Hakone Tozan rack railway (the only one in Japan)

The Hakone Tozan Railway is the only rack railway in Japan and one of the most picturesque trains in the country, with a maximum gradient of 80‰ —the steepest in the country— which requires the rack system to climb the 8 kilometres between Hakone-Yumoto and Gora station. The most spectacular section is the one with the three switchbacks: the train climbs diagonally, stops on a dead-end track, the passengers watch the points change and the train reverses in the opposite direction to gain more height on the next stretch. The slowness of the journey (~40 minutes) is an advantage: there is plenty of time to photograph the forest lining the tracks, the stone bridges and, in June and July, the thousands of hydrangeas (ajisai) that bloom on both sides of the route, turning the ride into one of the best flower spectacles in Japan. The single ticket between Hakone-Yumoto and Gora costs 730 ¥ (included in the Hakone Free Pass). At Gora it connects with the funicular to Sounzan and the ropeway to Lake Ashi. Leave early to avoid the long weekend queues.