We plan to visit Hakone for one or two days on our way from Tokyo to Kyoto.

What's the best, must-see places to visit and how to get to them?

Any suggestion on a reasonably priced ryokan?

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5206.html

sorry, here is more substance.
There is a lot to do in Hakone. We stayed two nights in Gora, which I think is the perfect little town to stay in the area.

A must imho is the tourist circuit which is explained in the site I left earlier. A Combination of trains, cable cars, godolas, buses and ships on Lake Ashi are all covered by the Hakone Free Pass which you should consider buying if you are going there

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2358_008.html

The outdoor museum is also a must. If you have any Hyatt points, the Hyatt in Gora is a fantastic place to redeem them

Aloha!

Thanks a lot, hawaiiantraveler!

My understanding is the Hakone Free Pass includes the train ticket between Tokyo and Hakone, right? But we plan to use our JR pass to Hakone and will NOT return to Tokyo after visiting Hakone.
Is there other all-included pass for Hakone only, without the train tickets bewteen Tokyo and Hakone?

ht's second link above shows the info about the Hakone Free Pass - your JR pass is only good to Odawara, then you can get the Hakone Free Pass from Odawara.....

Mara, thank you for the reminder ^_^

Sorry hawaiiantraveler, I didn't check the second URL you gave me above...

We really enjoyed going on the circuit route: Gora, up the mountain on cablecar; stop at the top and walked around to view scenery and the steam vents; ropeway down the other side of mountain; lunch in Togendai; gaudy fake pirate boat across the lake to Hakone-machi or Moto-Hakone; souvenir shopping there; bus back to Gora. The route is easy to follow and the lower price Hakone Free Pass from Odawara covers all the transportation.
It is a beautiful area, hope you enjoy it.

We are also planning a 3 night trip from Tokyo to Hakone to Kyoto then back to Yokosuka the end of March. So if we take the early train from Tokyo to Odawara, is it possible to do the above circuit route in one day? We are considering staying at The Fujiwa Hotel...any comments on that? If we stay there, where should we leave luggage? Thank you!

From the URL given by hawaiiantraveler above, I see the 2-day pass is 3,900 yen if buying it within the free area.

Now I will only do one round course in one day, is it still cheaper to buy this 2-day pass comparing with buying ticket at each segment of this round course (starting from Odawara and back to it)?