Concerns about July trip

Our family (2 adults and kids aged 17 and 19) are planning a trip to Japan end June/early July. We'll be spending the most time in Osaka and Tokyo, and so am contemplating a 1N stay in Hakone for a different experience.

I noticed there are mixed views online about visiting Hakone during this period. Some blog articles said summer is a relatively good time to visit with blooming hydrangeas and others mentioned how awful the weather could be due to the heat and tsuyu, and worst still, ropeway and ship could be closed as a result.

I think we can handle the hot weather - we were also in Japan last July but mostly in Hokkaido and Tokyo. But heavy rain would be a dampener. We aren't too bothered if we are able to see Mt Fuji but are really hoping to enjoy the outdoors and the Hakone loop.

Are we likely to be disappointed? Should we change our plan and visit Yokohama instead?

Appreciate any advice and sharing of experience! Thanks!!

No one can guarantee the weather for the day you plan to visit Hakone. However replacing it with Yokohama is an odd choice. You are already only staying in cities so doing something a bit outside is a good idea. And Yokohama anyway can easily be done as a daytrip

You can do Hakone as a daytrip too if you get up early. That would give you flexibility with the weather. Depends if you�fd like to relax in an onsen or not.

Hot, yes it can/will be hot.
Rain, tsuyu isnt torrential rain and shouldn�ft really shut down roadway and ship. BUT both do get shut down on windy days. Regardless of season.

I was going to say the same thing...Hakone might be bad so add in yet another big city? You could instead try someplace like Karuizawa to escape some of the heat. Or Nikko. For someplace closer, there is also Kamakura & Enoshima.

Unlike places like southern California where you are likely to go without real rain for months, in Japan, moreover the mountains, you can get heavy rain at ANY day of the year. It's simply ridiculous to judge if one specific night in the mountains would rain or not.

But why Yokohama out of the blue anyway? I live in Yokohama and would hate to walk around in the city when it's raining (like I had to this Wednesday). If you can narrow down what you seek for that day, perhaps someone could suggest a better alternative. For example, if rain is the one thing you want to avoid the most, you should spend that whole day at a big museum without making reservations.

Hi thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts!

Apologies my initial post wasn't clear. Our initial plan is to visit Osaka (incl. Nara day trip), Yokohama and Tokyo. Then I realised these are all big cities likely with similar vibes, so the idea of staying a night (in a ryokan) in Hakone came up. And that was before we learned about potential closures of the ropeway and ship etc in the event of bad weather.

I guess we could take a risk with Hakone as it still sounds like a wonderful place, and hope for good weather! Initially we also thought of engaging a private tour guide to bring us around - maybe we can skip that so there is some flexibility. Worst case we'll spend the rainy day at Yunessan :)

Alternatively Karuizawa also sounds amazing - I didn't know about this place! I'll definitely find out more about it.