All Reviews for Hakone

Overall experience is great. Tour guide - Ms Kanako was patient and really trying her best to finish completing the venues on time. The time spent on Mount Fuji was really too short. My wife and I do not have enough time patronising all the shops and the photos were taken in a rush (at least 45to60min instead of just 25min). Should have taken out the ropeway since the cable cars are not so impressive. The pirate ships were nicely decorated and the views were amazing. Advice to future participants would be to take the bullet train back to your hotels. My wife and I got back to Tokyo in a breeze around 40min. Those opting to take bus back will need at least 2.5to3hrs since it’s the peak hours. The food at Mount Fuji restaurant was good as well. Do opt for the meals included.

Goed excursion, fantastic organized!
Guide Icko was super!!!!

Overall the trip was really nice. We had a very good view of Mount Fuji and the lady that guided us was very professional and very well prepared, maintaining a pleasant atmosphere all the time. Unfortunately we've done this trip at the beginning of raining season (beginning of June) so Hakone area and Lake Ashi was immersed in a very thick fog (luckily the weather around Mount Fuji was very good and we had a clear view of the mountain). But again check very carefully the weather before booking the trip! The success of this trip will be defined by the weather conditions! The lunch wasn't very rich but overall OK (hot pot with rice). You can pack some sweets to have it with you.

Yoshi-san is a very good tour guide and speaks english. We’re a bit unlucky to get a glimpse of Mt. Fuji from station 5. Yoshi-san allowed us to make a short stop at station 4 where we saw the tip of Mt. Fuji.

Got a better view or Mt. Fuji at the Gotemba area. Lunch is so-so although the Tempura is oishi! Cruise at Lake Ashi is breathtakingly beautiful (if you like scenic view). The cable car ride is a bit disppointing (we were diverted to a different cable car ride because the original ride from the itenerary had some technical issues). Again it was foggy from the top so there’s really nothing to see.

In general it was a 50-50 experience although it was nobody’s fault since you need to consider the weather condition before booking this tour!

Beautiful locations ...tour guide very knowledgeable and helpful. She gave lot of history and other information.

The weather is no one's fault and staff did their best, but the dense fog made seeing anything impossible. We toured area around Mt. Fugi in the fog. The fifth viewing station was closed. We were warned in reservation materials that we might not see the mountain but we didn't expect to be fogged out of every other attraction ( boat ride, lift ) as well. We did see some interesting countryside and a few villages. We also saw a bit of Tokyo as we circled around to pick up other participants at their hotels. We took the bus back, not the train. Train people beat us back to our hotel by about 30 minutes.

April, our tour guide, was amazing. The trip was also amazing. Highly recommended.

It’s was very good experience for all of us who join the tour for the first time and we explore the nice view of Mt. fuji, hakone and lake ashi. We enjoy much during our tour because it was a good weather and the tour guide is very friendly and accommodating. She has a very good english and she keeps on checking us if we all complete during our stops to buy some souvenirs.. the food was great and delicious all japanese food. The money we pay is worth it! No regrets cause we all enjoyed during our tour!! Till next time!

The tour was very informative and there were lots of stops included (a lot more than other tours) - we didn't feel rushed at any stop and I loved the option of having a bullet train as a return home option. Our tour guide was Yoshi San - he was so wonderful and had heaps of stories to share about where we were going and Japan on general! He also made us laugh and entertained us along the way....one of the best tour guides we have had! Will definitely be back! Thank you Yoshi San

Me and my wife took this trip. It was well organised . Our tour guide spoke English and was funny. Although all the activities listed were covered there was hardly any time to relax and enjoy the moment. Except the boat cruise. The journey itself takes most of the time
So can’t complain much. The lunch was Japanese cusine it was a nice experience.

By far this has been the most efficient,fulfilling and enriching tour I've taken so far.The guide Hashimoto has been simply superb in our trip with his English,humour and knowledge.Luch experience was superb as it was authentic japanese and traditional.Places were not rushed and one had enough time to soak in the experience.We were lucky to see Mt Fuji totally clear and visible and sky godolas and pirate ship experience was awesome too.Value for money I must say!Thankyou for this tour even though I was a solo traveller ,it was most comfortable and exciting

This is the second evaluation sent to me by your company. As written on the first evaluation, the tour went off explicitly well. When our tour guide Ken Takahashi introduced himself to the group @ Yokohama Port, he has this pleasing smile with an excellent diction in English. We have had a quality tour and he explained to us important and interesting highlights of the different era on the Japanese history.
On behalf of the group, we would like to extend our appreciation to Ken Takahashi, tour guide and driver Mr.Higashi san for making our day in Tokyo a memorable one.

Great tour , very patient tour leader, courteous driver. Surely give us memorable moment at Japan. Outstanding tour

This was a very long day out.
The mountain was covered in cloud. We were greeted with snow, at the 5th step.
Lots of driving.
Lunch was fair.
It was dull and wet at the lake, which spoiled the experience.
The ride on the rope car was high and fun.

Waiting for others was a pain. We didn't arrive back at our hotel until very late.
A good experience, which looked better on TV.

We saw better views in Shimitzu on another tour, from our cruise ship..

Mr. Tom, our personal guide took us to the Kawakuchiko lake to see Mt. Fuji and we were very lucky that it was a bright and sunny day that we can see the Mt. Fuji clearly. Our guide let us move onto the next sightseeing spots at our own pace so it is very enjoyable for the whole family!

Our family had the disadvantage of traveling in from Tokyo Bay, so our travel either side of this tour was already extended, and that could not be helped by the tour company. However our pick-up was late from the hotel that we had arrived at just before the scheduled pick-up time that had required us to wake our sleeping children which was rather frustrating. It was also raining and cold. We waited for the bus and then travelled about 10 minutes to waste more time transferring to another bus.

The tour company cannot be held accountable for the weather, but the gondolas were not running, the highest viewpoint we could access was No. 2 and for most of the day Mount Fuji was not visible. Our tour guide was lovely and informative and provided lots of information about points of interest other than those listed on the itinerary. The tour company chose a shrine to visit instead of riding the gondolas which was enjoyable.

The lunch was average, the hot pot was nice but the tempura was stone cold when we arrived.

The stopping points felt rushed and most of the day was spent on the bus. We opted for the bus ride home seeing as we were a family of 5 and our rail passes had expired the previous day. Once passengers transferring to the bullet train had been escorted to the station, our bus waited (or wasted) a considerable amount of time waiting for another bus to join us before beginning the long trip home.

Considering we were the last drop off and had to commute back to our hotel after drop off at the designated hotel, all of the delays and waiting around to transfer and join with other tour groups made the day feel wasted. We definitely regret choosing this activity for our last day in Japan.

I hope to join on the next trip to the 5th station and fruit picking tour.

Overall it was a great day. Our guide, George was great but a single day trip is not enough for Mt Fuji due to the travelling time. We spent full 5 days (excluding 1 day for Mt Fuji and 2 travelling days) in Toyko and there is still much to do with the museums, parks and especially the culture.

If you really want to visit Mt Fuji, I would suggest spending the night to enjoy the magnificient Mt Fuji, onsen and mother nature.

I realize the weather is out of the control of the tour oppotators, however, we can’t be the first tour that experienced bad weather. And it was clear they had no “Plan B” for when that happened and both Kakone and the cruise were cancelled. Likewise, I know I signed that there would be no refund, but what happened to the tickets for the above activities that we didn’t do?
I’m sure this would be a great experience on a sunny day.

I had a perfect day to visit Mt. Fuji. We got to photograph it from different angles with excellent results. Lunch was OK, but the time spent in Hakone and the cruise were pretty much a waste of time. If you can find a half day (morning) trip to Fuji, I would recommend you take it.

This tour was amazing! And a great value. I highly recommend it. So much packed into a day of sightseeing: taxi ride, bus ride, boat ride, bullet train ride, gondola ride, Mt. Fuji, authentic and tasty Japanese lunch, Lake Ashi, and an English speaking guide. Really fantastic.

Good trip with an amazing view of Mt Fuji! Very lucky it was a clear day, Had an enjoyable cruise and enjoyable bus trip!

The tour was carefully arranged but unfortunately the weather was bad so we didn't have the chance to ride both the ropeway and the cruise.

We had a difficult weather day and the operator made every effort to give us a quality experience. Our guide Eiko was outstanding.

Overall, I suppose the tour delivered alexactly what it said it would. Out your guide, while quite a lovely lady, seemed unsure and somewhat disorganized. She often did not give clear instructions on what to do next.

The day was long, as were the gaps between the activities. I was finished at each location in about half the time, and had to meander for the remaining time. Then, having to drive for an hour to the next activity was quite boring.

The weather was not agreeable on this day, so this may have negatively colored my experience.

We had good experience with the tour company. All of the direction were very clear and we didn't have any problem finding our meeting point. Well worth it if this is your first time visiting Japan. It was quite a relaxing day actually. We took the way back to Japan by bus, but it would have been a lot faster with the train. We weren't worried as much because we just slept on the way.

Our group of 4 had a great time with our guide Masa.
We wanted to view Mt Fuji but the weather only allowed us to see mostly the base.
Masa customized the itinerary so we could make the most of the tour, we saw Mt Fuji base, Oshino Hakkai ponds, Kirin Whiskey Distillery and the Cherry Blossom Festival in Matsuda.

We highly recommend this private tour :)

Taiji Endo san was our tour guide who provided us (a group of 8 people) excellent service. He accommodated our requests due to plan changes and suggested some fabulous ideas to our visits in Hakone. We all enjoyed every moments and had lot of laughter and good stories from Taiji.

We highly recommend Taiji and Veltra for your next visits to Japan.

Edith

We unfortunately were not able to see Mt Fuji on our tour. We instead had a wonderful tour and tasting at the Hakushu Distillary. I highly recommend!
Finished the day at the hot springs...bliss!

Tour was overall good with English speaking Guides. All the activities were good with nice handling. May be bullet train option will be better to choose as we were running quite behind the schedule due to some block on the road...