Guide · Day tours

Hakone pirate ship cruise day tours from Tokyo

Many Tokyo day trips mention Lake Ashi, but they differ in how long you sail, whether the ticket is included and how you get back. Here are the listings with a Hakone pirate ship cruise, side by side.

Check availabilityfrom $153 · cancel for free

Editorial team, hakonesightseeingcruise.comUpdated October 22, 2026read in 6 minutes8 sources

The matching tour Tokyo: Mt. Fuji 5th Station & Hakone Cruise 1-Day Bus Tour 4.3 (2,413 reviews) 11 hours from$128per person Check availabilityFree to cancel until 24 hours before the start

Quick answer

01Cruise ticket included: This site's coach day lists the Lake Ashi cruise ticket.
02Longest on the water: A Shinjuku day lists an hour-long Lake Ashi cruise.
03Back by train: Some return from Odawara on the bullet train.
04Check the fine print: On some tours the cruise is optional or bought on the day.
05Prices: From $57 to $153 among the tours here.

What a cruise day from Tokyo looks like

A Hakone pirate ship cruise is usually one part of a long coach day from Tokyo that also takes in Mount Fuji. The tour this site is built around is typical: 10 hours, with a coach to the Mt. Fuji 5th Station, lunch, a ride on the Hakone Ropeway, a boat cruise on Lake Ashi and a bullet train back from Odawara. It starts from Matsuya Ginza or the LOVE statue in Shinjuku and costs from $153.

The lake comes late in the day on most of these itineraries, after Fuji. That matters for the view: the ropeway operator notes that in summer Fuji is often hidden by clouds once the day warms.¹ A tour cannot change that, but it is worth knowing before you choose a day trip for the Fuji photo from the boat.

Every tour here comes with the same caveat about weather. The coach day sold on this site says that weather, traffic or a suspension can stop an activity, and that it then visits an alternative, among them the Lake Ashinoko sightseeing boat itself, or gives a gift, without a refund.

The site tour's day

From Tokyo to the lake and back

Morning

Ginza or Shinjuku

Pickup at Matsuya Ginza or the LOVE statue.
2 hours

Coach to Mount Fuji

To the 5th Station, weather permitting.
Midday

Lunch and a viewpoint

A local restaurant, then a 10-minute pass-by.
Afternoon

Ropeway and cruise

The Hakone Ropeway, then the Lake Ashi boat.
Around 6 PM

Back in Tokyo

After a 40-minute bullet train from Odawara.

Is the cruise ticket included?

This is the first thing to check, because listings word it differently. The coach day this site is built around names a ticket for the Lake Ashi cruise and a ticket for the Hakone Ropeway among its inclusions, plus a one-way bullet train ticket from Odawara to Tokyo Station.

Other tours list a boat cruise in the itinerary without saying how the ticket is handled. The 11-hour coach day that is the most reviewed alternative lists a Hakone Ropeway visit and a Lake Ashi boat cruise, then returns by coach from Odawara. A Fuji and Hakone day for $61 is different again: its guide helps you buy the cable car or cruise ticket on the day if you want them.

Some itineraries offer options with and without the boat. One 8-hour tour lists meeting options in Tokyo and Shinjuku marked as excluding the pirate ship. Read the option names carefully before you pay; when the boat is the whole point of your day, pick the option whose name includes it.

Minutes on the lake

Cruise time stated in each itinerary

min

Boat times as each GetYourGuide itinerary states them; the site tour and the 11-hour coach day give no cruise duration.

At a glance

Cruise day tours side by side

Tour	Length	On the lake	Back to Tokyo
Coach and bullet train day	10 hours	Cruise ticket included	Bullet train
Longer coach day	11 hours	Boat cruise	Coach from Odawara
Train-return day	10 hours	30 minutes	Train, 35 minutes
Shinjuku bus day	10 hours	1 hour	Bus to Shinjuku
Six-spot day	10 hours	25 minutes	Train, 30 minutes
Eight highlights day	10 to 11 hours	30 minutes	Coach, 2 hours

From each listing's itinerary on GetYourGuide; prices are from-prices and change, see the calculator.

Three to compare

The most booked cruise days

Tokyo Mt Fuji 5th St & Hakone Cruise Bus Tour w/Bullet Train

Cruise ticket included

Coach and bullet train

Fuji, ropeway, cruise

Duration: 10 hours
Back by: Bullet train
Reviews: 5,293

View tour

Most reviewed rival

Longer coach day

Fuji, ropeway, cruise

Duration: 11 hours
Back by: Coach
Reviews: 2,413

View tour

From Tokyo: Mt. Fuji & Hakone Tour w/ Return by Bullet Train

30 minutes afloat

Train-return day

Fuji, ropeway, boat

Duration: 10 hours
Back by: Train to Tokyo
Reviews: 1,612

View tour

Decision helper

Which cruise day fits you?

Choose by what matters most on your day

I want the cruise ticket sorted I want the most time on the water I want to be back early by train I am heading west afterwards I want the lowest price

The coach and bullet train day

Its inclusions name the Lake Ashi cruise ticket.

The Shinjuku bus day

Its itinerary lists an hour-long boat cruise.

A bullet-train return

The site tour's train from Odawara takes 40 minutes.

Check the Odawara finish

On listed dates the 11-hour day ends at Odawara Station.

Compare in the calculator

Prices differ widely between these listings.

Taking a boat is a great way to bypass all the traffic that clogs Hakone on the weekends.

Hakone Tourist AssociationSource 2

How long you actually sail

Time on the water varies more than the titles suggest. A day trip by bus from Shinjuku lists a Lake Ashi boat cruise of 1 hour, the longest stated among these tours. A tour with a bullet-train return lists 30 minutes on the boat, and another lists a sightseeing cruise of 25 minutes.

At the short end, a Fuji, Kamakura and Lake Ashi day lists a boat cruise of 10 minutes at Motohakone, which is a taste of the lake rather than a crossing. For comparison, the operator's own one-way crossing between Togendai and the southern ports takes about 25 to 35 minutes.³

The two longest-running coach days, the site tour and the most reviewed alternative, list the cruise without a duration. For those two, plan on the operator's usual crossing time rather than a fixed figure. Ask your guide on the day which port the boat leaves from, since that decides how long you have on deck and which shore you see first.

Checklist

Before you book a cruise day

Read the listing

Is the cruise ticket included?
Bus or bullet train back?
Guide language and audio

On the day

Be at the pickup point early
Warm clothing for the deck
Cash for lunch if not included

Price calculator

Cruise days for your group

Compare day tours that sail on Lake Ashi

Coach and bullet train dayCruise ticket includedfrom $153 Longer coach dayBoat cruisefrom $128 Train-return day30 minutes on the lakefrom $116 Shinjuku bus dayAn hour on the lakefrom $82

People 2

Total from$306

per participant from $153

Check availabilityfree cancellation

Each total multiplies a listing's lowest GetYourGuide price by the number of travelers and converts it at today's ECB rate; the booking page shows the binding figure for your date.

Video

Hakone day trip: Lake Ashi, the pirate ship, Owakudani and hot springs

The player stays dark and sends nothing to YouTube until you start it.

Getting back to Tokyo

The return leg divides these tours. The site tour boards a train at Odawara for a 40-minute ride and includes a one-way bullet train ticket to Tokyo Station. Its description puts the arrival in Tokyo at around 6 PM. If you hold a JR pass, the listing asks you to book its Return by Bus option instead.

Another day with a train return lists a 35-minute ride from Odawara to JR Tokyo Station, from $116. A six-spot day finishes with a 30-minute train to Tokyo Station, from $109.

The most reviewed alternative returns by coach, about 1.5 hours from Odawara, and on listed dates in 2026, including Golden Week and mid-August, the tour ends at Odawara Station instead. That suits travelers heading west by Shinkansen and is worth checking if you are not. On those dates you would continue from Odawara on your own, which is easy on the Tokaido Shinkansen but means buying a separate ticket to Tokyo.

Guides, languages and group days

These tours run with live guides, in English or in several languages. The site tour adds audio headsets in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese and Ukrainian, and so does the 11-hour coach day. The Shinjuku bus day has guides in English and Japanese, meeting at 7:50am by a white flag at a convenience store near Shinjuku Station.

Other tours guide in several languages at once. The Fuji and Hakone day for $61 lists Chinese, English and Korean, and an 8-highlights day that adds Enoshima and Kamakura lists Chinese, English and Japanese. On small days some operators say the driver doubles as guide with limited commentary.

Lunch is handled differently too. The site tour recommends booking its lunch option, because changes on the day cost extra, and offers a vegetarian lunch on request but no halal or vegan meals. Other tours leave lunch to you, so carry some cash for a meal at the lake.

Cancellation and booking terms

All the day tours compared here offer free cancellation up to 24 hours before and reserve now, pay later, as their listings state. That lets you hold a seat and watch the forecast before you commit.

Do not confuse that with refunds for changes on the day. The site tour's listing says plainly that if the itinerary changes because of weather, traffic or a suspension, it attends an alternative or gives a gift, and refunds are not given for those changes. The Hakone pass, by contrast, is non-refundable once bought.

Reviews can help you weigh the options. The site tour has 5,293 reviews with an average of 4.42, the 11-hour coach day 2,413 reviews at 4.25, and the Shinjuku bus day 105 reviews at 4.77.

Doing it without a tour

If you prefer to travel on your own, the Hakone boat tour is easy to do independently. The Hakone Free Pass covers the cruise's normal cabin as often as you like, along with the ropeway, the mountain railway and buses in its area.⁴ ⁵ From Shinjuku it costs 7,100 yen for two days.⁶

Single fares work too: 1,700 yen one way across the lake and 2,000 yen one way on the ropeway, Odakyu Hakone's fares since October 2025.⁷ ⁸ What you give up is Mount Fuji's 5th Station, which coach days reach by road; what you gain is the freedom to sail early, when in summer the view of Fuji is at its best.¹

Our pages on tickets and the Hakone loop explain how to plan the day yourself, port by port and leg by leg. If time is short and you want Fuji and the lake in one go, a coach day is the simpler choice, with the coach between the sights and, on the site tour, the ropeway and cruise tickets already included.

Your Hakone day