Tokyo is a good base to do many one day trips around the area. Nikko, Hakone, Kawaguchiko five lakes area, flower parks are good places to cover around Tokyo in a day each. You can even do Alpine route and snow monkey park as day trips, but we do not recommend that
Places to cover around Tokyo
Nikko
Home to hundreds of wonderful, colorful shrines amidst forests of tall cedar trees. Autumn is supposed to be best time to visit this place. You can see snowclad Mt. Nikko in the town
The temples are impressive- very different from the ones in Tokyo, with greater color, pomp and designs. There is a 20 minute climb to see memorial area of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate
We took Nikko pass through Klook that covers one round trip on local trains from Tokyo to Nikko, plus 4 days of local transport in Heritage area covering places beyond the temples like Chuzenji lake, Kegon falls
We highly recommend skipping the pass and taking a group tour from Tokyo if you only have a day for Nikko. We bought the 4 day pass that covers wider are beyond the temples, but couldn’t use it due to lack of time and limited bus frequency to Kegon falls/ Chuzenji lake post 11:30 AM. There was very little info on local trains- they take 3.5 hours one way from Tokyo with atleast 3 transfers on average. You can upgrade to limited express trains at almost same cost as the pass.
If you still opt for the pass, ensure you leave Tokyo by 6 AM. Cover the lake and falls first. The bus connectivity to temples is much higher, once in 15 minutes approximately
The return travel by local trains was painful- there was nothing to see outside in the dark and it felt more painful than the morning travel
Hakone
We took the Hakone pass to cover the loop course- the train from Hakone Yumoto- Gora, cable car from Gora to Sounzan, ropeway from Sounzan to Togendai via Owaikudani, cruise across lake Yashi
The pass covers locals trains only (similar to Nikko pass), however upgrading to limited express Romance car is not required as locals take only 30-40 minutes extra if you take express rapid trains
When we first went in, the ropeway and cruise were suspended due to heavy winds, so we ended up visiting Hakone open air museum, took a bus to MotoHakone and then back tracked taking the cruise, ropeway and cable car back.
The Hakone Tozan train from Moto Hakone to Gora was quite interesting- taking zig zag route to climb the mountain amidst the forests. The cable car from Gora to Sounzan goes through track with rhododendron plants
Expect for sulphur hot springs in Owaikudani area, the other parts were quite average. We unfortunately could not stop and see the black eggs at Owaikudani since it was the last cable car connection back. The eggs boiled in sulphur steam blacken the shells and are said to increase your life span by seven years if you have them
The open-air museum was quite nice even for non-art lovers. The open spaces and artefacts blending with nature made it quite interesting. The entrance fee was steep though at 2k Yen per person
Mt. Fuji- Kawaguchiko
Kawaguchiko, the gateway to five lakes area is 2 hours from Tokyo by bus (2200 yen one way). The train connections are more painful, hence most prefer coming here by bus from Shinjuku. The highway buses are very comfortable, punctual. Shinjuku bus terminus is almost like an airport
We had also evaluated Fuji- Hakone pass, but realized it is not straight forward to carry luggage from Hakone on trains and buses across multiple connections to reach Kawaguchiko. The travel time and costs from Tokyo were similar
We took the Shibasakura liner from Kawaguchiko to Matusuko resort. The phlox moss flowers were at 70% bloom, expected to go full bloom by Golden week. The ticket for 2800 yen covered two way transport and entry to the festival
Mt. Fuji is only visible for 80 days in a year. You can check the Mt. Fuji visibility forecast a day before visiting. We were lucky to see Mt. Fuji from our flight during landing the first time, and then on this day which was sunny
We were done by 3 PM and struggled to spend time by the lake till 6 PM when we had booked the return bus for. The lake is good but there is nothing much to do. We could have explored the wind cave, ice cave or bat caves, but 3 hours was too short to cover
Hitachi Seaside park
This park is famous for blue baby eyes Nemophila in spring and Kochia red bushes in autumn. The entire Miharashi hill is covered with Nemophila flowers creating a mountain of blue merging into blue skies and sea, although at 70% bloom. There were multi-colored Tulips planted as well, in addition to yellow rape flowers and cream daffodils
We could cover only half the park in 2 hours. You can spend an entire day here. We saw many local families come with dogs and get photo shoots done amidst the flowers
We took a tour from Tokyo covering Hitachi and Ashikaga parks. The tour was good for the price. The leg space was a bit limited on the bus if the person in front reclined their seat, but it was on time and covered all the places mentioned in the itinerary
Kamiso Tori
We stopped here since our tour covered it. There is a small Tori in the sea, similar to Itsukushima, but much smaller in size. The shrine was cute, but nothing out of the world. The premises had good camelia flower trees
Ashikaga park
Famous for Wisteria flowers that come in pink, purple and white colors. The great wisteria is 160 years old. There is night illumination from late April to mid-May that makes it magical to visit the park in the evenings. You can also see rhododendrons, azaleas and many other flowering plants