Mt. Takao was our main place of visitation on Day 07 of our 18 day trip. This mountain is relatively near Tokyo at just 50km west of the city, and is a frequent half-day trip for residents of the city, and also for visitors likewise too. Takao is very easy to get to too: we took a train along the Keio Line at Shinjuku Station and got off at the terminal station of Takaosanguchi Station.. If you’re on the specific Limited Express, you need not get off at Kitano Station and change platform to a different train too.
From Takaosanguchi station, it’s a pleasant 6 minute walk to the base station for tickets to rides, and there is a small shopping street along the way too. There are several ways to get up to the top of Mt. Takao. You can hike up by one of the seven hiking trails, or take the ropeway or chair lift to the midway point, after which you can rejoin the trails. We opted to go up and then later down via chair lift, then Trail 1 for the rest of the ascent, and Trail 4 for the descent.
As these visits go, there were just a handful of other visitors when we reached the base station just before 9AM, with the cable car and chair lift systems start from. And by the time we left, there were quite a lot more visitors in the area, including groups of what looked like Junior High students in sports shirts and pants. There are plenty of vending machines everywhere along the route, and toilet areas are also frequent.
Getting on and off the chair lifts are are little adventure in themselves! Firstly, if you’re carrying a backpack, swing them to the front. You then get on the travelator and the chair lift staff will bring a moving chair to you. Immediately sit your butt in! Getting off is easier: once your chair is above the travelator, feet down and brisk walk away to the left. Do note though: there are no safety harnesses or seat belts. But the chairs are moving at a moderate speed, and there are hand railings for you to hold onto. Beyond that, apply common sense e.g. don’t swing the chair. In the worse case, it’d just be a fall of about a meter or so, and there are safety nets at the parts of the ride where the chairs are several meters above the ground.
Our visit to Mt. Takao was in all about 4.5 hrs: and we took it really slow during the final climb and descent. If you’re visiting, you can probably make it up and down a lot quicker: about 3 hours should be sufficient. The scenery from the top of Mt. Takao was magnificent, but you’d really want to make sure the weather is cooperative first before you make the trip!
Continued in the next post: returning to Shinjuku!