I took a Day Trip from Tokyo to visit the Fuji Five Lakes using the Tokyo Wide Pass, which is a 3-day pass for foreigners visiting Japan. I felt that the planning process was not easy in English. Hence I felt the need to consolidate the useful information for planning a day trip to view Mount Fuji from Tokyo.
Fuji Five Lakes
If you are not planning to hike up Mount Fuji, you can view Mount Fuji from the sightseeing spots at the lakes surrounding the mountain. These are called the Fuji Five Lakes – Lake Kawaguchiko, Lake Saiko, Lake Shojiko, Lake Motosuko and Lake Yamanakako.
The “-ko” in the ending of the names of the lakes above means “lake”. For example, “Lake Saiko” means “Lake West Lake”. Some people are annoyed by this naming.
JR Fuji Excursion Line
Excluding driving, the most efficient way to reach the sightseeing spots is the Fuji Excursion Line, which brings you from Tokyo Shinjuku to Kawaguchiko in 1h 53 minutes.
There are 3 round trips daily. To make the most out of the day, you would like to take the first train in at 7:30am from Shinjuku and last train out at 5:35pm from Kawaguchiko.
You can purchase the ticket at the Reserved Seat Vending Machine. using the Tokyo Wide Pass. Try to purchase the ticket at least a day before the trip, as the 7:30am train gets limited and it is not possible to purchase it a few minutes before the trip.
The English website indicates that there is no unreserved seat on Fuji Excursion Line. It means that there is no cabin that is free-seating, all seats are reserved seats.
If like me, you did not managed to purchase the ticket before the train ride, you can still board the train by showing the Tokyo Wide Pass to the train conductor. You should try to sit somewhere with red lights if possible, which means the seat is not reserved.
In my case, there were no red-light seats, so we sat down at some empty seat. This means that we have to be prepared give up our seats if someone comes to us with the reserved seat ticket.
The train conductor may inform you that JR pass does not cover the Fujikyo line and you need to top up the train fare at Otmusu. Just note that the foreigner-exclusive Tokyo Wide Pass covers the entire journey and you do not need to top up the fare.
Kawaguchiko Sightseeing Bus (red, green blue line)
If you are not driving, the best way to get around the lakes would be purchasing the Kawaguchiko Sightseeing Bus at Kawaguchiko station. It costs 1200 yen for 1 day, 1500 yen for 2 days. It is possible to complete all the routes in one day with some schedule planning.
Tip #1:
When you alight at Kawaguchiko from the Fuji Excursion Line, you will see a nice view of Mount Fuji. Many people will stop and take photos / selfies there. If you skip or be quick here, you can get to the bus/train ticket center ahead of the queue. Remember that most people arrive here on the same train, and the queue gets very long once everyone starts queueing up.
Tip #2:
It may be a bit misleading to think that the pass is purchased at the Tourist Information Center. It is not. It is just the bus/train ticket center if you turn right immediately from the train exit. I made this mistake, hence I did not manage to buy the ticket fast enough to catch the first possible bus at 9:35am.
Bus Routes – Red, Green Blue Lines
Familiarize yourself with the 3 bus routes and their schedules. The Red line is the most frequent at about 20min, followed by Green about 1 hour, and Blue line only has 3 trips a day.
The schedule on the website is an abridged version. The complete schedule is given to you on a guide map which is given to you when you purchase the pass. For your ease of planning, here are the complete schedule table from the guide map!
Tip #3:
Take a photo of your guide map! We were only given one map even though we purchased two passes, and we lost the map at the restaurant during lunch. We had to queue up again at the ticket office the get one back. So taking a photo of the schedule table once you get it is a good idea. Don't rely on my photo above as the schedule could be updated.
Tip #4:
The best first route is the 9:35am Blue Line bus, if you are able to buy your tickets within 10 minutes after exiting the Fuji Excursion train. Hence, Tip #1 and #2 are important if you want a chance to take this route.
The Blue Line is the longest and most infrequent line, hence there are higher chances of delayed arrivals at the bus stations. One common cause of delays is when tourists try to ask the bus driver something, and struggling with the language. In fact, I missed the intended Green/Blue line transfer due to a 10 minute delay because a Caucassian couple were trying to speak to the bus driver by speaking to Google Translate; and the bus driver just patiently stopped and do nothing while waiting for them to figure out how to speak to him.
As a result, I took the last Blue line, which is scheduled to arrive at Kawaguchiko station at 5:15pm. Remember the last Fuji Excursion train out of Kawaguchiko to Tokyo is at 5:35pm? We reached the station platform at 5:34pm, 1 minute before the train departs.
Can you imagine our agony as we watched the bus taking a slow ride while the clock is ticking so close to the last train? We made it up the last train at a knife-edge close shave but I really beseege you not to take the last Blue line unless you are prepare to stay a night at Kawaguchiko as the worst case scenario.
If you miss the 9:35am Blue Line, the next one would be 10am Red Line or 10:10am Green Line. Most people would be taking the 10am Red Line and most will not get a seat. You must queue up at the bus stop if you are taking the 10am Red Line otherwise you may not even get to board the bus. The left side is the side with the lake view for the outward direction (from Kawaguchiko), and right side for inward (to Kawaguchiko).
Food
From what I observe, most of the bus stops around the lake do not have food options. Some of the possible stops with food options are Stop 9 and Stop 51, and probably 77 and the civilization area between 67-79. More details below.
Tip #5:
It is a good idea to bring along some food for the day trip in case you are not at a station with food when you are hungry.
Tip #6:
One of the famous food in the prefecture is Hoto. There are a few restaurants around Stop 9 serve it.
Notable Stops:
Stop 9: Sightseeing Boat, Red Line
If you are interested in a Sightseeing boat ride on the Lake, Kawaguchiko, it costs 1000 yen for 20 minute ride. It was quite cold at the time we visited, especially near the lake. So we did not take the boat ride. It seems like there are smaller boats in duck or panda shapes as well.
[Food] We alighted at Stop 9 for lunch, and had Hoto at Lake Side Restaurant. Hoto is a food in this Prefecture. It was quite nice. The lake view was a bonus too.
Stop 51: Fugaku Fuketsu (Wind Cave) Green/Blue Line
We went to Stop 51 intending to do a Green/Blue bus transfer, but as mentioned earlier the delay caused us to miss the second Blue bus. Hence we visited the Wind Cave.
You see Lava formations in the Wind Cave. It costs 300 yen to enter, and takes about 20 minutes to finish viewing it. Helmet is provided at the entrance and it is optional to wear. I was glad I wore it because I knocked on my head several times during the 120cm high portions where you have to half squat to walk through. So take the helmet if you are clumsy like me.
From the Wind Cave, you can walk to the Ice Cave via a 30 minutes hike through the forest or 15 minute walk along the paved road. We opted for the hike and thought it was quite nice. However, the Ice Cave was closed for maintainence on the day we reached, so we walked back via the paved road.
There were some snow and ice on the road when I was here in December. There are “Black Ice” on the road which are particularly slippery. So keep an eye for them.
[Food] There is a cafe at the souvenir shop at Stop 51, but it seems that it was closing when we reached at about 2pm, and it was closed by the time we returned at 4pm.
Stop 77: Michi-no-eki-Narusawa, Blue Line
This is the stop with one of the best views of Mount Fuji. There is also a Mount Fuji museum which is free to enter. However, we did not managed to come here due to the disruption of the Green/Blue line transfer.
[Food] I believe there are food options here.
Stop 84 – 90 at Lake Shojiko, Blue Line
These stops around Lake Shojiko offers fantastic view of Mount Fuji by the lake too. Good enough to view it from the bus though, because Blue Line is too infrequent to catch the next one.
One nice thing about taking the last Blue Line in winter was that you get to see Mount Fuji near Sunset where it is orange colour. Interesting.
Closing Words:
It was a nice day trip for me, even though there were several hiccups along the way. Most of the information above were things I wished I knew before my trip, but struggled to find information in English. I hope it may help you in your planning.
If I were to come back again, I would not take the bus ride anymore. Probably do a bike-ride or some hikes.
If you are using the Tokyo Wide Pass, you may be interested my other two day trips:
Yohuifang 