Spectacular Mount Fuji Day Trip from Tokyo, Japan

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I did this day trip as a bus tour, you can check availability below. It does sell out in high season and on weekends. In addition to taking care of all the travel logistics, the bus tour has the advantage of a tour guide who will explain what you are seeing and talk about Japanese customs as well.

Mount Fuji is worth visiting! I wasn’t sure what to expect out of a day trip to Kawaguchiko because it sounded like a lot of time looking at a singular mountain, but I enjoyed it. Knowing the importance of Mount Fuji to the Japanese people I wanted to experience it myself to see what all the fuss was about. The fuss is deserved, it’s beautiful and there are some gorgeous viewpoints that you can appreciate it from. I was so happy I visited it as a day trip while spending five days in Tokyo.

If the views of Mount Fuji were obscured I probably wouldn’t have felt the same way.

Hakone is a great option if you are looking to take the Hakone Ropeway and do a cruise on Lake Ashi. If you want to see an active volcano area, you should choose a Hakone day trip as the ropeway here will take you to see Owakudani on Mount Hakone where there is sulphur seeping out of the ground.

Tours that focus on Lake Kawaguchiko tend to focus on taking in different viewpoints of Mount Fuji. They will take you to some of the most iconic views including the famous pagoda and Mount Fuji view and views from Oishi Park of the mountain towering over the glittering Lake Kawaguchiko. I took this tour to Kawaguchiko.

Lake Kawaguchiko is closer to Tokyo than Hakone and can be done entirely on the bus. Hakone day trips tend to start with a bus tour and then drop you at a train station to get the train back to Tokyo.

A tour to either Hakone or Lake Kawaguchiko will often include a stop at Mount Fuji 5th Station. You can’t go wrong with either option. I chose Lake Kawaguchiko because I wanted to experience the Fuji Five Lakes area.

You need to book your trip at least a couple of days in advance because tours do book up, especially in peak tourist months.

If you decide to do this trip independently, public bus tickets should be booked in advance as well. I was quite surprised with how booked up buses to Mount Fuji get. Book a round-trip ticket so you aren’t stuck around Mount Fuji without a way to get back to Tokyo.

The second stop was to Arakurayama Sengen Park with a walk up 499 steps to Chureito Pagoda. From here, you get iconic views of Mount Fuji, though the viewing platform is extremely crowded.

The walk up is a lot of steps but there is also a sloped walking path if that is easier. From the top, you can get views of the Chureito Pagoda with Mount Fuji in the background. The viewing platform was a bit too crowded to be enjoyable but there are still nice views the entire walk up.

Afterwards, you are back on the bus a short distance to Oshino Hakkai for your lunch stop. Oshino Hakkai are eight springs from Mount Fuji that are part of the Mount Fuji World Heritage Site. This small village has impossibly clear water with scenic waterwheels. Each of the ponds here has a name. Kagami-ike for example means mirror pond and is supposed to have the clearest image of Fuji reflected on its surface.

As I did this bus tour in March, it wasn’t possible to go to the highest accessible station (5th station) of Mount Fuji due to snow so instead we visited Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine.

This shrine is one that climbers visit before they ascend Mount Fuji on the Yoshida-guchi Climbing Trail. To reach the shrine you walk through a lantern and camphor tree-lined path. While this shrine may not be as spectacular as others you will see in Japan, it feels very spiritual to be in a spot that holds importance for those attempting to ascend Mount Fuji.

If you are visiting during summer, you will get to visit Mount Fuji 5th Station. I did this tour in March so there was still too much snow blocking the road to be able to go that high. We did a stop at Mount Fuji 1st station instead. Unfortunately, it was starting to cloud over a bit but there were still some great views of the peak. Mount Fuji looked amazing from this close so I can only imagine that 5th station would be even better.

After your excursion to Mount Fuji, it’s 2 hours on the bus back to Tokyo. It’s a pretty nice drive but I was happy not to have to deal with Tokyo traffic or road tolls myself. Back in Tokyo, you should arrive around 5-6 pm, depending on traffic, so you should have plenty of time to get dinner.

I didn’t know what to expect from a day tour to Mount Fuji but I was pleasantly surprised. I feel like I got to see a lot more of the area around Lake Kawaguchiko than if I were to try to do this independently on public transit. It made for a very relaxed day instead of exploring. If you’re looking for more day trips from Tokyo, a day in Kamakura is a great option.