Hakone Free Pass worth it? Shinjuku vs Odawara, Romancecar

Is the Hakone Free Pass worth it? Odakyu's official prices for adults are ¥7,100 (2 days) or ¥7,500 (3 days) from Shinjuku, and ¥6,000 or ¥6,400 from Odawara. The Romancecar limited express is not included in either one. This page lays out those numbers, the two totals Odakyu itself calculates, and the cases where the pass may not be the right buy for you.

Prices and rules are from Odakyu's official pages, read on November 5, 2026. This page covers what you pay and what is included, not the views or crowds. If you also hold a JR Pass for other parts of your trip, the JR Pass calculator and JR Pass price cover that side.

Is the Hakone Free Pass worth it? Official prices

Child fares apply to ages 6 to 11. Odakyu's list of what the pass covers: Odakyu Line, Hakone Tozan Train, Hakone Tozan Cable Car, Hakone Ropeway, Hakone Sightseeing Cruise, Hakone Tozan Bus, "Kanko Shisetsu-Meguri" (tourist attraction sightseeing) Bus, Odakyu Highway Bus and Tokai Bus; the buses are for designated areas.

Two details that change what you pay:

• Shinjuku pass includes the trip to Hakone. Odakyu says the Shinjuku pass includes a round-trip ticket for use between Shinjuku and Odawara. The Odawara pass does not include any Odakyu line ticket, so you buy that separately.
• "2 days" is not 48 hours. The day you buy counts as day one, and a 2-day pass ends after the last service on the following day.

The Odawara pass is ¥1,100 cheaper than the Shinjuku pass for 2 days (¥7,100 − ¥6,000, our arithmetic). The Odawara pass has no Odakyu Line ticket, so the Shinjuku pass is the one that already includes the Shinjuku–Odawara round trip. Whether the cheaper Odawara pass wins depends on what your own ticket to Odawara costs; check that fare before choosing.

Romancecar: the extra you pay on top

The Romancecar is Odakyu's all-reserved limited express. To ride it you need a regular fare (a pass, ticket or IC card) plus a limited express ticket. Odakyu's surcharges for adults, one way:

Odakyu says child fares (ages 6 to 11) are half the adult fares. Odakyu says an express e-ticket bought through its EMot Online Tickets service saves ¥50 compared with these prices. Other trains (rapid express and express) need only a regular ticket but have standing space and few seats, with about two hours between Shinjuku and Hakone-Yumoto, according to Odakyu's FAQ.

Odakyu gives two worked totals:

Our own arithmetic from the same prices:

• Romancecar one way only, and a regular train for the other direction: ¥7,100 + ¥1,200 = ¥8,300 for the 2-day pass, before any regular-train extras.
• Two adults and one child, 2-day Shinjuku pass with Romancecar both ways: (¥7,100 × 2) + ¥1,600 + (¥2,400 × 2) + ¥1,200 = ¥21,800.
• Going a day longer adds ¥400 per adult from Shinjuku (¥7,500 − ¥7,100).

What can go wrong

• No refund after departure. Odakyu says limited express tickets cannot be changed or refunded once the train has left; before departure they can be changed to a train with free seats, and a refund carries a ¥100 handling fee. Missing the train means buying again.
• Seats are not guaranteed on other trains. All Romancecar seats are reserved; on rapid express and express trains there is standing space with few seats, and seating is not guaranteed.
• Odawara to Hakone-Yumoto Romancecar seats are limited. Odakyu says reserved seat tickets for that stretch can only be bought on the platform on the day, when seats are left.
• Bought separately from your hotel booking. Odakyu's Hakone site only accepts accommodation reservations, so the Freepass and Romancecar tickets cannot be booked together with a reservation there; they are bought through EMot Online Tickets or at an Odakyu Sightseeing Service Center.
• One phone per ticket. Digital tickets work on smartphones only, and each person with a digital ticket needs a smartphone, and Odakyu says more than two digital tickets of the same type cannot be used at the same time on a single phone.

When the Hakone Free Pass may not pay off

This page does not calculate a break-even, because the pass price is fixed and the value depends on which rides you take. Some cases where the pass may be a poor fit:

• You plan to stay in one area (for example only the Hakone-Yumoto town) and will ride few of the pass's lines. The pass price is fixed whether you use two services or ten.
• You are coming from Odawara and are not using any Hakone transport beyond one or two rides: add up those fares first, using the operators' own fare tables.
• You want the Romancecar for the full trip: then the ¥9,500 total is the number to compare, not ¥7,100.

For a longer Japan trip that includes the Shinkansen, compare the rail passes first with JR Pass vs individual tickets and Tokyo to Osaka Shinkansen cost. If your Tokyo-side route is a fixed one, the JR Pass calculator shows what it costs.

Where to buy

Odakyu sells the pass online (EMot Online Tickets) and, as a paper ticket, at ticket vending machines and at the Odakyu Sightseeing Service Centers (West and South Exits of Odakyu Shinjuku Station). Odakyu's pass page is the place to check current prices and buy.

See Hakone Freepass prices and buy on the official Odakyu page →

Sources

All checked on 2026-11-05.

• Odakyu, Hakone Freepass (prices from Shinjuku and Odawara, Romancecar surcharge, worked totals, included transport, how to buy, FAQ): https://hakonetrip.odakyu-global.com/passes/hakone-freepass/ (same page on the Odakyu global site: https://odakyu-global.com/passes/hakone-freepass/)
• Odakyu, Limited Express Romancecar (surcharges, children's fare, e-ticket ¥50 saving, FAQ on refunds and trains): https://hakonetrip.odakyu-global.com/passes/romancecar/
• Totals not stated by Odakyu (the ¥1,100 difference, the ¥8,300 and ¥21,800 totals, the ¥400 extra day) are our arithmetic from the prices above.