Passes & tickets · Hakone

Is the Hakone Free Pass Worth It? Fares by Route Compared

Published: September 19, 2026

Fares checked on September 19, 2026.

Hakone's classic loop changes vehicles all day. A mountain railway climbs by switchbacks, a cable car goes higher, and a glass-walled ropeway gondola crosses a steaming valley for about 4 km and about 30 minutes. Then a pirate ship crosses Lake Ashi. Odakyu says it built this loop in 1960 and calls it the "Hakone Golden Course."

Odakyu's official map marks four Mt. Fuji viewpoints: the ropeway between Owakudani and Ubako, the pirate ship, Onshi Hakone Park in Hakone-machi, and Mishima Skywalk. Whether the mountain shows is up to the weather.

Most visitors do not stay the night. Hakone Town counted about 20.3 million visitors in 2024, and about 80% of them were day visitors (Source: Hakone Town, 2024 Hakone Tourist Survey Report, Japanese). This article asks whether the Hakone Freepass (also written Free Pass) pays off for that kind of day, and for other routes too.

The short answer

• From Shinjuku, the full loop costs about 1,200 yen less with the pass. The 2-day pass is 7,100 yen. Adding up the separate fares for the mountain railway, cable car, ropeway, pirate ship and bus gives 8,290 yen by our count. Hakone Navi's own example is 1,222 yen cheaper with the pass. That is a saving of about 14%.
• The answer changes with your start and your route. From Odawara, the same loop saves 470 yen. From Shinjuku, Owakudani and back saves 120 yen. A lake-side trip with no mountain rides costs 320 yen more with the pass.
• A price of 6,100 yen for the 2-day pass is from before October 1, 2025. That was the Shinjuku price before the increase.

Adult, ordinary fares, as of September 19, 2026. Totals are for one person.

The numbers

Prices you may see elsewhere: the October 2025 increase

On or after October 1, 2025, the 2-day pass costs 7,100 yen from Shinjuku and 6,000 yen from Odawara. Before that date it was 6,100 yen and 5,000 yen. The ropeway and the pirate ship went up on the same day. Figures dated before October 1, 2025 are out of date.

Odakyu's press release said that a pass bought and activated before the change stayed at the old price for use after it. We do not know how a later change would be handled.

Odakyu's own blog said in October 2024 that the pass "saves you 1,060 yen." That is a figure from before the increase. We saw it in a search result excerpt and did not open the page. As of September 19, 2026, we did not find an announcement of another price change. That does not mean none is planned.

Source: Odakyu Electric Railway, press release of June 23, 2025 (Japanese, PDF) and Hakone Freepass brochure (English PDF, April 1, 2026).

What the pass includes and what it does not

Source: Odakyu, Hakone Freepass, the brochure above, Odakyu terms of use (Japanese, PDF, as of October 1, 2025), and Hakone Navi, pirate ship page (Japanese) for the special cabin charges.

The JR TOKYO Wide Pass does not cover the Hakone Tozan Railway or Odakyu. See Is the JR Tokyo Wide Pass Worth It?

Fares for each ride

Adult, one way unless noted, as of September 19, 2026.

A note on the railway fares. The Hakone Tozan Railway fare table is a PDF hosted by Hakone Navi. It says "revised October 1, 2022, partly corrected July 30, 2026." The figures of 770 yen (Odawara to Gora), 460 yen (Hakone-Yumoto to Gora) and 890 yen (Hakone-Yumoto to Sounzan) were checked against that table, the version partly corrected on July 30, 2026.

Sources: Hakone Tozan Railway and Cable Car fare table (PDF), Hakone Navi, ropeway fares, pirate ship fares, Hakone Tozan Bus, fare revision of September 2025 (Japanese, PDF).

The official example and our sum differ by 32 yen

Hakone Navi gives an example for the Golden Course from Shinjuku. It is 8,322 yen with separate IC card fares, against 7,100 yen with the pass, a saving of 1,222 yen. Hakone Navi's information is as of September 30, 2025.

We added up the fares we collected for the same loop.

We did not find the reason for the 32 yen gap. Possible reasons that we could not test are IC card fares versus ticket fares, the bus section used (Hakone Navi does not say where the bus gets on and off), and the partial correction to the railway fare table on July 30, 2026. These are possibilities, not findings.

Both numbers point to a saving of about 1,200 yen: 1,222 yen from Hakone Navi and 1,190 yen from our sum. The conclusion does not change.

Source: Hakone Navi, Hakone Freepass article (information as of September 30, 2025).

What is not in these numbers

• IC card fares. We used ticket fares.
• Bus sections other than the two above (for example Sengokuhara, Gora, Miyanoshita, Hakone-machi). We did not check them.
• Child fares.
• Fares from Odakyu stations other than Shinjuku and Odawara. Odakyu says they vary by station.
• Other ways to reach Odawara from Tokyo, such as JR.
• The Gora Park entry and other discounts. These come only with the pass.

Calculator: your start and your route

Choose your start and the number of days. Then choose how many times you ride each section. One ride is one way and two rides is a round trip.

1. Pick Shinjuku or Odawara. A day trip also needs the 2-day pass.
2. Pick the rides you will take. For the mountain railway, choose the section that matches your trip: Odawara to Gora, or Hakone-Yumoto to Gora if you arrive at Hakone-Yumoto first. Do not count the same leg twice.
3. The result compares the total for the same rides bought separately with the pass price.

What the calculator does not include:

• IC card fares, other bus sections and child fares (see above).
• Gora Park entry (650 yen, free with the pass) and the discounts at about 70 places. These help only the pass side, so we left them out and describe them in words.
• Romancecar charges and the pirate ship special cabin. Both are extra with or without the pass, so they add the same amount to each side.
• Fares from stations other than Shinjuku and Odawara.

Scenarios: four common routes

Every route below was run through the calculator. The method is on the About page.

Adult, ordinary fares, total for one person, as of September 19, 2026. Bus fares are for two sections only. IC card fares are not used. The gap can change when the fares change.

Full loop from Shinjuku

If your plan is the Golden Course loop, the pass saves 1,190 yen by our count: 8,290 yen of separate fares against 7,100 yen. The 32 yen gap with Hakone Navi's 1,222 yen is explained in the section above.

Adding the Romancecar both ways does not change the size of the saving. Hakone Navi shows 10,622 yen for separate fares and 9,400 yen for the pass, a gap of 1,222 yen, the same as without it. The same charge is added to both sides.

Full loop from Odawara

The same loop from Odawara saves 470 yen. That is 720 yen less than from Shinjuku. Here is why. The Shinjuku pass includes the Odakyu round trip, which is 1,820 yen (910 x 2) as separate tickets. The Shinjuku pass itself costs 1,100 yen more than the Odawara pass. So the Shinjuku pass gains 1,820 - 1,100 = 720 yen more than the Odawara pass.

Owakudani and back from Shinjuku

This route takes the mountain railway to Gora, the cable car, and the ropeway to Owakudani, then goes back the same way. Separate tickets are 7,220 yen and the pass is 7,100 yen, so the pass saves only 120 yen. The 3-day pass at 7,500 yen would cost 280 yen more than separate tickets.

The ropeway is one fare for any section: 2,000 yen one way, or 3,000 yen round trip. A short ride costs the same as a long one.

Gora Park is free with the pass and costs 650 yen otherwise. It is not in the 120 yen. If you would enter the park, the gap would widen by 650 yen.

The lake side only, from Shinjuku

Here the plan is the bus from Hakone-Yumoto to Motohakone-ko, the pirate ship to Togendai, and the bus back. Add the Hakone-Yumoto railway ride to Odawara and back, and the Odakyu round trip. Separate tickets are 6,780 yen, and the pass at 7,100 yen costs 320 yen more.

The pass does not fit a plan with no mountain rides. Try adding the ropeway in the calculator. Each ropeway ride adds 2,000 yen to the separate side (or 3,000 yen for a round trip), and the result changes.

One way only: arriving from Kansai and leaving for Shinjuku

Odakyu shows this exact case on its Hakone Freepass page (as of September 19, 2026): "If you're coming from the Kansai area to enjoy Hakone and then going to Shinjuku afterward." Its example is the Hakone Freepass (Hakone Area Only) at 6,000 yen, plus a regular fare ticket from Odawara to Shinjuku at 910 yen, plus a one-way Romancecar ticket at 1,200 yen. The total is 8,110 yen, plus the fare from Kansai to Odawara Station.

Compare the two passes on the same trip, without the Romancecar. The Odawara pass at 6,000 yen plus the 910 yen ticket is 6,910 yen. The Shinjuku pass alone is 7,100 yen. That is a gap of 190 yen in favor of the Odawara pass. This is our arithmetic. Odakyu does not say how the Shinjuku pass is treated if you use only one leg of the Odakyu Line, so we do not compare the two beyond this. The Romancecar ticket is extra with either pass. We have not put this case in the calculator.

Source: Odakyu, Hakone Freepass, as of September 19, 2026.

One day or one night?

The pass has no 1-day version, so it costs the same for a day trip and for one night. If you stay the night, the second day can be used with the same pass at no extra pass cost.

For a rough idea of the price of a stay, Hakone Town recorded 67,354,378 thousand yen in lodging charges from 3,582,355 guests at ryokan and hotels in its 2024 survey. Dividing one by the other gives about 18,800 yen per guest. This is our own calculation. The survey does not state this figure. It is an average across all guests and room types, not the price of a night you could book. We do not add it to the pass comparison.

If you would like to see Hakone as a tour instead, there are shared bus tours that combine Mt. Fuji and Hakone. See Mt. Fuji Day Trip From Tokyo: Tour vs DIY.

How to buy

Official sales channels

You can buy the pass on Odakyu's EMot Online Tickets (English, Chinese and Korean), at ticket machines and windows in Odakyu stations, or at the Odakyu Sightseeing Service Center (Shinjuku West Exit, 8:00 to 16:00; Odawara, 8:30 to 16:30). You can buy it from one month before the day of travel. The prices in this article are the prices Odakyu charges for its own pass, whether you buy at a station or online.

Buying through Klook or KKday

Klook and KKday each list a "Hakone Freepass" product page. We do not copy their prices or descriptions here, and we did not check how each seller delivers the ticket.

Two points from Odakyu are worth knowing first. Odakyu's terms say tickets bought through travel agencies outside Japan may be handled differently. Odakyu's FAQ says tickets bought through some travel agency sites, and tickets exchanged with a coupon code, cannot be transferred and are received on your own phone.

Romancecar and other passes

The Romancecar needs a limited express ticket. Buying the Romancecar limited express ticket on EMot Online Tickets is 50 yen cheaper than buying it another way. The pass saves the same amount either way, as the official example above shows.

The Fuji Hakone Pass (3 days, 11,100 yen, for overseas visitors) is a different pass with a different range. We do not compare it here.

Common questions

Is the Hakone Free Pass worth it?

It depends on your route. From Shinjuku on the full loop it saves about 1,200 yen. On a lake-side route with no mountain rides, it costs more. Use the calculator above.

How much is the Hakone Free Pass in 2026?

As of September 19, 2026, the 2-day pass is 7,100 yen from Shinjuku and 6,000 yen from Odawara. The 3-day pass is 7,500 yen and 6,400 yen. The 6,100 yen and 5,000 yen prices are from before October 1, 2025.

Is it worth it for one day?

There is no 1-day pass, so a day trip also needs the 2-day pass. On the full loop from Shinjuku, we count a saving of about 1,200 yen. On other routes the result changes, so we do not say a single day is always a loss or a gain.

Is it cheaper from Odawara or Shinjuku?

The pass is 1,100 yen cheaper from Odawara. But the Shinjuku pass includes the Odakyu round trip. On the full loop, the pass saves 1,190 yen from Shinjuku and 470 yen from Odawara.

Can I use it one way?

Yes, if you use the Odawara pass. Odakyu's own example for someone coming from Kansai and leaving for Shinjuku uses the Odawara pass at 6,000 yen plus a 910 yen ticket from Odawara to Shinjuku. See the one-way section above.

Does it include the Romancecar?

No. The Romancecar needs a limited express ticket, which is 1,200 yen from Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto, one way.

Is the ropeway included?

Yes. The ropeway is included on all sections. Without the pass, it is 2,000 yen one way for any section. Hakone Navi lists operating hours of 9:00 to 17:00 from February to November and 9:00 to 16:15 in December and January. (Source: Hakone Navi, Hakone Ropeway (Japanese).)

Does it cover the Izu-Hakone Bus?

No. Hakone Tozan Bus, Odakyu Highway Bus in the Hakone area and the sightseeing facility bus are covered.

Is the pirate ship's special cabin included?

No. It costs extra for each one-way ride: 800 yen between Togendai and Motohakone or Hakone-machi, and 240 yen between Hakone-machi and Motohakone. Odakyu's pages also mention a 100 yen discount for pass holders. We could not confirm what that sentence means, so we do not state the final price.

Can I buy it from Klook or KKday?

Both list a product. See the buying section above for the transfer rules. We did not check how each seller delivers it.

Is there a discount for children?

Ages 6 to 11 pay 1,600 yen for a 2-day pass from Shinjuku and 1,500 yen from Odawara. Under 6 needs no ticket. Our calculator is for adults only.

Can the pass be shared or refunded?

It depends on where you bought it. Odakyu's FAQ says some tickets bought online can be bought by one person and transferred to another person's phone, for example a child's. Tickets bought on the booking sites of Nippon Travel Agency (NTA), Tobu Top Tours or Odakyu Travel, and tickets exchanged from coupon codes, cannot be transferred. Each of those must be received on the user's own phone. One phone holds one pass at a time. The "For Group" option is the exception, as described in the table above. Before travel starts, a refund costs 220 yen per pass.

Sources and data date

All fares were checked on September 19, 2026. Prices and timetables can change. Check the operator's page before you travel.

• Odakyu Electric Railway: Hakone Freepass, brochure (English PDF, April 1, 2026), press release, June 23, 2025 (Japanese, PDF), terms of use (Japanese, PDF), Romancecar, FAQ
• Hakone Navi (Odakyu Hakone Group): Hakone Freepass, article with the official example (information as of September 30, 2025), ropeway fares, ropeway hours (Japanese), pirate ship fares, fares
• Hakone Tozan Railway and Cable Car fare table (PDF), revised October 1, 2022, partly corrected July 30, 2026
• Hakone Tozan Bus: fare revision, September 5, 2025 (Japanese, PDF)
• Hakone Town: 2024 Hakone Tourist Survey Report (Japanese, PDF), Planning and Tourism Division, June 2025. Its terms of reuse were not confirmed, so we quote only individual figures.