Romance car, Hakone pass (day trip only)

Hi.

We're a group of four people and we plan to end our vacation in Tokyo by paying Hakone a visit on our last day. We'll be coming from Shinjuku via Romance Car. However, we have no plans on staying overnight, so as much as I'd like to avail of the 2-day pass, I don't know if I'll save money that way.

To keep things short:
One Romance car ticket is 2,330 Yen.
One 2-day Hakone pass is 5,700 Yen.
If I purchase the Hakone pass, I only need to top up 1,110 Yen.

I understand that much. What I'm going for is, if I were to pay the seats in full through my credit card now (online reservation), will I get a discount in buying the Hakone pass on the day itself? Because I alreay paid the train in full.

I really want to know because in our itinerary, the difference in price using the Romance car with a pass and without a pass is $16.00 per head or $64 for four people.

I think this is how this works:

Basic Hakone 2 day pass - 4600 yen
Romance train to Hakone - 2330 yen
Romance train from Hakone - 2330 yen
Total - 9260 yen

Hakone pass from Shinjuku - 5700 yen
Romance car charge to Hakone - 1090 yen
Romance car charge from Hakone - 1090 yen
Total - 7880 yen

Is this what you were wanting to know?

I would suggest checking the Japan Guide website on Hakone, because there are some tracks that have Typhoon Damage. It says repairs should be completed fall 2020.

Good luck, in planning your vacation.

This is what the Hakone Free Pass (5,700 yen) covers:
- Base fare for Shinjuku – Hakone (return tickets) on local or rapid trains
- Other modes of transport within Hakone to complete the �gHakone Loop,�h
And it pays off if you do the �gHakone Loop,�h be it in 1 or 2 days.

Now if you want to pay additional to take the faster limited express Romance Car between Shinjuku and Hakone, you need to pay 1,090 yen additionally per one way.

I don�ft know which site you are trying to buy the Romance Car tickets from, but is there any option on that page that you can buy the Romance Car tickets + Hakone Free Pass at the same time? If you bought the Romance Car tickets including the base fare (2,330), AND THEN later try to buy the Hakone Free Pass (covers the base fare), that would be wasteful.

You �gcould�h buy the �ginside Hakone only�h Free Pass (the one that is listed as �gBasic Hakone�h in ebaychucky�fs post above), but you will still be paying more than you need to.

What I'm going for is, if I were to pay the seats in full through my credit card now (online reservation), will I get a discount in buying the Hakone pass on the day itself? Because I alreay paid the train in full.

There's a Hakone Pass without the round trip from Shinjuku for 4600 yen, but since you ARE doing the round trip from Shinjuku, the 2 day pass with the round trip is going to be the better deal. Remember that it's not just the cost of the pass itself, but also the convenience; instead of having to paying separately and waiting in line every single step of your journey, you just flash your pass and can continue on. The time it saves alone makes the pass worth it even if you aren't going for 2 days in my opinion!

That said, I haven't used the Odakyu website to buy tickets before so I don't know for sure, but you SHOULD be able to buy only the limited express ticket and not the base fare ticket. If you did buy the ticket including the base fare, you still wouldn't get a discount on the pass (unless you bought the cheaper one without the round trip).

What the Odakyu station staff MIGHT be able to do is to refund you the base fare amount of the romancecar ticket when you go in person to buy the passes, but obviously it would be better if you just make the seat reservations and only buy the romancecar seat tickets not including the base fare. I don't know if they would be able to do that or not since I have no direct experience trying to get a refund from Odakyu. Worst case if they wont issue a refund for the base fare portion of the ticket, you could just get the cheaper Hakone Pass instead. But you're still better off getting the one with the round trip and just paying for the romancecar surcharge in addition.

Hi. I got some clarity last night on the Odakyu website. As it turns out, I'll only be paying the surcharge online. So, I guess the Hakone pass is still the way to go :)

The basic economics of the free-pass is that it covers one leg of the round-trip Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto IF you do the loop. i.e. a saving of around 1100 yen. If you get the Odawara version, the cost is basically the same as doing the "loop". If not doing the loop, or skipping something like the cablecar (out of service until March sometime), then single tickets/paying by SUICA/PASMO might be cheaper.
Also, the extra cost for the Romance Car is basically spending 1100 yen to save 20 minutes and having a more comfortable seat.