Hakone Ekiden Road Closures Staying in Hakone January 2 3
The Hakone Ekiden closes Route 1 for hours on Jan 2-3. Where to stay if you want to watch it from your hotel, and where to stay if you want to avoid it.
Quick Answer: For Hakone Ekiden road closures staying in Hakone January 2 3, the fix is simple: pick the side of the closed road your trip needs before you book. National Route 1, the single road that runs from Odawara through Hakone-Yumoto up to Lake Ashi, closes to general traffic for hours at a time on both days for the Hakone Ekiden relay. Hotel buses, taxis, and even the Hakone Tozan Bus stop running through the closed sections while the runners are on the road. If you want to watch the race, stay walkable to the Lake Ashi finish, like The Prince Hakone Lake Ashinoko. If you would rather the race not touch your trip at all, base yourself inland in Sengokuhara or Gora, such as Hakone Sengokuhara Prince Hotel, where the closures barely reach. Either way, book the direction you want before you book the room.
What the Ekiden actually is, in one paragraph
The Tokyo-Hakone Ekiden is a two-day, ten-stage relay race between university teams, first run in 1920 and held on January 2-3 every year since the post-war revival. Day one (January 2) covers roughly 108 km from Otemachi in central Tokyo out to the shore of Lake Ashi in Hakone; day two (January 3) reverses the same route back to Tokyo. It is one of the most-watched sporting events in Japan, broadcast live for hours on both mornings. For a Hakone visitor, the relevant part is not the standings — it is that the entire route into and out of Hakone is a single road, and that road is the race course.
The road closes — and that is the whole problem
Hakone has no ring road. National Route 1 runs from Odawara through Hakone-Yumoto, past Miyanoshita, and up to the Lake Ashi shore as essentially one route in and out of the mountain section, and it is also the exact path the runners take on both days. When the race is on that stretch, police close it to general vehicles — not a rolling slowdown, a hard stop — and buses and taxis stop moving through the closed section until the runners have passed and the road reopens, typically 30-60 minutes after the last competitor clears a given point. If your hotel, your onsen dinner, or your train transfer sits on the wrong side of a closure at the wrong hour, you are not delayed — you are stuck until it lifts.
Jan 2 and Jan 3, hour by hour (example timing)
The organiser publishes the official traffic-regulation notice, with prefectural police PDFs for Tokyo and Kanagawa attached, only in December, so the times below are the pattern from the most recently run race (the 102nd, January 2-3, 2026) rather than a confirmed 2027 schedule. Expect the shape to repeat even if the exact minutes shift by a few minutes either way.
| Day | Approx. window | Section affected | Can you move from your hotel? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2 (outbound) | ~8:00–13:00 | Odawara relay point → Hakone-Yumoto → Miyanoshita → Lake Ashi (Route 1) | Only on foot within the closed section; vehicles wait for the 30-60 min reopening window after runners pass |
| Jan 3 (return) | ~7:30–11:30 | Same section, opposite direction (Lake Ashi → Miyanoshita → Hakone-Yumoto → Odawara) | Same as above; Gora is off the closed road entirely, and Sengokuhara is clear of it but its buses may still be delayed |
(Times are the 2026 pattern, provided as an example; the confirmed 2027 schedule is not published until December — check the closure notice linked below once it is out.)
Where to sleep if you want to watch
The day-one finish and day-two start are both at Lake Ashi, in the Moto-Hakone / Hakone-machi area near the shrine's torii gate on the water. Staying there means you can walk to the finish line rather than fight a closed road to reach it. The Prince Hakone Lake Ashinoko sits directly on the lake within walking distance of the finish area. Hakone Ashinoko Hanaori and Ryuguden are also lakeside and walkable. Book these well ahead: New Year in Hakone is already a peak period before the Ekiden crowd is added on top.
Where to sleep if you do not care about the race
More visitors in Hakone on January 2-3 are not there for the race at all — they are on a New Year onsen trip that happens to overlap with it. For that trip, base yourself away from the Route 1 corridor. Gora and Sengokuhara both sit off the Route 1 corridor. Gora is reached by the Hakone Tozan Railway, which runs on its own track and is unaffected by the closures. Sengokuhara is bus-served, so getting there from Odawara on January 2-3 can still be delayed even though the neighbourhood itself is clear — plan to arrive before the morning window or after roughly 15:00. Hakone Sengokuhara Prince Hotel, Gora Kadan, and Hotel Indigo Hakone Gora all fall outside the closure pattern above.
Getting in and out on Jan 2-3
The Hakone Tozan Railway (the mountain train between Hakone-Yumoto and Gora) keeps running on both days and is the most reliable way to move within Hakone while Route 1 is closed to vehicles, since it runs on its own track rather than the road. The Hakone Ropeway (Sounzan to Togendai, on the Lake Ashi side) is similarly unaffected because it does not share the road. Hakone Tozan Bus and other road-based buses, by contrast, stop or divert through the closed stretch and can run well behind schedule for hours on both mornings. If your plan depends on a specific bus connection on January 2 or 3, check the operator's own service notice before you travel, and build in slack — arriving in Hakone after roughly 15:00, once the day's regulation has mostly cleared, avoids the worst of it.
Hakone hotels and the Ekiden closures
| Name | Area | Reached by | Affected by closures? |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Prince Hakone Lake Ashinoko | Lake Ashi | Route 1 | Yes — but that is the point; walkable to the finish |
| Hakone Ashinoko Hanaori | Lake Ashi | Route 1 | Yes — on the closure route, walkable to the finish |
| Ryuguden | Lake Ashi | Route 1 | Yes — lakeside, near the finish area |
| Moto-Hakone Guest House | Moto-Hakone | Route 1 | Yes — walking distance to the finish, budget option |
| Hakone Yumoto Onsen Tenseien | Hakone-Yumoto | Route 1 | Yes — sits directly on the closure corridor |
| K's House Hakone Onsen Hostel | Hakone-Yumoto | Route 1 | Yes — closure corridor, budget option |
| Hakone Sengokuhara Prince Hotel | Sengokuhara | Bus, off Route 1 | No — off the closed road |
| Gora Kadan | Gora | Tozan Railway | No — reached by the Tozan Railway, not the closed road |
| Hotel Indigo Hakone Gora | Gora | Tozan Railway | No — off the closed road |
| Odakyu Hotel De Yama | Lake Ashi (Moto-Hakone) | Route 1 | Yes — lakeside next to Hakone Shrine, inside the closure corridor |
Of the 10 Hakone hotels above, 7 sit directly on or beside the Route 1 closure corridor and 3 are reached by the Tozan Railway rather than the road (checked October 2026).
No price is quoted above: normal-season rates would badly understate what these rooms actually cost on January 2-3, Hakone's single most expensive window of the year, and the cheapest categories are gone months in advance. Put your own dates into the booking page to see the real number, and use this table only to decide which side of the closure you want to be on.
Whichever list you picked from, the trip only works with a normal, year-round Hakone base to fall back on — for a look at Hakone against its usual rival for a Mount Fuji view, see our Hakone vs. Kawaguchiko comparison, and for the January sumo tournament happening in Tokyo the same month, see where to stay for the January Basho. If an onsen ryokan rather than a hotel is what you are after, our guide to onsen ryokan across Japan covers Hakone alongside the other main hot-spring regions.
Trip Essentials for Hakone
Things worth booking before you land, all in English:
- eSIM — Airalo's Japan eSIM: install it at home and data works as soon as you switch off airplane mode at Haneda or Narita.
- Tickets and day trips — Klook covers Hakone and Mt Fuji day tours from Tokyo and the Lake Ashi pirate ship; booking ahead skips the ticket-window line.
FAQ: Hakone during the Ekiden
What time does the road close on January 2 and 3?
In the most recently run race (January 2-3, 2026), the Hakone section of National Route 1 was closed to general traffic roughly 8:00-13:00 on January 2 and roughly 7:30-11:30 on January 3, reopening in stages 30-60 minutes after the runners cleared each point. The 2027 schedule is confirmed only in December; treat these as the expected pattern, not a guaranteed time.
Can I still get a taxi or bus in Hakone during the race?
Not through the closed section while it is closed. Hakone Tozan Bus and other road-based services stop or divert around the closure and can run well behind schedule for hours on both mornings. The Hakone Tozan Railway and the Hakone Ropeway keep running because neither uses Route 1.
Where is the best place to watch the finish?
The day-one finish and day-two start are both at Lake Ashi, near the shrine's torii gate on the water in Moto-Hakone. Staying at a Lake Ashi hotel such as The Prince Hakone Lake Ashinoko lets you walk to the finish rather than cross a closed road to reach it.
Do I need to avoid Hakone entirely on January 2-3?
No. Hotels in Gora and Sengokuhara sit off the Route 1 corridor and are reached by the Tozan Railway or Ropeway, so a closure on the road does not strand you there. The closures matter mainly if your hotel or a planned bus connection sits directly on the affected stretch between Odawara and Lake Ashi.
How far ahead should I book?
Book as early as you can. January 2-3 is already a New Year peak period in Hakone before the Ekiden crowd is factored in, and lakeside hotels near the finish sell out first.
