Hakone Tozan Railway (Hydrangea Train)

箱根登山電車 大平台駅

A little train zigzagging uphill, lined with hydrangeas in June

Hours

Runs to the timetable from first to last train (see Hakone Navi)

Tickets

Fare by distance (check locally). Covered by the Hakone Freepass. The hydrangea-season night train needs a separate reserved-seat ticket

Address

The mountain line from Hakone-Yumoto to Gora; pinned at Ohiradai station midway

The little red two-car train grinds up the mountainside until it hits a dead end; the driver walks to the other cab and off you go backwards. It does this three times on the way up, and those switchbacks are the fun of it, along with the bridge over the gorge where the view drops away. From mid-June to early July the line is banked with hydrangeas, hence 'hydrangea train', and special night trains run past floodlit blooms (13–30 June in 2026, now over). In October you're between seasons, waiting on the autumn colour.