Hakone Day Trip spring 2022

Trying to figure out if we can spend 2-3 hours at Open Air Museum plus cable car ride but skip shrines and maybe boat ride in day trip from Tokyo. The entire loop plus museum seems like long, rushed day so wondering if can do gpartialh loop.

If you go as far as the ropeway/cablecar, then you could just as well do the entire loop because the ropeway is at the other end of the loop when coming from Tokyo. It is doable in a daytrip from Tokyo if you start early and don't travel too slowly.

If you want to do just cable car, Open Air Museum, then ropeway to the lake and then right back, thatfs well doable as a day trip. (From your question, I couldnft quite tell if you wanted to skip the boat ride or not.)
We always travel from Tokyo to Hakone on a weekday morning via Hakone-yumoto, then Gora (going counter-clockwise), and if you go that way, and skip both the boat ride and Hakone Shrine, (cutting out the whole bottom half of this map), then there is no rush.
To me usually the bus ride back from Moto Hakone back to Hakone Yumoto in mid- to late-afternoon is the part that gets crowded.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5206.html

Very easy to do in a day. I left Kamata station at 9pm and got back at 5pm. I spent 2 hours at lake.

Thx for the help. @AK thatfs just what I wanted to know - that I could skip part of the loop. Thx.

IMO the shrines at Hakone are nothing special or particularly noteworthy and certainly a long (long) way down the list of potential things to do.
The trip is not especially tiring - depends if you try to rush through things or pack in too many stops.
Also, for better connections (also IMO, especially for the lake crossing) the clock-wise loop takes less time and is also less crowded (based on experience, having done it many times). Avoid weekends/holidays.

It certainly can be done - it is all up to what you want. More than the boat ride, I found the wetlands garden to be much more enjoyable.
Nobody sees it all in a full day - you could spend 2-3 days if you want to do it all, including the time consuming things like hiking. Just be eclectic and choose your favorites.