Odawara station guide. How to change the train to Hakone.

Mt. Fuji and Hakone
Hakone 075

Odawara is the gateway to the one of most well known Onsen resort, Hakone. If you take JR trains, you have to change the trains to Hakone at this station, Odawara. Odawara station is not a mega terminal station. But there is JR Tokaido line, Shinkansen and Odakyu/Hakone Tozan Railway. It may make you be confused.

In this post, I show you many images of all transfer exit, ticket gates and platforms. You will find how to transfer the train at this station, Odawara.

Station structure, tracks and platforms

Please see the map below.

Odawara station map (click to enlarge)
Odawara station map (click to view large)

You also can get a map at JR East official site (English).

At Odawara station, there are four railway companies, Izu-Hakone Railway Daiyuzan line, JR Tokaido line, Odakyu / Hakone Tozan Railway, and JR Tokaido Shinkansen. Most of you do not need to take Izu-Hakone Railway Daiyuzan line. This railway actually does not go either Hakone and Izu. I explain for other three railways in this post because Izu-Hakone Railway is a commute line for locals.

* Strictly speaking, Odakyu Railway and Hakone Tozan Railway are the different railway companies. However Odakyu Railway is the parent company of Hakone Tozan Railway. And the segment between Odawara and Hakone-Yumoto belongs to Hakone Tozan Raliway. However all trains are operated by Odakyu Railway’s fleets. So you can think Odakyu and Hakone Tozan Railway are the same company.

On the ground floor, there are Tokaido line platforms, Odakyu / Hakone Tozan Railway platforms and Shinkansen exit/ticket gate. Both JR Tokaido line and Odakyu exits/ticket gates are located at the overpass. All exits/ticket gates are connected the overpass. You can find the overpass to be shown by white shade in the station map above.

Only Shinkansen’s platform is located at overhead.

All platforms and tracks of Odawara station are the following:

Track#Lines/TrainsDestination
1,2Izu-Hakone Railway Daiyuzan lineDaiyuzan
3,4JR Tokaido lineAtami, Ito, Numazu
5,6JR Tokaido line
Ueno-Tokyo line
Shonan-Shinjku line
Tokyo, Yokohama, Shinjuku,
Shibuya, Ueno
7,11Odakyu
Hakone Tozan Railway
Hakone-Yumoto, Gora
9,10OdakyuShinjuku
13The Tokaido ShinkansenNagoya, Kyoto, Shin-Osaka
14The Tokaido ShinkansenTokyo, Shinagawa, Shin-Yokohama

Ticket gate/Exit

As you saw the map above, all railways have one ticket gate/exit. And there is Shinkansen transfer gate between Shinkansen and JR Tokaido line. If you transfer between JR trains and Shinkansen, you can go through this gate. You do not have to exit the gate. Because you can use one same base fare ticket for both JR trains and Shinkansen. If you use JR Pass, you can show your pass to the staff at the gate.

However if you go to Hakone, you have to get on Odakyu/Hakone Tozan Railway. In this case, you have to exit and then enter Odakyu railway platform.

I explain you how to change the trains at Odawara station.

How to transfer from the Shinkansen to Odakyu Railway / Hakone Tozan Railway

You can find all transfer ways in the movie below. I recorded it by myself. You can find the location of lockers and storage service too:

I show you several photos and explain step by step. It is not far and very easy to transfer.

First of all, when you get off Shinkansen just follow the sign to exit and go down the stairs, escalators or elevators.

(C) Odawara Staton JR Tokaido Shinkansen - photo by Araishohei
(C) Odawara Staton JR Tokaido Shinkansen – photo by Araishohei

You will see Shinkansen exit.

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Hakone 004

When you exit Shinkansen gate, you will see the concourse.

Hakone 005

You will find the stairs and escalators on your right hand side.

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The view from the downstairs to upstairs.
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The view from the upstairs to downstairs.

Proceed to upstairs and you will find Odakyu and Hakone Tozan Railway’s ticket gate right after you get upstairs.

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How to transfer from JR Tokaido and Shonan Shinjuku line to Odakyu / Hakone Tozan Railway

Go upstairs from the platform and you will find ticket gate. There is a big lentern above.

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Proceed to the left on the concourse.

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And you will get Odakyu / Hakone Tozan Railway’s ticket gate soon.

Odakyu / Hakone Tozan Railway’s Odawara station

Some of you want to purchase the Odakyu Railway’s ticket or Hakone Free Pass. There is Odakyu Sightseeing Service Center just beside Odakyu Railway’s ticket gate. You can purchase these tickets/passes. You can book Odakyu’s limited express “Romancecar” here.

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After you go through ticket gate, you will the signage above.

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And also there are lots of sign of “To Hakone” and “Hakone Tozan Railway”. All you have to do is just following these sign.

Hakone 009
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You will find the train that goes to Hakone-Yumoto.

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If you take Romancecar from Odakyu Shinjuku, the train goes to Hakone-Yumoto directly. You don’t need to transfer at Odawara. But if you take local train, you have to transfer to Hakone-Yumoto. There is no direct trains from Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto other than Romancecar.

How to transfer from Shinkansen to JR Tokaido and Shonan Shinjuku line

In this case, you don’t need to exit. You may proceed Shinkansen transfer gate.

800px-Odawara_Sta_wicket_for_Tokaido_Line_transfer_only
800px-Odawara_Sta_wicket_for_Shinkansen_transfer_only

And you will go through connection path and get in the station of Tokaido / Shonan-Shijuku line station.

Hakone 002

It’s shown by Orange shade in the station map above.

Connection time

If you just transfer the trains, you can make it in 10 minutes. However if you need to purchase a ticket or pass, you have to add 10 more minutes at least. In the peak season, Odakyu Sightseeing Service Center is busy. It may take 15 minutes there. So give yourself a plenty of time.

Comments

  1. Lilian says:

    1st time visiting Hokkaido needs transportation guidance

    Hi Takeshi San,
    Our family of 6 adults will be visiting Hokkaido on 10th May and leaving on 15th May morning to Haneda Airport in Tokyo.

    We would like to seek your guidance on the transportation by Train and bus to/from the itinerary as follows:

    1. Day 1 – Sapporo, stay one night
    2. Day 2 – Otaru, stay one night
    3. Day 3 to 5 – Hakodate, stay 3 nights

    We intend to spend one day in Noboribetsu, visiting Hell Valley
    from Hakodate as the accommodations in Noboribetsu is way above our budget.

    Which airport (Chitose/ Hakodate) is more appropriate to/from Haneda Airport by Domestic Flight.

    Kindly advise which pass to use for both Train/bus/subway.
    and also the nearest station to our Hotel at Sapporo/ Otaru/ Hakodate.

    Sapporo: Hotel Emisia Sapporo
    Otaru: Dormy Inn Premium Otaru Natural Hot Spring
    Hakodate: Smile Hotel Hakodate

    Thanks a lot.

    Best regards,
    Lilian

  2. Pia says:

    Hello Takeshi,

    Can I stay overnight at Odawara station? Because i want to go to Kyoto at Dawn

    Thank you

    • Hi Pia,

      You cannot stay overnight at any stations in Japan. All stations are closed from the last train to the first train. (usually from midnight to around 5:00 am)

      Cheers,

      Takeshi / JPRail.com

  3. Michael says:

    Hello Mr. Takeshi,

    It looks like there are multiple train stations in Hakone. For the train transfer from Odawara to Hakone, which station is it in Hakone ?

    Also, I will travel from Nagoya to visit Hakone and Mount Fuji for two days and then go to Tokyo. So a key thing for me is to store luggage during my second day in Hakone while I go to Mount Fuji and pick them up at night when I go to Tokyo.

    With this itinerary and for families with children, would you recommend to stay near Hakone station or Odawara station ?

    Thanks.

    Michael,

  4. Eleonora says:

    Hello,
    I am a bit lost in all the other passes than JR Pass.
    My itinerary is fixed and I don’t know, if the Fuji Hakone Pass covers everything on my list:
    Itinerary:
    30.04.2018 from Kamakura to Odawara with JR Pass
    30.04.2018 from Odawara to Hakone Gora
    Gora cable car to Sounzan and back

    01.05.2018 from Hakone Gora to Kawaguchiko for 2 days and maybe we would take the ropeway to the Mt. Fuji 5th station

    3.05.2018 from Kawaguchiko to Fuji city
    From city Fuji we can switch to JR Pass again and go to Kyoto

    Thank you for advising what option we need to buy to get around as described above.

  5. anjan p says:

    I am travelling to Japan next week. We do have Japan rail pass.
    Our travel plan is Stay in Tokyo for few day then pick up a train to go to Hakone, stay over night and then go to Kyoto by train. Stay few day in Kyoto then go back to Tokyo via train.

    If you can help me which JApan rail I need to take for Tokyo-Hakone-Kyoto-Tokyo.

    Appreciate your help.

  6. peggy fong says:

    hi Takeshi San ,
    i’m traveling from Gora station to Odawara station via Hakoneyumoto station by Hakonetozan Line , according to the timetable the transit time only 1 minute at the Hakoneyumoto , Therefore would i have any problem with the 1 minute transit time ? Are the train using the same platform ?
    lastly can i use ICOCA card for my journey from Gora Station to Jogasaki-Kaigan ?
    Thank you !

  7. Maffy says:

    Hi! I want to go to Mt fuji hakone. It says that I can go to odawara station to go to hakone. But how would I go to hakone once I’m at odawara station?

    Thank you.

  8. Ann Lee says:

    Hi Takeshi,

    My travel plan is Nagoya – Hakone- Tokyo.

    How can I get to Odawara Station from Nagoya?

    Many thanks!

    Ann

  9. Karen says:

    What is the best way to get from Kyoto to Miyajima I am not sure if I will purchase Shinkansen have about 7 to 8 days inthis area coming from Kanazawa then
    Having to go back to Hakone Yumoto after Miyajima. Is there a pass available covering this area? I will be going in Nov. Also how long would it take will spend one night on Miyajima as well. Thank you

  10. Andrew Wang says:

    Hi there.
    This guide was very helpful. We had 8mins to transfer from Shinkansen line to odakyu and this guide made it possible.

    Forever in your debt.

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