CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
284 km round from Odawara - plan on about 7 h 16 of riding. On the way it passes Lake Ashi, Gotemba window and Lake Yamanaka Fuji view. The climbs: Hakone Turnpike high road and Izu Skyline high section. It tops out at about 900 m. It is a high-mountain day.
Water arrives beside the road and stays for 22 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go — slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did.
For 80 km this is Hakone Turnpike and Skyline, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it. Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
Odawara is the gate to Hakone, and it knows it. The city, with two hundred thousand people, sits where the Sagami Bay coast meets the foot of the mountains, about eighty kilometres southwest of Tokyo, and for centuries travellers on the Tokaido highway stopped here before tackling the pass. The castle was the seat of the Hojo clan, who ruled much of the Kanto plain in the sixteenth century until Toyotomi Hideyoshi besieged and took it in 1590. The keep that stands today is a postwar reconstruction, but the stone walls and moats are authentic enough, and the whole thing is worth a short visit on foot.
Read the complete Odawara coast gate write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Odawara coast is where the day begins. Next is Hakone Turnpike high road.
Hakone Turnpike is a toll road, one of Japan's famous scenic drives, and it climbs from the coast near Yugawara and Odawara up through the caldera rim into the mountains of Hakone. The turnpike runs through cedar and pine, with views over Sagami Bay behind and the volcanic cone of Mount Kintoki ahead, and it is smooth, well-surfaced and maintained to a very high standard. The bends are broad and flowing, designed for sightseeing as much as for sport, which means the pace is relaxed and the road is wide enough for a bit of enjoyment.
Read the complete Hakone Turnpike high road write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Lake Ashi viewpoint.
Lake Ashi fills the old crater of Hakone, a long, narrow stretch of blue-grey water surrounded by wooded hills, and the viewpoint here gives the postcard version: the lake in front, the ridges behind, and, on the right day, the white cone of Mount Fuji rising over the far shore. The lake is about 723 metres above sea level, cold and clear, and it freezes at the edges only in very hard winters. Sightseeing boats shaped like pirate ships cross it from end to end, which seems silly until you are standing on the shore watching one cross a pool of morning mist.
Read the complete Lake Ashi viewpoint write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
77 km in you reach Lake Ashi viewpoint. Next is Gotemba fuel window.
Gotemba lies on the southeast skirt of Mount Fuji, at the foot of a vast, gently rising slope of black volcanic ash, and the mountain fills the sky to the northwest on any clear day. The city has about eighty thousand people, so fuel is easy, and this is one of the best places to fill the tank before or after the mountain roads of Hakone. Stations are plentiful along the main road, and many are staffed, which in Japan means someone will fill the tank for you and guide you back onto the road.
Read the complete Gotemba fuel window write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
A pump at 115 km in. Next is Lake Yamanaka Fuji view.
Lake Yamanaka is the largest of the Fuji Five Lakes and the one closest to Tokyo, a broad sheet of water lying at around 980 metres on the north side of Mount Fuji's lower slopes. On a calm morning the mountain reflects in it, and the view of the cone, with its snow cap in winter and spring, is one of the great scenes of Japan. Wind often blows across the lake in the afternoon, so windsurfers and sailors use it, and the water can be choppy.
Read the complete Lake Yamanaka Fuji view write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Lake Yamanaka Fuji view sits at 153 km, about halfway. Next is Doshimichi road.
The Doshimichi is a legend among Tokyo motorcyclists. It is Route 413, a mountain road that leaves the Sagami plain near Sagamihara and climbs west into the Tanzawa and Yamanashi hills, following the valley of the Doshi river toward the village of Doshi. The name simply means the road to Doshi, and it has been a favourite for decades, with twisting bends through forest, steep slopes and the occasional tunnel, and a good number of bikers on weekends.
Read the complete Doshimichi road write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Doshimichi road comes up 191 km in. Next is Back to Odawara.
Odawara is a castle town at the foot of Hakone, and for most riders it is the place where the mountains begin. The castle, which belonged to the Hojo clan until Toyotomi Hideyoshi besieged it in 1590, has a reconstructed keep, built in 1960, with a museum inside. The old town around it is quiet, with a modest shopping street and some traditional shops. It sits on Sagami Bay, with the coast road leading east and west and the Hakone mountains rising behind.
Read the complete Odawara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back to Odawara closes the day. Next is Odawara fuel.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Odawara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
A pump at 268 km in. Next is Atami coast.
Atami is a hot spring resort built on a steep hillside above Sagami Bay, with streets that tumble toward the sea and hotels stacked on the slopes like steps. Forty thousand people live here, and it has been a resort since the Edo period, when shoguns had hot spring water carried to Edo for bathing. In the twentieth century it became a honeymoon destination, and the town still has a faded, nostalgic charm, with old inns, souvenir shops and a long seafront promenade.
Read the complete Atami coast write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Food at 306 km, roughly 6 hours into the riding. Next is Izu Skyline high section.
The Izu Skyline runs along the backbone of the Izu peninsula, a toll road that follows the high ridge from the Atami area south toward the Amagi mountains, and the section near Ito is among the highest and most open. Here the road runs through grass and low scrub, with views both ways: east to the Pacific and Sagami Bay, west to Suruga Bay, and, on clear days, north to Mount Fuji. The peninsula is narrow, so it is possible to see both seas from one place.
Read the complete Izu Skyline high section write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Izu Skyline high section tops the climb. Next is Shuzenji forest town.
Shuzenji is the sort of place where a ride slows down on purpose. It sits in the middle of the Izu Peninsula, in a bowl of cedar-covered hills along the Katsura River, and has been a hot-spring town for well over a thousand years. The name comes from the temple of Shuzen-ji, said to be founded by the monk Kobo Daishi, who is credited with opening up many of Japan's springs. In the middle of the river a small open-air bath, the Tokko no Yu, is the oldest in town, and wooden bridges, ryokan and old shop fronts line the banks.
Read the complete Shuzenji forest town write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
383 km in you reach Shuzenji forest town. Next is Numazu bay photo.
Numazu looks out over Suruga Bay, the deepest bay in Japan, and the view from the shore here is one of the better arguments for riding on the Izu side of Fuji. The city has two hundred thousand people and a working port, so do not expect a quiet fishing village; expect fish markets, concrete breakwaters and the smell of the sea. Behind the harbour the land rises toward the Izu hills, and beyond the bay, on a clear morning, Mount Fuji stands over the water with almost nothing between you and its base.
Read the complete Numazu bay photo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Numazu bay photo, late in the day. Next is Back to Odawara fuel.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Odawara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back to Odawara fuel closes the day.
Odawara coast gate → Hakone Turnpike high road is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hakone Turnpike high road → Lake Ashi viewpoint is 14 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lake Ashi viewpoint → Gotemba fuel window is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Gotemba fuel window → Lake Yamanaka Fuji view is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lake Yamanaka Fuji view → Doshimichi road is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Doshimichi road → Back to Odawara is 81 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Odawara fuel → Atami coast is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Atami coast → Izu Skyline high section is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Izu Skyline high section → Shuzenji forest town is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Shuzenji forest town → Numazu bay photo is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Numazu bay photo → Back to Odawara fuel is 82 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.