Mt Fuji Trip

[Ogieshim]

Hello.. I will be visiting Japan around 20th May until 27th May 2010 and will visit Osaka, Kobe & Kyoto.

Then I plan to visit (view) Mt Fuji. from 28th onwards ( 2 or 3 days)

Can anyone suggest how is the best way to travel as below:

1. Start form osaka.
2. View Mt Fuji from best city(s) example Hakone
3. Stay 1 or 2 nights (either Tokyo or Hakone) whichever better in a Japanese traditional hotel(house) ;ie budget type will do.
4 Go back to Osaka by bullet train. (shinkasen)

I had the Tokyo city travel experience last time.
So places like Asakusa, Imperial Palace and other gardens & temple is no longer an interest.

Kindly advise and many thanks in advance for the help and kindness.

Cheers
Fauzi

[godwine]

Originally Posted by Ogieshim

Hello.. I will be visiting Japan around 20th May until 27th May 2010 and will visit Osaka, Kobe & Kyoto.

Then I plan to visit (view) Mt Fuji. from 28th onwards ( 2 or 3 days)

Can anyone suggest how is the best way to travel as below:

1. Start form osaka.
2. View Mt Fuji from best city(s) example Hakone
3. Stay 1 or 2 nights (either Tokyo or Hakone) whichever better in a Japanese traditional hotel(house) ;ie budget type will do.
4 Go back to Osaka by bullet train. (shinkasen)

I had the Tokyo city travel experience last time.
So places like Asakusa, Imperial Palace and other gardens & temple is no longer an interest.

Kindly advise and many thanks in advance for the help and kindness.

Cheers
Fauzi

To see Mt Fuji, the best bet is from lake Ashinoko, which you can access from Hakone-Yumoto, the last couple of times I went, it was rather foggy so i can't see Mt Fuji at all. There are plenty of on-sen resort around Yumoto Hakone

I've never trail up Mt Fuji myself, so others on the forum maybe able to help if that what you wanted to do

[WhoIsDaffy]

Go to Yamanaka lake.
thats by far the best

there is a road from there that goes to Kanagawa, thats the best place.
little off the beaten track.

you will need transport.

[LifeisBeautiful]

In Kyoto, there's something called the golden shrine or something (I went on as an exchange student so my host family did most of the planning, so names n places are kind of... yeah not so informative. But I know its in kyoto, and its really awesome!)

It's pretty incredible.
I went there on a rainy day and it still blew my mind.
We were the first people inside the shrine (aside from the security guards) and, while they said no pictures, we got there so early and there were so few people, they let me and my host sister take photos.

Also, I found taking a bike tour around kyoto very refreshing. The plantlife there is just so dream-like. Plus, the way we took, there were Kappa signs which was a lot of fun to see

And of course, Kyoto, being so close to Nara,(Right? I might be wrong, it's been a while) I'd reccomend stopping in to pet the deer, see the giant buddah, and crawl through the hole of enlightenment. Plus the shaved ice outside of the giant buddah shrine is SO AMAZING!! -spaz attack, sorry. but it WAS really awesome!

[Sangetsu]

You can find guides for Mt Fuji at the larger train stations and book stores. Be forewarned that Mt Fuji is "officially" open to climbers only in July and August. You can climb at other times of the year, but the facilities will not be open.

I plan to climb Mt Fuji in July.

[Hideo]

You might struggle to see Mt Fuji at all in late May, as it may already be hidden by heat haze by them - if not totally then certainly partially.

I lvoed close to Mt Fuji, in Shimizu. I arrived there in July and didn't see Mt Fuji at all for a couple of months - during winter it was clearly visible and so huge that it was hard to believe that I couldn't see it before!

[kalcia]

Originally Posted by Sangetsu

You can find guides for Mt Fuji at the larger train stations and book stores. Be forewarned that Mt Fuji is "officially" open to climbers only in July and August. You can climb at other times of the year, but the facilities will not be open.

I plan to climb Mt Fuji in July.

What do you mean by closed facilities? You mean like rail going up there is gonna be closed (I have no idea if there is any, just wanting to know)? Or tourist shelters (like ones on typical mountain trails)? Can you describe it more specifically? ^^;;

Also, that heat haze, is it really bad during April?

Sorry to be a bother, but I planned on seeing Mt Fuji in late April/early May too

[Sangetsu]

Originally Posted by kalcia

What do you mean by closed facilities? You mean like rail going up there is gonna be closed (I have no idea if there is any, just wanting to know)? Or tourist shelters (like ones on typical mountain trails)? Can you describe it more specifically? ^^;;

Also, that heat haze, is it really bad during April?

Sorry to be a bother, but I planned on seeing Mt Fuji in late April/early May too

Haze comes and goes, it depends on the wind and weather. The air is clearest during the winter months, most of the year it is hard to see the mountain from metro Tokyo.

Fuji's facilities are snack shops, toilets, and the mountaintop post office (where you can get a Mt Fuji postmarked letter or card sent home). There is still transportation available to some of the mountain stations, but not as much as in the summer months.

There will likely still be lots of snow on the mountain in April/May, so plan your climb with that in mind.

[sarasi]

From Ogieshim's post it doesn't seem like he/she is planning on climbing it at all, just viewing it from Hakone or Kawaguchiko. Kawaguchiko has by far the more impressive view, but less to do if the mountain is covered in cloud (most of the time in summer, but if you have a reasonable chance of seeing it quite early in the morning in May. Just be aware that it is not always visible.)

The buses run to the 5th station (halfway point) from sometime in April (depends on the snow) and the shops will be open. I took the bus up in mid-April last year, and there was still knee-deep snow around the shops. Climbing to the summit at that time of the year is only for people experienced in climbing in ice and snow. The official climbing season is from early July to late August, when all the snow is gone.

[kalcia]

Thanks guys for info!