Hakone Tozan Railway

Not everything in Japan travels at 285 km/h. An hour and a half from Tokyo, the Hakone Tozan Railway climbs into the hot-spring hills of Hakone at little more than walking pace — and it is all the lovelier for it. This is Japan's oldest mountain railway, a line of tiny two-car trains that hauls itself up an 80‰ (1-in-12.5) gradient by grip alone, zig-zagging through three switchbacks to reach the galleries and onsen of Gōra.

Its builders looked to the Alps for the answer, and the result is a little piece of Switzerland in the Japanese mountains: the line is a formal sister railway to the Bernina line near St. Moritz, and even runs a train dressed in a "St. Moritz" livery. The steepest adhesion railway in the country, it climbs from the gorge at Hakone-Yumoto (108 m) to Gōra (553 m) through tunnels, over bridges and — for a few magical weeks each summer — between walls of hydrangeas.

It is only fifteen kilometres from Odawara to the top, but the Hakone Tozan turns those kilometres into one of the most charming rail journeys in Japan.

The journey begins in the valley town of Odawara, where the Hakone Tozan trains connect with the Odakyu line down from Tokyo. The first stretch, up to Hakone-Yumoto, runs on ordinary narrow-gauge track through the gorge of the Haya River. It is at Hakone-Yumoto that the real mountain railway begins — and the character of the line changes completely.

From here the train tackles a wall of mountain the only way it can without a rack: it switches back. Three times — at Deyama, Ōhiradai and Kami-Ōhiradai — it runs into a dead-end siding, stops, and reverses out onto a higher track, the driver and conductor walking through the carriages to swap ends each time. Between the reversals the line clings to the hillside on some of the tightest curves of any adhesion railway anywhere — a minimum radius of just 169 metres — boring through short tunnels and crossing steep ravines.

The details are what make it remarkable:

• It opened as a mountain railway on 1 June 1919, the first of its kind in Japan, electrified from the start.
• The steep section runs on standard gauge (1,435 mm) — unusually, wider than the narrow-gauge line that feeds it — to hold the tight, heavily-graded curves.
• Its 80‰ (8%) ruling gradient is the steepest of any conventional adhesion railway in the country.
• Its engineers modelled it on the Bernina railway in the Swiss Alps, a kinship the two lines still celebrate as sisters.

And then there are the flowers. For a few weeks from mid-June the whole climb is lined with hydrangeas, and the little trains become the famous "ajisai densha" — the Hydrangea Train — running between banks of blue and violet, lit up on special evening services. Fifty minutes after leaving Odawara you step off at Gōra, at the foot of the cable car, deep in hot-spring country.

The Hakone Tozan Railway runs a frequent, turn-up-and-go service all day, every day — trains between Hakone-Yumoto and Gōra run every 15–20 minutes (three or four an hour), so you rarely wait. The first climbs from Hakone-Yumoto around 05:50 and the last around 23:09 (weekdays); no reservations are needed.

Journeys are short and the whole point is to take them slowly:

The hydrangea season from mid-June to mid-July is the busiest and most beautiful time to ride; the special illuminated evening "Night of the Hydrangeas" services in that window need a reserved seat, so book those ahead.

Times and frequency as of the 2026 timetable. Confirm current schedules with the operator — see the Tickets section below.

Riding the Hakone Tozan Railway on its own is simple: buy a point-to-point ticket at the station and go. But most visitors are here for more than the train — Hakone is a whole day's loop of railway, cable car, ropeway, lake boat and bus — and for that the Hakone Freepass is far better value.

Sold by Odakyu, the Freepass gives unlimited rides on the Tozan railway, the Gōra–Sōunzan cable car, the Hakone Ropeway over Ōwakudani, the Lake Ashi sightseeing boats and the local buses, plus a discounted train down from Tokyo — everything you need to ride the complete Hakone Round Course in a day or two. The options below link to the operators. Fares checked July 2026 against the Hakone Tozan Railway (opens in a new tab) and Odakyu.

The railway is the first leg of one of Japan's best-loved day trips, and every stop along the Hakone Round Course is worth lingering over.

Together they make a natural one- or two-day circuit — ride up, cross the mountain, sail the lake, and come back down.

Hakone is one of Japan's classic places to spend a night in a ryokan — a traditional inn with tatami rooms, a multi-course dinner and, above all, an onsen hot bath, ideally an open-air one with a view of the hills. The towns strung along the railway each have their own character: Hakone-Yumoto at the foot is the busiest and easiest to reach, with everything from simple guesthouses to riverside inns; Miyanoshita and Gōra higher up are quieter and grander, home to some of the region's most storied hotels. Wherever you stay, the point is to slow right down — soak in the hot spring, sleep on the mountain, and let the little red train carry you back down in the morning. Book well ahead for the hydrangea and autumn-colour seasons and for weekends, when Hakone fills with visitors from Tokyo.