I will be in Japan visiting Shinjuku, Tokyo August 10-August 22 and am trying to travel to 5th station Fuji Subaru for the climb up to the Mt Fuji summit and travel back to Shinjuku the same evening.
I am worried about the transportation. I was hoping to do the day trip on the 21st, and the earliest and latest times I could find departing Shinjuku was a 6:45 AM that arrives at 9:20AM on the Highway bus, with a returning bus at 5PM. Am I missing something or is the latest form of transportation back to Shinjuku at 5PM? It seems early.
The express train leaves even earlier from Kawaguchiko at 4:51PM.
I have read about people doing a day trip but it doesn’t seem possible with the transportation times. I am a strong hiker but 7 hours would not be enjoyable, and the chokepoints up the mountain would have me worrying for the departure time. Am I missing something?
6 comments
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I just did this trip on Sunday from Shinjuku, same bus times that you posted here arriving at 9:20 and leaving at 5 pm. I was so nervous that I was not going to have enough time to summit and there are people at the beginning of the hike that try to warn you not to do it in a day & that the hike takes ten hours. Well, I finished the entire hike/summit in five hours and still had time to have a full meal, enjoy a couple of beers and shop around fifth station. I’m in descent condition, maybe run a few times a week- short, five foot tall girl- and although the hike was tough, it was easy to get up & down within the bus time allotment.
I’m planning to hike Mt. Fuji as well just before the hiking season ends in September… most sites would discourage hiking the mountain in 1 day–I suppose Japanese authorities would rather not examine each person’s fitness level before they let you hike–So, they would just like to be extra careful with tourists with varying hiking skills/health conditions and advise everyone to stay overnight.
Having said that, here are the bus schedules, that may help you plan your trip.
[https://www.japan-guide.com/bus/fuji_season.html](https://www.japan-guide.com/bus/fuji_season.html)
I’m having the exact same problem except we’re going on September 9th and even that highway bus is gone as of August 31st.
Thinking we will turn up, give it what we have assuming we have to get back to the bus by a certain time, and see what happens.
I’m still unsure exactly when is the last time we can leave and find any transport at all back to Shinjuku, or if we have to take a bus to Kawagucinko then train or bus to Shinjuku, or if it’s even possible passed the early afternoon.
I posted and my post was locked by the mods… clearly there are people with the same issues that aren’t effectively covered in the FAQs…
I just did this day trip. I think the last bus back is a little later if you take one that has a transfer. Chokepoints aren’t an issue during the day really. I went with a friend and we were too slow to make the last bus so we slept on a bench by the bus stop and then moved inside to sleep on a seat in the tourism center when we got back. We took the first bus in the morning back to Tokyo. Definitely bring layers if you intend to do this.
I know some other hikers who took taxis back (super expensive but you can try to split with other travelers), but they close the 5th station to car access later I think so you still need to be down by a certain time.
Why not hire a car and drive down? Rental cars are super cheap and the drive down to Fuji is incredible. I did it earlier this year and loved every minute. The drive is about 2hrs each way.