4 days in Hakone with our 15 month old toddler. I'll keep it brief but try to provide you with some suggestions and tips that are suitable for traveling with a toddler / kids / baby.
Getting there
It was pretty straightforward to get there. I bought our tickets about a week before we left from the ticket office at the station - tip on buying tickets when traveling with kids, ask for the seats that have direct luggage storage behind them. This was great as we could put the pram there and didn't need to fold it up. On the day we took a train to Shinagawa station and then jumped on a pre-booked reserved Shinkansen to Odawara station - this was only 30 mins. From Odawara station the hotel has a shuttle bus at designated times and we got on that which is a 40 min journey to the hotel.
Our Hotel
We stayed at Hotel Indigo in Gora and found it a great base for us. I shared a review on booking.com. We booked a river facing view room (the view is nothing special but if you are out all day as we were it didn't really bother me). Below are some photos I took at the property.
What we did
The POLA Museum was about a 15 min taxi ride from our hotel. We opted for a taxi ride as it was just more convenient with our toddler but there is a bus that goes there too. I highly recommend this museum; the architecture is beautiful and the art gives you a small glimpse of being in Europe. Because it snowed we didn't get to check out the nature trail.
Tip: If it does happen to snow on the day you want to go and you are getting there by taxi or bus I would reschedule. As it is in the mountains the bus will be cancelled and it will be hard to get a taxi. We got stuck there and ended up waiting a few hours so our hotel could pick us up as we could not get back by ourself.
Onsen
A must when visiting Hakone. Our hotel had a private Onsen on the balcony and we took advantage of this every-night after we put our daughter to bed. As we were only there 4 days we didn't visit any public Onsens but if you have time try and do it.
The Hakone Open-Air Museum is a must, we did it on our last day and only spent an hour there due to having to head back and catch our Shinkansen but you can easily spend a few hours here. It's great for kids and Adults - our daughter kept gasping at all the status and we were so surprised at how much she loved it. For older kids there is a big netting play area that they can climb and run around it looked awesome.
See photos below
Probably one of the prettiest outlets along side the karuizawa ones. These outlets have an incredible view of Mount Fuji so if you are going to visit them I suggest going on a clear day. It was really straight forward getting there, we took a bus from right near our hotel and it took us directly to the outlets - the bus ride is about 35 mins.
Snow in Hakone
General tips
Restaurants
A lot of places don't have highchairs so my suggestion would be is to travel with a portable clip on one or the Baby Chair Belt.
Prams/Carriers
We travelled with our pram but always had the carrier with us for an easy option.
Snacks
Pack a lot of snacks as traveling can be exhausting.
Nappies
If you are travelling with babies and kids who need nappies I would suggest contacting the hotel and asking if you can send your nappies via amazon directly to the hotel to save space - I wish I had done this as her nappies took up half the luggage. Also the hotel has a nappy bin so this was really handy.