Foreigner's Guide : Day Trip to Fujiyoshida from Tokyo

4/18/2024

Fujiyoshida is one of the best places in all of Japan to see Mt. Fuji, and so it also becomes one of the most visited cities in Japan as well. However, getting there can be a little tricky - and planning your day trip can often feel a little overwhelming. In this guide we've put together our best tips after our own day trip to Fujiyoshida, and our best recommendations on what to do!

Our Essential Travel Resources :
There are a lot of travel companies out there, but some are better than others. These are our favorite websites and resources to help you plan an incredible trip.

For flights, we recommend using WayAway or Hopper to compare the cheapest dates to travel to your destination.

Car rentals comparisons are best through Discover Cars - just make sure to bring your international driver's permit with you if you're heading somewhere international!

We always use AGODA for hotels. They have an easy-to-use platform where you can compare the best rates.

To keep cell phone service if you're traveling internationally, we always use Airalo’s easy to purchase eSIM’s (no installation required).

For fun things to do, we always recommend Viator to find the best tours in the area, otherwise Klook also does the trick, especially for tours in Asia.

Just in case, Safetywing is the insurance I always use for travel insurance.

Lastly, my packing list for your international or domestic travels.

How to Get from Tokyo to Fujiyoshida

The journey from Tokyo to Fujiyoshida typically takes about 2 hours, although it'll take a bit longer depending on local traffic (it took us about 3 hours each way). In order to make the best of your trip, we recommend leaving as early as possible and taking the latest bus that you're comfortable taking back to Tokyo.

In order to purchase your bus tickets, you'll have to head to the station on the morning of. Unfortunately we weren't able to purchase tickets ahead of time (and were told that they could be sold out). Although you can catch a bus from Tokyo or Shibuya stations, we started our journey at the Shinjuku Bus Station.

After getting our tickets (2200 yen per person) and jumping on the Highway Bus, we had a few different stops along the way but we chose to get off at Kawaguchiko Stations which was right downtown in Fujiyoshida. It's important to remember that the bus leaves exactly on time, so we recommend getting there at least 10 minutes early to make sure you don't miss your ride. Our bus to Fujiyoshida made a few stops for the bathroom, had wifi the entire way, and also had assigned seats - making it one of the easiest "long" bus rides we've taken in Asia.

How to Plan your Day Trip

Early Afternoon :
Assuming you get into town around noon, I recommend spending your first hour in town at Hotou Fudo - a restaurant known throughout Japan as one of the best noodles in town. "Hoto" noodles are a very thick buckwheat noodle in a miso based soup - think of them almost like the exterior of a steamed dumpling - and it's very filling. Although there's usually a line, it seemed to go fairly quickly and we would 100% recommend waiting, even though it takes up an hour or two of your day trip. Luckily, Hotou Fudo is located directly across from Kawaguchiko Station and in 2023 we paid about 1200 yen for each noodle dish.

Afternoon :
After lunch, we recommend making your way down to the Kawaguchi Lake (about a 15 minute walk). There is a ton to do here, and you can spend a few hours choosing which activities you want to book during your day trip in Fujiyoshida. We only recommend choosing fairly quickly, because although there was plenty of availability early in the day, later in the evening there were a few tings that were sold out.

If you visit Kawaguchi Lake in June or July, you might even be lucky enough to experience the Shibazakura (purple & pink flowers) Festival - otherwise you can spend your time hanging out at the lake, taking a ride on the Pirate Boat (about 1,000 yen per person) or biking out on the Swan or Flamingo boats (2,000 yen per boat per 30 minutes). Kawaguchi Lake is also supposed to be an excellent viewing location of Mt. Fuji, however because of weather we were only able to see the bottom half of the incredible Mt. Fuji.

Personally we chose to spend our afternoon taking a ride on the Mt. Fuji Panoramic Ropeway. For 900 yen per person for roundtrip tickets, we were taken up in a (very crowded) 3 minute-ish gondola ride to the top for some more epic views of Mt. Fuji. Unfortunately the bad weather continued for us and we weren't able to see Mt. Fuji in all her glory - however the views of Kawaguchi Lake were absolutely stunning on the ride up. At the top you can find a snack house with cute ice cream and a rabbit shrine. If you want a ride on the famous, picturesque swings you'll have to pay extra.

After you make your way back to the Kawaguchi Lake area, make sure to stop at the Fujiyama Cookie Shop for some adorable Matcha flavored Mt. Fuji shaped cookies!

Early Afternoon :
Before you prepare for your bus journey back to Tokyo, for your next stop on your Fujiyoshida Day Trip we recommend the Cheurito Pagoda. Because this is a little ways from the Kawaguchi Lake area, we ended up taking a Taxi - which was very easy, took about 20 minutes, and cost us about 2000 yen.

If you do decide to visit the Cheurito Pagoda, it's important to keep in mind that you'll need to climb about 400 steps to make it to the observation deck at the top. The views here are truly stunning, however - like we mentioned above - we really had bad luck with the weather and weren't able to enjoy the amazing Mt. Fuji views here either. Once you're ready to make your way back down, you can walk to the nearby Shimoyoshida railway station that will bring you back to the Kawaguchiko railway station right next to the bus station you were initially dropped off at this morning. If you're lucky, you might even get to ride the Thomas the Train themed railcar!

Chances are you'll want to grab dinner before heading back to Tokyo. We highly recommend spending the last hour or so of your time at the Fuji Tempura Idaten restaurant - hands down the best tempura we've ever had! We tried shrimp, green pepper, zucchini, sweet potato, and fish cake - and they even had 3 specialty salts (matcha, regular, and yuzu - a.k.a. lemon) to try with your tempura as well! The best part is this restaurant is only a 5 minute walk from the bus station.