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Narukawa Art Museum Hakone Tickets: ¥1,500 at the Door, ¥1,300 with the Freepass, the ¥1,600 Checkpoint Set, Lake Ashi Access (2026)

Updated 2026-10-31

The three English guides I found for the Narukawa Art Museum all still quote ¥1,300 for an adult. The museum's own price list says ¥1,500. Students (university and high school) pay ¥1,000, elementary and junior high school children ¥500, and children under school age go in free. There are three ways to pay less, and the museum publishes all of them: show a Hakone Freepass at the counter and an adult pays ¥1,300, print the museum's web coupon and pay ¥1,400, or buy the ¥1,600 set ticket with Hakone Checkpoint if that's on your list too. The museum stands right in front of the pirate ship pier at Moto-Hakone-ko, on the south shore of Lake Ashi. Prices, hours and access are from the museum's official site and Hakone Navi (Odakyu), checked 2026-10-31.

Ticket table for the Narukawa Art Museum in three columns: at the door, with a Hakone Freepass shown, and with the printed web coupon. Adult 1,500 yen, 1,300 yen, 1,400 yen. University and high school students 1,000 yen, 800 yen, no coupon. Elementary and junior high school children 500 yen, 400 yen, no coupon. Under school age free. Disability certificate holders 1,200 yen and one companion the same. Set with Hakone Checkpoint 1,600 yen for both, set with the Botanical Garden of Wetlands 1,600 yen, Hako Ticket holders get in free, groups of 10 or more 1,300, 800 and 400 yen.
The Freepass column is the lowest for every age. The web coupon only exists for the adult ticket.

Ticket prices: door, Freepass or web coupon

Who At the door Freepass shown Printed web coupon
Adult (general ticket) ¥1,500 ¥1,300 ¥1,400
University and high school students ¥1,000 ¥800 no coupon
Elementary and junior high school ¥500 ¥400 no coupon
Under school age free free free
Disability certificate holder ¥1,200 one companion pays the same no other discount listed

My reading of the table: if you hold a Freepass, ignore the coupon. The pass is ¥100 better and needs no printer. If you came to Hakone on single tickets, the printed coupon is the only discount you can get on your own.

The ¥1,600 set with Hakone Checkpoint

The museum and Hakone Checkpoint, the rebuilt Edo-period barrier further along the same shore, sell a joint ticket for ¥1,600. Both counters sell it. Here is what the same two visits cost otherwise, per adult:

How you pay Museum Checkpoint Total
Door prices, bought separately ¥1,500 ¥500 ¥2,000
Freepass shown at both ¥1,300 ¥400 ¥1,700
Set ticket ¥1,600

So the set saves ¥400 against door prices and still ¥100 against two Freepass discounts. If the checkpoint is on your route, buy the set at whichever of the two you reach first. There is a second set, ¥1,600 with the Hakone Botanical Garden of Wetlands in Sengokuhara (¥2,200 bought separately). That garden is on the other side of Hakone, so it only pays if you were going there anyway.

Holders of the Hako Ticket (Hakone's 1- to 3-day attractions pass, ¥5,500 for one day) get into the museum free: it is one of the four Hakone museums the ticket covers. Whether that pass pays for your day is what the Hako Ticket calculator adds up, and the Hakone museums tickets calculator compares Narukawa with the other six museums for your group.

What is on, and what comes next

The museum shows modern nihonga, Japanese-style painting, from its own collection, with three or four exhibitions at a time and a permanent room of Chinese jade and ivory carvings.

Dates Exhibitions
16 July to 11 November 2026 Toshihiko Maemoto, flower and bird paintings (the museum's English title: Expressions of Flowers, Floral Fantasia); Koichi Ishiodori, paintings of India (Living Equally); and an autumn selection from the collection that includes Keigo Kimura's eight-panel screen of the Sengokuhara pampas grass fields
12 November 2026 to 17 March 2027 Yuki Sekiguchi, One Hundred Views of Hakone: 100 pastels and watercolours painted around Hakone over five years, plus his large screen of Lake Ashi and Mt. Fuji; a New Year collection show built around Susumu Maki's plum-tree screen; and the museum's winter Kyujin Yamamoto selection on the four seasons
Always The Hidden Treasures of China, carvings in jade and ivory, on show since spring 2010

The exhibitions change on 11 to 12 November without a closing day. If you are in Hakone in late November for the autumn leaves, you get the Hakone views show. Sekiguchi's big screen of Lake Ashi and Fuji shows the same lake the lounge faces, which is a neat thing to compare on the spot.

The lounge, the café and the garden

The museum's own claim is "the best view in Hakone", and the reason is a glass wall about 50 metres long on the observation lounge, facing north over Lake Ashi. On a clear day Mt. Fuji stands behind the far shore. A door from the observation room opens onto the garden. Two things in it are worth a minute: the Migawari Jizo, an old roadside shrine by the gate, and the Daio-sugi, a cedar the museum says is about 3,000 years old.

The tea lounge "Kisetsufu", named after a painting by Kyujin Yamamoto, is the place for a seat with the view. Current listed prices: cake set ¥1,080, hot sandwich set ¥1,300, coffee ¥650, served in ceramics and glass by two craft artists the museum collects, Koji Ishii and Ryo Mikami. One fact that is easy to miss: the NHK weather camera that films Lake Ashi for national broadcasts sits beside this lounge, so the view you see on Japanese morning TV is this one.

Hours and closing days

How to get there

Plan of the south shore of Lake Ashi from west to east: Hakone-machi-ko pirate ship pier, a 5-minute walk to Hakone Checkpoint, the old Tokaido cedar avenue along the shore, Moto-Hakone-ko pier and bus stop with the Narukawa Art Museum in front of the pirate ship pier, and Hakone Shrine 10 minutes further on foot. Tozan Bus H from Hakone-Yumoto 1,210 yen, about 32 to 40 minutes, Freepass valid, stops at Moto-Hakone-ko before Hakone-machi-ko. The pirate ship from Togendai, 1,700 yen or free with the Freepass, calls at Hakone-machi-ko first on most sailings, then Moto-Hakone-ko.
Boat and bus both put you down at Moto-Hakone-ko, and the museum is the building facing the pier. On the boat, that is the second stop.
From How Time Adult fare
Hakone-Yumoto Station Hakone Tozan Bus H (Hakonemachi Line) to Moto-Hakone-ko about 32 to 40 minutes ¥1,210, free with the Freepass
Togendai (end of the ropeway) Hakone Sightseeing Cruise (pirate ship) to Moto-Hakone-ko 25 to 40 minutes ¥1,700, free with the Freepass
Shinjuku, by highway bus Odakyu Hakone Highway Bus to Yama no Hotel, then walk 20 minutes on foot from the bus see the highway bus guide

A Hakone Freepass from Shinjuku (¥7,100 for 2 days) covers the Odakyu train, the bus and the boat on this page, and takes ¥200 off the museum ticket. How to do the full circuit in a day is in the Hakone day trip itinerary.

Where it fits on the Lake Ashi shore

The south shore has five stops within a 30-minute walk of each other, and the museum sits in the middle. Walking east from the boat:

  1. Hakone-machi-ko pier, then 5 minutes to Hakone Checkpoint (buy the ¥1,600 set here if you plan to do both).
  2. The old Tokaido cedar avenue along the shore to Moto-Hakone. The checkpoint doesn't publish a walking time for it, so neither do I.
  3. Narukawa Art Museum, in front of the Moto-Hakone-ko pier. Galleries first, lounge last, so you end with the view.
  4. Hakone Shrine and the Peace Torii in the water, 10 minutes further on foot (hours and access).
  5. Tozan Bus H from Moto-Hakone-ko back to Hakone-Yumoto.

Done that way, the museum is the warm, seated stop between two outdoor ones, which is why I'd put it after the checkpoint rather than before.

Hakone tickets and tours

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Frequently asked questions

Is the Narukawa Art Museum included in the Hakone Freepass?

No. The Freepass covers the trains, buses, ropeway and boat, not museum entry. At this museum it gives ¥200 off the adult and student tickets and ¥100 off the child ticket when you show it at the counter.

Can I buy the checkpoint set ticket at the museum?

Yes. The museum's price list says the set tickets are sold at the counters of both facilities, so you can start at either end of the shore.

Does the web coupon work on a phone screen?

The museum's coupon page says to print the page and hand it in at the ticket counter. It does not say a screen is accepted, so print it to be safe. The coupon applies to the general (adult) ticket only.

Is there parking at the Narukawa Art Museum?

Yes, and it is free: space for 70 cars and 15 coaches, according to the museum's access page.

Which pirate ship pier is closest?

The Hakone Sightseeing Cruise's Moto-Hakone pier is directly in front of the museum. The Izuhakone cruise's Moto-Hakone pier is a 3-minute walk. Hakone-machi-ko, where most boats from Togendai call first, is further along the shore by the checkpoint.

Official sources (checked 2026-10-31)

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