5 Best Sights in Side Trips from Tokyo, Japan

If you want to avoid the hairpin turns, try the ropeway that runs from Akechidaira Station directly to the 1,372-meter (4,500-foot) Akechidaira lookout. It takes three minutes, and the panoramic views of Nikko and Kegon Falls are priceless.

From Owakudani, the descent by gondola to Togendai (via Ubako) on the shore of Lake Ashi takes 25 minutes. There's no reason to linger at Togendai; it's only a terminus for buses to Hakone-Yumoto and Odawara and to the resort villages in the northern part of Hakone. Head straight for the pier, a few minutes' walk down the hill, where boats set out on the lake for Hakone-machi. With still water and good weather, you'll get a breathtaking reflection of the mountains in the waters of the lake.

Although no longer Japan's tallest building—that title now goes to Tokyo's Azabudai Hills Mori JP Tower—this 70-story tower in Yokohama's Minato Mirai is the tallest in Greater Tokyo. The 69th-floor Sky Garden observation deck has a spectacular view of the city, especially at night; you reach it via a high-speed elevator that carries you up at an ear-popping 45 kph (28 mph). The complex's Dockyard Garden is a restored dry dock with stepped sides of massive stone blocks. The long, narrow floor of the dock, with its water cascade at one end, makes a wonderful year-round open-air venue for concerts and other events; in summer (July–mid-August), the beer garden installed here is a perfect refuge from the heat. The Yokohama Royal Park Hotel occupies the building's top 20 stories, and the courtyard on the northeast side connects to Queen's Square, a huge atrium-style vertical mall with dozens of shops (mainly for clothing and accessories) as well as cafés and restaurants.

For an older generation of Yokohama residents, the 348-foot-high decagonal tower, which opened in 1961, was the city's landmark structure; civic pride prevented them from admitting that it falls lamentably short of an architectural masterpiece. The tower has a navigational beacon at the 338-foot level and purports to be the world's tallest lighthouse. At the 328-foot level, an observation gallery provides 360-degree views of the harbor and the city, and, on clear days in autumn or winter, you can often see Mt. Fuji in the distance.

Shimoda's ropeway takes you to the top of 200-meter (656-foot) Mt. Nesugata, a stone's throw from Izukyu Shimoda Station. From the peak's observation decks you're treated to vistas of Shimoda and its picturesque bay, with clear days allowing views across the water to the Izu Islands. A café at the top serves light meals; there's also a small temple, called Aizendo, where you can try throwing small clay stones through a distant hoop in the hope of achieving a sense of wa (peace and harmony).