Saturday, December 13, 2014

Hiking up Mt Takao Japan

Aching for a short hike not far from Tokyo city? Mt Takao is the answer! Located in Hachioji, just less than 1 hour train ride from Tokyo, you get nature and a pretty good hike!
This website Takao-san tells it all, information you need to get to Mt Takao and start your hike!

Cheapest way from Tokyo is to take the Keio Line all the way to the end Takaosanguchi.  My travel from Shinjuku was about 45min 390Yen.

From the station, it is an easy walk to the start of the hike where the cable car station is.  There are 7 hiking trails within the mountain.  My choice was up with Inariyama route - this passes through the trees and forest - would have been a fantastic choice during the autumn leaves, when you will see trees with loads of red leaves lining the way up.  It was an easy hike up, and directions are easy to follow, all in all only 1 hour needed to get right to the top.


 At the top the view is pretty awesome!  From there, either take any of the other routes back down or if you have time and/or more adventurous, continue on to the other peaks or all the way to the very end Mt Jimba which would take about 5h.  I decided to carry on for another hour however turned back since I wasn't going to make the 5H hike to Mt Jimba.
Top of the mountain

I opted for Route 4 down which passes through a suspension bridge and connects to Route 1 all the way down (route 1 is all paved).  Of course for the less sporty, you can choose cable car up from base to half way.  The way to the top still needs to be hiked.

It's an easy hike for a weekend (there are loads of people and even small kids), and you wouldn't get lost!