if that happens, you can go by bus to see the valley from land.

Below I will show you step-by-step what it looks like to go from Gora to Owakudani by cable car and ropeway!

 

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PLAN YOUR HAKONE TRIP > Hakone Loop map | Odawara Station map

Onsen hotels in Hakone: Hakone Yutowa in Gora | Hakone Kowakien Ten-yu | Lakefront Hakone Hotel

Hotels near Odawara Station: Tenseien Annex | Toyoko Inn

 

 

If you have a 2-day or 3-day Hakone pass or a 2-day Owakudani Pass, then the cable car and ropeway between Gora Station and Owakudani Station is included. (There are no one-day passes.)

If you don’t have either of these passes, it’s easy to buy individual tickets when you arrive at each station. So when you arrive at Gora Station, you can buy a cable car ticket to go to Sounzan Station. And then when you arrive at Sounzan Station, you can buy a ropeway ticket to get to Owakudani Station.

 

Gora Station to Owakudani Station

• Gora Station
• Gora Station to Sounzan Station cable car: 10 minutes (430 yen)
• Sounzan station: cable car to ropeway transfer
• Sounzan Station to Owakudani Station ropeway: 10 minutes (1500 yen)
• Owakudani Station!

 

👆 If you look up the route of Gora to Owakudani on google maps (map), it will show you the route of taking the cable car and ropeway to get to Owakudani, and this is the way you want to go! You don’t really need google maps to actually do this route though, as it’s really easy. Just follow the signs!

 

So step 1 is getting to Gora Station! If you’re using a Hakone pass or Owakudani pass coming from Shinjuku and/or Odawara, then you’ll arrive at Gora Station by train with a transfer in Hakone-Yumote.

Whether you’re arriving from Hakone-Yumote or elsewhere, once you arrive in Gora, you’ll look for signs for the cable car.

If you don’t have a pass, you can buy a cable car ticket when you arrive at Gora Station.

Once you get to the cable car platform, it’s basically a free for all with no real lines. Stand in an area you want to get on the cable car. This basically means, decide whether you want to get a view going down the mountain, or if you want to get a view looking up! And then stand at the end of the railway or far up on the platform accordingly.

The air flow inside the cable car is minimal, so if it’s hot outside, you’ll want to be prepared to be hot inside.

 

👆 You’ve made it to Gora Station!

 

👆 You can buy a train tickets and cable car tickets when you arrive at Gora Station.

 

👆 There are coin lockers at Gora Station.

 

👆 Gora Station is the start and end of the cable car line. (So is Sounzan Station!)

 

👆 Wait for the cable car to arrive!

 

👆 It’s coming!

 

👆 Time to get on the cable car! (Well, first wait for people to get off on the other side…)

 

👆 Watching the cable car go up the mountain!

 

👆 From Gora, you’ll take a cable car to Sounzan. The cable car from Gora to Sounzan will take around 10 minutes, and there’s one around every 20 minutes or so. Google maps can give you the cable car schedule (map). A cable car ticket costs around 430 yen (US$3). 

 

Once you get off the cable car at Sounzan, next you’ll be following the transfer signs to the Hakone Ropeway! There are a lot of signs.

If you don’t have a Hakone pass, then you can look for signs to buy a ropeway ticket.

It’s also during this walk to get from the cable car to the ropeway that you’ll pass by the footbath terrace so you can do a free ashiyu foot onsen in Hakone!

 

👆 Arrival at Sounzan Station for a transfer to the ropeway!

 

👆 There will be signs in English pointing you in the direction of the transfer for the ropeway!

 

👆 There is also a sign for how to buy Hakone ropeway tickets if you aren’t traveling with a pass.

 

👆 You will also pass a free Hakone foot onsen terrace on your way to the ropeway.

 

👆 From Sounzan, you’ll get on the Hakone ropeway to Owakudani. The ropeway ride is more like 10 minutes, and there’s always a next gondola, although there may be a line. The ropeway ticket will be around 1500 yen (US$10).

 

 

👆 Time to get on the Hakone ropeway!

 

👆 Going up on the Hakone ropeway. The big reveal of the Owakudani volcano valley is at the top!

 

👆 The big reveal is coming…!

 

👆 Oh my! The Owakudani volcano valley, as seen from the Hakone ropeway! It will be over before you know it, so take it all in while you can!

 

👆 Arrival at Owakudani Station!

 

👆 The typical hours of the Hakone ropeway are from 9am to 5pm.

 

👆 Owakudani in summer: If it’s hot outside, it may be hot inside the gondola during your Hakone ropeway ride to Owakudani Station. Japan takes hot weather seriously! Stay hydrated! There are vending machines everywhere. Many vending machines accept payment through an IC card, the same card you can use for local Tokyo trains.

 

So you’ve arrived at Owakudani. Now what?!

If you have a Hakone pass or Owakudani pass, you can immediately get back in line to do the ropeway and fly above the volcano valley again. The pass gives you unlimited rides. You do have to get off though, even if you have a pass. You can’t just endlessly stay on the same gondola.

To continue doing more things that’s not the ropeway, you’ll follow the signs to the exit.

Then you will see the volcano valley from land! There is an observation area.

Then you can walk over and take a picture of the iconic black egg statue… then you can take a picture of the black egg Hello Kitty statue… and then you can actually eat the black eggs that Hakone is known for!

There’s also the Hakone Geomuseum that is 100 yen (less than US$1), where you can learn about the volcano history of Hakone and Japan.

This museum is also where you go to check-in for the guided walk on the Owakudani Nature Trail that is 800 yen ($6). This is something to book in advance. It’s a way to get closer to the steam vents and volcanic landscape. The guide speaks in Japanese, but there’s a QR code that’s available at check-in that you can use for English context. I think it would be cool to do the walk even if you understood no spoken words. (I signed up for this, but unfortunately it was canceled due to weather 15 minutes before the walk was to start.)

 

👆 To the exit of the Owakudani ropeway station.

 

👆 You can walk outside to see the Owakudani volcano valley from land!

 

👆 The Hakone Geomuseum is one of the cheap things to do at Owakudani.

 

👆 Owakudani is at 1044m (3425 ft).

 

👆 Head back the same way you came, from Owakudani to Gora, by way of ropeway and cable car!

 

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