The best hikes in Japan: mountains for every month and season

Mt Takao is Tokyo’s local mountain, which you can easily access via a 1-hour train ride on the Keio line from Shinjuku station to Takaosanguchi station. I do think it’s a great beginner-friendly option if you aren’t too sure of your hiking abilities - Mt Takao was actually my first ever hike in Japan! Thanks to its low elevation you shouldn’t have any problems climbing it in winter too. There is a cable car to make your hike easier, a temple along the way, and from the summit you can buy a hot meal to warm you up, with a view of Mt Fuji if you are lucky.

Kaimondake sits right at the bottom of Kyushu, and its conical shape makes it look like a mini Mt Fuji. Uniquely, rather than a hike straight up the mountain, the course takes you on a spiral path around it, so you get to enjoy the views out from all sides (including views of the sea as well!) With only an elevation of 924m, it’s climbable year round without snow, so it’s perfect if you’re looking for something a bit different to climb in the colder months.

If you come between the end of December and mid-February, you’ll also be able to see the blooming of the yellow rapeseed blossoms, which are said to be the earliest blooming flower in Japan.

Mt Kintoki is a mountain in Kanagawa prefecture with rather beautiful views of Mt Fuji, complete with a big axe at the summit you can take a photo with. As well as a 3-hour hiking course, there’s also the option to keep hiking past Mt Kintoki to the neighbouring Mt Myojingatake (明神ヶ岳) for a total 6.5hr, 11.5km course, which is great if you’re looking for a longer trail in the winter months.

It’s accessible via a direct highway bus from Shinjuku to the Kintoki shrine trailhead (金時神社入口).

February comes with the chance to enjoy the early-blooming variety of cherry blossom known as the Kawazu-zakura. These are a more vivid shade of pink than regular cherry blossoms (and arguably prettier too). You can combine a hike to Mt Miura-Fuji in Kanagawa with a visit to the Miura Kaigan Cherry Blossom Festival, which is held each year in mid-February to mid-March.

The course starts from the Mt Miura-Fuji trailhead at Keikyu-Nagasawa Station (京急長沢駅). From there, you’ll hike up to Mt Miura-Fuji, Mt Take-yama (武山) and then down to Tsukuihama Station (津久井浜駅). Once you’ve finished your hike, the cherry blossom festival is only 2mins away by train at Miurakaigan Station.

Another classic hike for those living in Tokyo is the Mt Jinba to Mt Takao traverse. You’ll get the opportunity to spot Mt Fuji from the peak of Mt Jinba, and its longer courses provides a nice step up if you’ve already had experience hiking Mt Takao.

The Numazu Alps are a series of low-lying mountains in Shizuoka. Don’t be fooled by the name - the Japanese like to name sets of small peaks as “alps” but this one only has a max elevation of 391m. You get opportunities to see out to the city of Numazu and Suruga Bay, as well as Mt Fuji if you’re lucky. Conveniently, it has public transport access with the option to do a 14km point-to-point hike, which starts and ends at a train station. Optionally, you can take a bus from the station to partway along the route to make your hike shorter.

Mt Hodo is a mountain in Saitama’s Nagatoro Alps. With direct train access to the start of the trail, you’re looking at a course time of under 4 hours. If you come in March, you can check out a garden of yellow wintersweet flowers which should be in full-bloom.

The course starts at Nogami (野上駅) station and ends at Nagatoro station (長瀞駅). There is also the option to take the ropeway up to near the summit of Mt Hodo if you’re looking for a shorter hike.

Another of the mountains with a great view of Mt Fuji is Mt Mitsutoge, near Lake Kawaguchi-ko. It’s the most accessible of the mountains in the Mt Fuji area, since you can conveniently get a bus from Kawaguchiko station. If you do the longer trail starting at Mitsutoge station and ending at Kawaguchiko station, you may have the opportunity to see the cherry blossoms blooming from along the start of your route.

Another recent discovery of mine has been the Hanno Alps in Saitama. The entire route is a 30km long course, but is commonly split into two shorter day hikes. The northern portion of the trail via Mt Izugatake (a 12km course) is notable for its large sculpture of a pair of white hands.

Mt Ishiwari sits right next to Lake Yamanaka-ko, offering excellent views of Mt Fuji if the weather is in your favor. With an elevation of 1413m and good public transport access via a direct bus from Shinjuku, you can choose from course options ranging from 4km to 10km. The mountain is also known for its Ishiwari shrine, which comes with a unique cracked rock formation. If you pass through it 3 times, it’s said to bring you good luck.

Mt Iwadono’s trail takes you along a rounded cliff-face that you can get close to the edge of, if you’re brave! There are some short sections you will need to climb/descend via a chain rope, so it overall makes for a pretty interesting hike.

The course is 4.5 hour, 8km loop starting and ending at Otsuki station. Along the way you’ll pass Maruyama park (丸山公園) which was so beautiful when I visited in April with its sakura trees.

If you’re looking for a wilder, multi-day trek, temperatures will have warmed up enough in April that you can head down to Yakushima island. Off the coast of Kyushu, its forest is said to be the inspiration for Ghibli’s Princess Monoke. You can do a challenging 3-day traverse of the island, staying at unmanned mountain huts along the way and passing by Kyushu’s highest peak, Mt Miyanoura, and the famous Jomon Sugi cedar tree.

Mt Chausu is a volcano in Tochigi prefecture. Since it’s a volcano, it has a very harsh yet beautiful scenery that you don’t see in a lot of other Japanese mountains. With a ropeway that takes you near the summit, the course can be as short as 2km, making it very beginner-friendly. For more experienced hikers, you can skip the ropeway and extend your hike to include the neighboring peaks of Mt Asahi and Mt Sanbonyari for a total 12km hike.

I’ll admit I have a soft spot for volcanoes (they just make for some super cool hikes) so another one of my favourites is Mt Kuju down in Kyushu. As well as climbing through rocky terrain, the trail also has you descend into a small valley with volcanic mountains all around you. You can extend your hike to Mt Nakadake, the highest peak in mainland Kyushu.

If you time your hike for May, you’ll be just in time for the blooming of the pinkish-purple Kyushu Azalea, which grow on the sides of the mountain.

Mt Tonodake is one of the most popular peaks in the Tanzawa mountain range and is a mountain very popular with locals in Kanagawa. Climbing via either the Okura or Yabitsu-toge trailhead, you can get some great views of Mt Fuji and a pretty challenging workout from its long set of stairs. You can choose to extend your hike to include Mt Tanzawa, with a stay at one of the mountain huts along the way.

Mt Akagi in Gunma prefecture is particularly famous for its Japanese azaleas, which bloom a beautiful pinkish-red in June. The standard 5km loop course takes 3.5 hours, and passes by Lake Onuma and Akagi Shrine, with options to extend your hike to 12km to also include Lake Konuma.

With the rainy season in Japan, one of my hacks is to have multiple hiking plans ready to go. It might be raining in Tokyo, but if you can make a detour to another prefecture, you might be able to get in a hike with some clear weather. Mt Zao is all the way up in Yamagata prefecture, but is actually feasible as a day trip from Tokyo if you don’t mind paying the pricey Shinkansen fare. With a 5 hour course, you can make it out to the beautiful green Okama Crater.

Mt Kumotori is Tokyo’s highest mountain at 2017m elevation. Its 20km course is commonly done as a 2-day hike with a stay at the summit, but for those with stamina, it’s also possible to do as a day hike. Althouygh the trail is long, I found it to be relatively smooth without any technical sections, so it’s great as an introduction to longer distance hiking.

Although Mt Kirigamine is classified as a mountain, it technically looks more like a large grassy field. The summit is quite close to the trailhead, so you can be done in under 90 minutes, but there’s the option to take longer courses so that you can enjoy more of a ramble in the fields.

The two highlights of this mountain is the Korobokkuru Hutte restaurant, which serves a borchst and coffee set, as well as the field of yellow Nikko-kisuge flowers which bloom in July each year. Note though that the flowers can draw large crowds, especially when combined with one of the public holiday weekends in July. I recommend coming on a weekday, to prevent you from getting stuck in an hour-long traffic jam.

Mt Kisokomagatake in Nagano prefecture is a great introduction to the Alps of Japan. With the highest ropeway station in Japan taking you to 2612m, you can get a stunning view for not too much effort at all. And if you are lucky, you may even sight the Japanese rock ptarmigan (or “raichou”) on your hike.

Mt Aka is the highest peak in Nagano’s Yatsugatake mountain range at 2899m elevation. It’s a very cool-looking mountain, with a lot of rocky ridges you get to climb up and down. You can hike the peak itself as a day hike or continue with a traverse hike out to Mt Io, with a stay at one of the mountain huts along the route.

Mt Norikura is a beginner-friendly hike, and the southernmost mountain in the Northern Alps of Japan. With an elevation of 3026m, but a hiking course time of under 3 hours, it also has the reputation of being the easiest 3000m+ peak you can do as a day hike in Japan. This is made possible by a bus that takes you to Tatamidaira, the highest bus stop in Japan at 2702m.

If you’re heading up to Hokkaido, you can climb its highest peak, Mt Asahi, in Daisetsuzan National Park. It has a ropeway that takes you up to an elevation of 1600m, and from there you can do a 4.5 hour round-trip hike. As well as its reasonable distance, it has proper public transport access too (which is unfortunately rare for mountains in Hokkaido), so this is why it makes the top of my list. There’s a lake, which combined with the mountain flowers and reflection of the mountain can make for a pretty picturesque view (unfortunately on our trip it was quite foggy).

Of course, I’d be remiss not to mention Japan’s most famous Mountain, Mt Fuji, which can be climbed between July and August each year. It’s a bit of a mixed bag on how people feel about Mt Fuji - some say that it looks way better from afar, and the climb itself is a rather boring one with no scenery. I had a lot of fun when I climbed Mt Fuji though, and the views were amazing, which I think I can attribute completely to the weather. So I would say climb it but only if you can guarantee that it’s going to be a sunny and clear day.

Heading up to Fukushima, there is a funny-looking mountain called Mt Azuma-kofuji, with a conical crater you can do a loop around. From there you can extend your hike to climb the neighbouring Mt Issaikyo (一切経山) where you can get a pretty cool shot of Mt Azuma-kofuji from a distance.

Quite randomly, when I hiked this one in 2023, the only public transport option was a tour package that also came with a grape-picking experience. It was pretty fun though!

Mt Shibutsu is one of the mountains in Oze National Park. Along with its neighbour Mt Hiuchigatake, the pair lie on either end of the beautiful Ozegahara Marsh. The photo is of Mt Shibutsu from the top of Mt Hiuchigatake, which kind of gives you a sense of scale of the marsh, and you can see the little trail cutting across it too. With a hiking course time of 6 hours, Mt Shibutsu can be done as a day hike, but is also popularly done as an overnight trip, which gives you an opportunity to explore the marsh and optionally climb Mt Hiuchigatake as well.

The Northern Alps contain some of the tallest mountains in Japan. Mt Washiba and Mt Suisho are both sufficiently deep enough into the Alps that it’s not possible to do either as a day hike, so I climbed them as part of a 3 day, 42km hut-to-hut hike, staying for both nights at mountain huts on the trail.

The Northern Alps are a hiker’s dream, and the scenery from the hike was so gorgeous. Of course there are so many other famous mountains in this area so I’m definitely going to be back to hike more of them.

Mt Adatara is surprisingly accessible as a day hike from Tokyo, thanks to the mighty Shinkansen network. I once chatted with an old hiker who told me he had climbed all of Fukushima’s “100 famous mountains” and that Mt Adatara had the prettiest autumn scenery, so this is definitely not one to miss in October.

Mt Tanigawa is also renowned for its scenery in the autumn season, although unfortunately I got unlucky with some clouds so I wasn’t able to properly appreciate its grandeur. A train can take you to Doai station, the deepest train station in Japan, after which its a shot walk to the Tanigawadake Ropeway. After getting the ropeway up, you can expect a 6km, 5 hour hike up to the summit and back.

Although the distance itself is short, there is considerable elevation gain which adds to the difficulty. If you want to challenge yourself, there is also the option to skip the ropeway entirely, which comes with a much steeper climb not for the faint of heart.

Mt Ishizuchi is on the island of Shikoku, and is another famous spot for autumn leaves in October. It has a lot of spiritual significance for practitioners of Shugendo (a Japanese religion originating in the 7th century). There is a rather steep chain-climbing section you can challenge yourself on, but there is a alternative route if you’d prefer a slightly more relaxing hiking experience.

Mt Aso in Kumamoto prefecture is Japan’s largest active volcano, featuring the Nakadake crater which billows out white smoke. You can enjoy the scenery from down below, or head on a 5-hour hiking course up to Mt Aso’s highest peak, Mt Takadake.

As Mt Aso is such an active volcano, depending on its activity level it can be closed off to visitors. I would recommend double-checking its status before you go.

Mt Daibosatsu is another mountain where you can get a great view of Mt Fuji. With a 3 - 4 hour hike suitable for beginners, you can get a pretty cool shot of Mt Fuji together with the Kamihikawa dam. There are options to extend the course out to 6 hours by doing a point-to-point hike instead.

Mt Mizugaki is another lower-elevation mountain in Yamanashi. Although the course distance is short, it is deceptively hard as there are some steep climbs with 900m of elevation gain over just 5.5km. You can also pair it together with the neighbouring Mt Kinpu as an overnight camping trip.

Mt Tsukuba comes with distinction of being the lowest elevation mountain of Japan’s 100 Famous Mountains. Out in Ibaraki prefecture, it can be accessed via a express train from Akihabara, and then a local bus to the trailhead. The mountain comes with two peaks, and so you can get a ropeway to near the top, and then do a 30 minute hike to reach both peaks. From either peak, you can get views out on the farmlands of Ibaraki below. You can skip the ropeway too, in which case you’ll be looking at a 4.5 hour hike with some rocky sections.

Mt Hinata is a lower-elevation mountain in Japan’s Southern Alps. It’s unique for having a sandy white “beach” at the summit. The Southern Alps has a lot of heavy-hitters like Mt Kita, the second highest mountain in Japan, but if you’re looking for a more gentle introduction, Mt Hinata is a fun place to start.

Mt Mitake is a popular mountain near Tokyo which I’d actually put in the same sort of category as Mt Takao, thanks to its cablecar access, food stalls and shrine near the top. However I wanted to try and find something more challenging for each month, so the course I’m featuring here is a hike from Okutama station to Mt Mitake.

The YAMAP course I’ve linked puts this as a 11km hike, which ends at the top of the Mt Mitake cablecar. However you can skip the cablecar and walk all the way to Mitake station, which bumps the course length up to 17km (see an example of someone hiking it here).

Along the way, you’ll also pass the peak of Mt Odake, from which you can get a view of Mt Fuji. There’s also alternate options to just do the hike between Mt Mitake and Mt Odake, or do a smaller loop course around Mt Mt Mitake’s rock garden.