Stopping in Hakone on the way from Hiroshima

Hi guys. I hope I'm not stupidly optimistic about planning a family trip for September...
Assuming all goes ok wth Covid19.
After spending 5 nights in Kyoto and 2 nights in Osaka, we are spending 2 nights in Hiroshima and then go to Tokyo.
I was thing of doing 1 nights it Hakone on the way. Reaching Hakone at noon, going to the open air museum and then staying near hakone yumoto.
Is it possible and reasonable leaving Hiroshima and spending a dwy at the museum at the same day, or is the ride too long and I'm bejng too ambicious?

I think using Kansai as the stopover between Hiroshima and Tokyo would be a better idea! Hiroshima to Tokyo, on its own, is already very long - around 5 hours. Placing Kyoto/Osaka between Hiroshima and Tokyo makes it much more pleasant. You could then travel from Kansai to Hakone before Tokyo (Hakone as a stopover between Kansai/Tokyo is quite common).

If you start early, you might make it. (Also depends on whether you will use Japan Rail Pass – then you cannot use the fastest Shinkansen, Nozomi.)

You�fd go from Hiroshima on Hikari or Nozomi Shinkansen train, change maybe at Nagoya for a Kodama train, reach Odawara, then take Hakone Tozan train to Chokoku no Mori station (that�fs the station for the Open-Air Museum).

One search turned up the result of starting at 7:22 from Hiroshima, arriving at Odawara at 11:39, and arriving at the station for the museum at 12:46.

So it�fs doable, but I don�ft know how young your kids are and how they like long train rides. I agree with the above poster.

Your plan might not be completely impossible, but it'd be a very tight schedule, and probably not all that enjoyable.

Hakone doesn't have a Shinkansen stop, so if you're coming from Hiroshima, you'll probably need to come into Odawara first, then transfer to non-Shinkansen trains to get to Hakone. There's no rail access for the open-air museum, so once you get to Hakone you'll need to catch a bus or taxi to get to the museum.

All that is going to take several hours. Add in time to eat, use the bathroom, etc., and even if you leave Hiroshima very early you're probably not going to arrive at the museum until late afternoon, but because it's an open-air facility, it closes at sundown, so you probably won't have much time to enjoy it.

Also, I'm guessing that this will be your first time in Hakone, right? While the museum has a very good reputation, it's far from the only thing worth seeing in the town. Most Japanese travelers would say that Lake Ashinoko and the Owakudani Ropeway are the must-see spots, for example, so trying to fit travel from Hiroshima and your Hakone sightseeing into just one day would probably mean missing out on a lot of what the town has to offer.

So I guess if the choice is between leaving Hiroshima/doing all your Hakone sightseeing in one day and skipping Hakone entirely, I'd still go for it. But if I could find a way to give myself a little more time in Hakone, I'd do that instead.

To be honest - Hakone is better as a slightly longer day trip from Tokyo as there are lots of changes in transport (Shinkansen - train - bus) which all takes time. I also agree with the comment with visiting Hakone only to see an open air museum. I'd compare it to visiting Kyoto to only see Toei Edomura

It�fs doable but with all the extra travel time just to see a museum I don�ft personally think it�fs worth sacrificing extra time in Hiroshima and/or Tokyo for. Either rethink your trip to spend more time in Hakone or skip it entirely would be my advice.

Thanks fir your advise guys. I'm planning on staying a night in Hakone after the museum, but I guess it's more ligical to do Kyoto-Hiroshima-Osaka-Hakone instead of going Hiroshima-Hakone

That's a typical Japan-Rail-Pass-user itinerary (except that most travelers would sleep over at either Kyoto or Osaka and make day trips to the other city), so it's doable.

Hakone is also a good place for the last night if you are leaving from Narita or Haneda. We stayed at Fukumuziro ryokan a short walk from Hakone Yumoto on our last night a few years ago, it is a fantastic historical ryokan in a great little foresty niche, and all very easy to the airport. Hakone has its detractors but I really like it and the open air museum is always worth a look.

Why don't you break the journey from Hiroshima to Tokyo by staying in Hakone overnight. We did this and stayed at a small onsen (Tsukinoya). The host drove us to the museum and the next day to Odawarra station. Great service.

To correct a previous post, there is a rail stop for the Open Air Museum - I've used it several times.
As for is your plan doable? Yes it is. Odawara is a stop for the Hikari and Kodama services, but from Hiroshima there are a few transfers - extra using a rail pass - and that adds to travel time.
However, it would be better to adjust your schedule. Rather than having Osaka after Kyoto, better in terms of travel time and planning would be Kyoto-Hiroshima-Osaka.
Also consider, that if you are spending time in Tokyo, you really need something specific to see/do in Osaka IMO. And Osaka is only 15-30 minutes from Kyoto anyway.