Hi, and thanks in advance for any help! I've been reading a lot of the posts and found a couple of great itineraries for our 10-day trip...we are basically planning on doing tokyo and kyoto with some side trips, but we're not sure if it's worth stopping by hakone in december. We will be there at the very beginning of december and would love to see Mt. Fuji and maybe take in an onsen, but is it worth seeing hakone in december?

A resounding yes here for Hakone in December. The chances to view Fujisan are said to be better in the winter months and Hakone is beautiful any time of year. I am writing this to you now at the Hyatt in Hakone where the koyo is now starting in the upper elevations above Gora on a picture perfect fall day. This place is fantastic!

Aloha!

thanks so much! we are hoping to spend a night there on the way from tokyo to kyoto. is it a place that warrants more than a full day and 1 night considering we only have about 10 days and this is our first trip there? we were hoping to go to miyajima and maybe hiroshima from kyoto as well, possibly nara.

An overnight is a must imho but others here have done just day trips to do the "Hakone loop". Check out a recent trip report by <b>rkkwan</b> who explains in detail his Hakone day trip from Tokyo

See here for things to do and how to do them, transportation, etc in Hakone

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5200.html

Aloha!

thanks again, hawaiiantraveler! you seem to be the resident expert here, so i thought i'd ask another question...we're going to be in japan for 10.5 days (arriving late on a monday) and we were thinking about getting the 7-day rail pass to get from tokyo to hakone, kyoto, miyajima and back to tokyo...but is it worth getting the 14-day pass to also use around tokyo and to/from the airport for the other few days? or is it much easier to get around tokyo using the subways instead of the jr lines?

No, the difference between the 7-day and 14-day pass is almost 17,000 yen. One-way from the airport is about 3,000 yen on JR or airport limo bus. Less on Keisei, about 2000 yen. So figure 6,000 yen to and from the airport.

You won't be spending 11,000 yen difference getting around Tokyo. Probably closer to 2,000 yen than 11,000. You'll likely be using Tokyo subway, JR lines, and trains by other rail companies.

The fare on the on the JR Chuo Line from Tokyo to Shinjuku is 190 yen (13 minutes). Shinjuku to Kamakura is 890 yen (a long one hour trip).