I'm currently in Hakone and thought I'd share some insight while it's still fresh! I don't see this museum talked about much on here, so maybe this will help someone.
I went to the Hakone Venetian Glass Museum yesterday. The museum is pretty awesome – it's built to look like European (Italian) buildings both inside and out. The gardens are lovely and the whole experience is very immersive. The glass pieces displayed in the museum and beautiful and educational!
But once you finish the museum you enter the gift shop, which is BIGGER than the museum. Oh and there's a second gift shop too! The wait for the Italian restaurant was 40 minutes for me to dine alone, so I didn't wait. I went here instead and it was wonderful.
My main reason for writing this post is that the museum kind of felt like a tourist trap. There were tons of people taking pictures and videos, barely looking at the art, and talking loudly. My ticket was 1800 yen and it felt a little expensive for what you get. That all said, I'd still recommend visiting if you're in the area…BUT if you are super interested in art glass I'd recommend the Lalique Museum even more.
After I went to lunch I walked over to the Lalique museum. It was an absolutely stunning display of art. The museum is very strict no photography, so the audience was much quieter and reverant. The way the art is displayed allows you to fully appreciate the pieces and get a 360 degree view of many of them. I spent a long time looking at some of the detailed vases and jewelry, and the display of furniture was a cool surprise! The gift shop is also big, but sold items that felt more relevant to the art. I didn't check out the restaurant attached.
Both museums were fun, but for very different reasons
by coriander-creme