About an hour or so outside Tokyo is Hakone, which might as well be another world. Nestled in the mountains and accessed by winding roads, Hakone is quite simply stunning.

We took off on a gorgeous late Spring day for the Hakone Open Air Museum, which had come highly recommended. It didn’t disappoint. The day was lovely, sunny and just warm enough to make being outdoors all day perfect.

And the views weren’t too shabby either.

It’s a #lifegoal of mine to eventually have a sculpture garden, and the open air museum was giving me all sorts of ideas. It didn’t hurt that they had art from some fairly well-known folks.

And obviously an outdoor onsen will now be an integral part of any future sculpture garden of mine. We spent a good couple hours dipping our feet in this mini-onsen, our first experience with one.

Some of us really didn’t want to leave.

Luckily the views, and the art, encouraged us onward.

The Hakone Open Air Museum is open year-round, but a visit in spring would be my recommendation. The website doesn’t do it justice – this place is stunning. Bring bento boxes and plan to be outdoors the entire day soaking up the atmosphere and recharging from the city. If I’d been properly planning ahead, we would have brought a bottle of rose as well!