Today was the day to leave Kyoto, after five nights of travelling far and wide each day we headed towards Hachioji, a small area on the Western edge of Tokyo. The only claim to fame for Hachioji is the nearby Mt Takao, a popular hiking spot with a view of Mt Fuji on a clear day. You may have noticed I love Mt Fuji, and we were lucky enough to get a great view on the shinkansen heading towards Yokohama. To get this view you can choose seats D & E on the shinkansen on either direction (Kyoto – Tokyo and vice versa).

Getting to Hachioji with our luggage was a bit of a hassle, but luckily the hotel staff were super kind and cleaned a room quickly so we could check in early. Unlike a lot of Tokyo there were no English speaking staff, but we got through with my Japanese and gestures!

We decided to ascend Mt Takao, to stretch our legs after a long day of travel and also to see the scenery and the amazing views from the peak. We decided to take the lift up as it is truly and experience you shouldn’t miss (unless you are afraid of heights that is!). I’d definitely recommend taking the chair lift up, safety isn’t paramount, but it is a beautiful ride!

The lift doesn’t take you up to the peak of Mt Takao and there is a roughly 40 minute walk ahead (depending on the route).

From the peak of Takao you can see all of Tokyo sprawled out in front of you. You don’t quite notice how vast Tokyo is when you are in it, from above you can see Tokyo stretch to the horizon.

Sadly it was a little hazy and so the views from the top weren’t as spectacular as expected, although we could (just about) see Mt Fuji.

We decided to take a different route down which advertised a waterfall… biggest disappointment in all of Japan… it looked more like a leaky faucet than a waterfall, but the nature was nice. 100% do not recommend!

As a bonus we could see Mt Fuji from our room!!! Well just about…