Mt Fuji day trip from Tokyo: 12 departures compared

The mountain is close enough to the capital to be a day and far enough to fill one. Every Mt Fuji day trip from Tokyo on this site is booked at ten hours or more, and the hours divide in much the same way whichever listing you take.

The meeting point. Shared coaches leave from a named spot in the city and ask you to be there early. Private cars come to the hotel instead: $307 and $339 both state that pickup is included, and $309 offers it. That difference is worth more than it looks at seven in the morning.

The road out. The expressway west runs past Gotemba and into the lake country, and it is the part of the day nobody enjoys. It is also the reason several listings are built to avoid doing it twice.

The middle of the day. Four or five hours are yours: the fifth station on $152 and $92, the ropeway and Owakudani on $55, the boat across Lake Ashi on almost all of them, and on $109 a sixth stop at Odawara Castle.

The way back. This is where the fares separate. $109, $115 and $152 end with a Shinkansen into Tokyo. The rest return by coach, which is longer and cheaper. A Mt Fuji day trip from Tokyo that ends on a train hands you back an hour of the evening.

Four questions settle it: how much, how long, does it go up the mountain, and how do you get home. Here is the site read out plainly.

If the fare decides it, book $55. Ten hours, Hakone Shrine, Lake Ashi, Lake Yamanaka, Owakudani and a panoramic cable car, at the lowest fare of anything leaving the city. It also carries 8,054 ratings at 4.6, which is more than three times the next listing. For a first Mt Fuji day trip from Tokyo this is the safe answer.

If you want the mountain and the train, book $152. It is our pick because it is the most booked way to combine the fifth station with a cruise on Lake Ashi: 5,333 ratings at 4.4. Lunch at the foot of the mountain is in the fare, an audio guide is offered, and the day ends on the Shinkansen. It can be booked as little as an hour ahead.

If you want the train for less, book $115. The same return by Shinkansen, a meal included, Owakudani, the ropeway and the Lake Ashi cruise, at 4.3 across 1,689 reviews. The listing says outright that the train is there to avoid the traffic.

If you want the most stops, book $109. Six in ten hours: Oshino Hakkai, the ropeway, Owakudani, the Lake Ashi cruise, Hakone Shrine and Odawara Castle, then the bullet train back. 753 ratings at 4.3.

If wheelchair access matters, book $92. Twelve hours by luxury bus to the fifth station, Gotemba and Hakone, with wheelchair access and an optional audio guide named on the listing. It asks to be booked eighteen hours ahead.

If there are several of you, book a car. $307 is the cheapest private day from the city, 4.9 across 170 reviews, with a choice of route: the mountain alone, or the mountain and Hakone. $309 is the most reviewed private option at 773 ratings, and $394 runs ten to twelve hours with the route set by you.