Mt. Takao (Tokyo, Japan)

Cost:
Mt. Takao Discount Ticket (Takao-san Waribiki Joshaken)
Discount ticket includes round trip train and cable car/chair lift tickets
Weekend ¥1480
Weekday ¥1320

Directions:
Take Keio Line from Shinjuku, alight at Takaosanguchi station. Exit the station, walk along the shopping trip to the cable car/chair lift station. The cable car has a longer waiting time than the chair lift. I would recommend the chair lift as it is more exciting, haha.

Reference Website:
http://www.jnto.go.jp/engpre2/location/routes/g_route/golden_tokyo04.html

As seen from the picture, there was no safety belt/bar on the chair lift, thus it is a pretty exciting ride up the mountain, though I think descending would be an even more exciting experience!

So, Mt. Takao or Takao-San is about an hour train ride away from central Tokyo. It is definitely worth a visit if there's ample time to explore around Tokyo. (Especially for us Singaporeans, mountains are a rare sight!)

It was really lucky for us to be in Tokyo in late May - early June because the temperature in the day was between 18-22 degrees celsius, so it felt as if we were hiking in an air-conditioned room, and when the sun light falls upon us, the feeling was just great because it felt warm and there were cool breezes... Oooh…

Anyway, we took the easy way out by taking the chair-lift up to mid-height of the mountain and continued hiking from there. We took the smooth path (hiking track 1) up, the one meant for tourists, and took the more challenging path down (hiking track 4). I have really enjoyed the view from the mountain, and being a tourist-attraction meant that there are clean toilets and sufficient resting points.

The view on the mountain was GREAT! Though we couldn't see the Mt. Fuji which was supposed to be seen from the top of Mt. Takao, the scenery at the top of takao-san was still breathtaking. :) There was an exhibition at the mountain top which was supposed to educate the hikers about plants and conservation projects on Mt. Takao, sadly, everything was in Japanese. Oh, you have to take off your footwear and change into the slippers provided if you want to take a look at the exhibition.

It was tiring but fun, as there were many hikers together with us, and they were all pretty friendly. We went to the observatory site but failed to locate Mt. Fuji so we went to ask a lady which direction is Mt. Fuji at. She said she doesn't know as well and started chatting with us when she found out that we are Singaporeans as she was coming to Singapore the following week! Haha! So we chatted with her for awhile before we descend.

It took us about 4 hours to ascend and descend Mt. Takao but it's not a full hiking trek though. A nice getaway from the hustle and bustle of the city!

There was a Hello Kitty popcorn vending machine at the cable car station (from Mt. Takao), we bought the caramel flavored popcorn and it tasted pretty good! :)