Leaving Tokyo felt a little like saying goodbye to a best friend you just met but already love — fast, fun, full of surprises, and impossible to keep up with. But after five days of big city energy, it was time to slow things down.
Japan’s mountain retreat famous for its hot springs (Onsens), volcanic views, and trains that somehow make Amtrak look like a horse-drawn carriage. Also known as… Hakone.
The Hotel: Hyatt Regency Hakone Resort & Spa
The moment we arrived, we exhaled. The Hyatt Regency Hakone is tucked into the mountains with sweeping views, a fireplace lounge that makes you want to read a book you’ll never finish, and staff who greet you like they’ve been waiting just for you. We were upgraded to a suite with a mountain view, our first big “Hyatt Globalist win” of the trip, and it felt like being dropped into a postcard.
Our room had two balconies, yukatas (light cotton robes for the onsen), and those magical Japanese toilets that feel like a warm hug for your tushie.
First Day: Hakone Gora Park & Onsen Bliss
We spent the afternoon exploring Hakone Gora Park, a peaceful little hillside garden filled with fountains and plenty of space for the kids to run off their travel day energy. Then came the main event: our first onsen.
Picture this: a steaming hot spring surrounded by stone and cedar, mountain air drifting in, and all of us trying to remember the exact order of washing before soaking (rinse, scrub, rinse again… then soak). It’s an experience that’s both meditative and slightly awkward until you settle in and realize you’re floating in pure calm.
Second Day: Ropeways, Ships, Shrines, and a Cowboy Hat Surprise
Our second day was the full Hakone loop, and it’s as scenic and delightful as it sounds. We started early with the Hakone Ropeway, a gondola that glides over volcanic valleys puffing white smoke into the sky. The kids squealed, we snapped too many photos, and we all agreed it felt like riding through a postcard.
On board the gondola, we noticed a friendly guy sitting across from us. He was wearing a signature cowboy hat (yes, in Japan, in a gondola). We struck up a conversation. He introduced himself as The Country Collectors’ creator Adam, a 25-year veteran of travel, adventuring through over 70 countries and documenting it all. As we floated above Hakone’s lush landscape, we swapped stories about things we love about travel and how meeting locals and fellow travelers always flips the trip from “cool” to “memorable.”
We ended up spending about half of our day together, walking the same paths, stopping at the same viewpoints, sharing snacks, and hearing his travel tips.
Check him out on YouTube: The Country Collectors.
Back to our loop: after the gondola we hopped on the Hakone Sightseeing Cruise, a pirate-ship-shaped boat crossing Lake Ashi. The views of Mt. Fuji (on a clear day) were breathtaking, but what the kids really loved was the “woo-woo” horn on the boat and the snack stall at Motohakone where we grabbed soft serve.
At Motohakone we visited the sacred Hakone Shrine, whose iconic red torii gate stands in the water and draws people to wait in line for over 45 minutes for the perfect photo. We gave the line a try, but after 15 minutes it had hardly moved, and we decided to just take a less-perfect photo and move on.
Then we retraced our route: ship back across the lake, ropeway back up, and cable car ride down toward Gora. Dax was especially a fan of all the modes of transportation that day.
Why Hakone Was Magic
Hakone felt like the exhale after Tokyo’s inhale. The air is cool and clean, the rhythm slower, the onsens impossibly relaxing. It’s the perfect two-day reset, even if your kids’ favorite part ends up being the pirate ship snacks and meeting a cowboy-hat-wearing YouTuber mid-gondola ride. Next stop: Fiji Speedway Hotel. But first, I woke up to a beautiful sunset over the mountain and hammered out some consulting work with one last soak under the mountain sunrise.
