Mt Takao Hike from Tokyo (2026): Trails, Cable Car, Autumn Leaves and Crowds (2026)

Mt Takao is in Hachioji, at the western edge of Tokyo, and the Keio line runs right to the foot of it. Takaosanguchi is the last stop.

The Keio line from Shinjuku (my pick). Keio trains run from Shinjuku to Takaosanguchi, with an IC card at the gate; see getting around Tokyo for Suica and PASMO. On weekends and holidays, Keio also runs Mt. TAKAO reserved-seat trains between Shinjuku and Takaosanguchi, as fast as 43 minutes. They need a seat ticket on top of your fare ticket, bought on the Keio ticketless app or website or at a ticket machine, and Keio charges ¥1,000 on board if you haven't got one.

The Takao-san Kippu. Keio's discount ticket bundles a round trip from your station to Takaosanguchi with a discounted cable car or chairlift ticket. From Shinjuku it's ¥1,450 with a return on the cable car or lift, or ¥1,090 with a one-way ride, for walking one way (children ¥740 / ¥560; Keio's fare table dated 1 October 2025). Buy it from a ticket machine at any Keio or Inokashira line station except Takaosanguchi, or as a QR ticket on Keio's TAMa-GO site. It isn't sold from 31 December to 3 January, and it doesn't include the Mt. TAKAO seat ticket.

Keio's weekday Takao-san Yuttari Kippu adds a meal and entry to the hot spring by the station, but it isn't sold in November, at New Year, in Golden Week or at Obon.

Just past the station, TAKAO 599 MUSEUM is a free museum about the mountain's nature. It normally opens at 8am, closing at 5pm from April to November and 4pm from December to March, with a few scheduled maintenance closures (including 3 December 2026), and it has free wheelchair loan and accessible toilets. It's a useful first stop: see what's flowering, use the toilets, and decide on your trail.

At Kiyotaki, at the foot of the mountain, the Takao Tozan Railway runs two rides about halfway up, both coming out on Trail 1.

The cable car climbs to Takaosan Station in about 6 minutes, every 15 minutes; the operator's FAQ says it runs every 7 minutes when busy. Its steepest gradient is 31 degrees 18 minutes, the steepest on any cable car line in Japan, and each car carries up to 135 people. First cars leave at 8am. The last car down depends on the month: in November it's 5.45pm on weekdays and 6pm at weekends, and from December to February 5.15pm and 5.30pm. Times differ at New Year and in summer, when the Beer Mount beer garden at the top keeps it running until 9.15pm.

The chairlift is a two-seater, open to the air, and takes about 12 minutes up to Sanjo Station. It runs from 9am to 4.30pm from May to November and to 4pm from December to April. On clear days, the operator says, you can see the Boso Peninsula and Tokyo Skytree from it.

Fares. Both cost the same: ¥490 one way, ¥980 return for adults, ¥250 and ¥500 for children; the old return discount has ended. Since 1 November 2026 you can tap a Suica or PASMO at the gate instead of buying a ticket. Contactless credit cards work too, but only for one person per card. You can't book a time, and the operator warns of long waits in busy periods. The cable car reaches its 100th anniversary on 21 January 2027.

Nearby, by Takaosan Station, the Monkey Park and Wild Plant Garden has around 90 monkeys and about 300 kinds of wild plants. Entry rose on 1 September 2026 to ¥600 for adults and ¥300 for children aged 3 and over.

By the top of the cable car, Takaosan Sumika is Takao Tozan's own shop and soba restaurant. The soba is fresh 'nihachi' (eight parts buckwheat to two of wheat), and tororo soba, with grated mountain yam, is the one to have: ¥1,100, or ¥750 for plain kake soba. It's open 10am to 4.30pm (4pm in winter), with no regular closing day, though weather can close it.

Two snacks to carry up the trail: tenguyaki, a crisp, chewy bun shaped like a crow-tengu's face and filled with Hokkaido black-bean paste, and the Mt Takao cheese tart from the Tenguya counter.

From the top of the cable car, Trail 1 continues up to Yakuo-in, about 20 minutes' walk, past the Octopus Cedar. Takao Tozan says the temple was built about 1,300 years ago and is one of the three head temples of the Chizan school of Shingon Buddhism. The temple is closely tied to the tengu, and you'll see them all over the mountain.

Yakuo-in serves a shojin ryori (Buddhist vegetarian) lunch from 11am to 2pm, by reservation only: the Tengu-zen from ¥3,300 and the Takao-zen from ¥4,400. Book by phone (042-661-1115, 9am to 4pm). Reservations aren't taken from mid-December to early February, or on some temple-event days.

The summit is 599m, about 40 minutes' walk from the top of the cable car. On a clear day there's Fuji to the west, the Tanzawa mountains to the south, and in clear winter air, the Southern Alps. It's one of the 100 Mt Fuji viewpoints of the Kanto region chosen by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Momijidai, 5 minutes further on, is the other viewpoint the operator recommends.

Diamond Fuji. Around the winter solstice, the sun sets right on Fuji's peak as seen from the summit and Momijidai. In 2025 the operator gave the window as 17 to 28 December, at about 4pm to 4.15pm, and ran the cable car until 6pm on those days. The 2026 dates haven't been announced yet. If you go, bring warm clothes and a torch, and come down by Trail 1, which passes the cable car station.

Back at the bottom, Keio Takaosan Onsen Gokurakuyu is a day-use hot spring by Takaosanguchi Station, open 8am to 10.30pm every day. Adults pay ¥1,100 on weekdays and ¥1,300 at weekends, on holidays and in busy periods, which include the autumn leaves season and New Year.

Tattoos: it refuses entry to anyone with a tattoo, whatever the size, including sticker and painted tattoos, and won't accept covering them. Our onsen and sento guide has the etiquette and some tattoo-friendly baths in the city.