Tokyo's sacred mountain on its broad, mostly paved main trail: past the cable car station and the monkey park, the octopus cedar and Yakuo-in temple with its tengu statues, to the 599 m summit with Fuji on clear days. Ride the cable car or chairlift to halve the climb.
Best time: Weekday morning (weekends are very crowded); November for autumn colour; clear winter days for Fuji from the summit.
The route, stop by stop
- 1Takaosanguchi Station
Kengo Kuma's timber-canopied station, 50 min and 430 yen from Shinjuku on the Keio Line. 5 min
- 2Takao 599 Museum
Free nature museum on the mountain's ecology. 30 min
- 3Kiyotaki Station
Bottom of the cable car (490 yen one way, every 15 min) and chairlift; Trail 1 starts beside it. 5 min
- 4Takaosan Station
Top cable car station with an observation deck over the Kanto plain. 15 min
- 5Takao-san Monkey Park
Glass-walled enclosure of about 40 macaques plus a wildflower garden, 500 yen. 30 min
- 6Tako-sugi (Octopus Cedar)
Old cedar beside Trail 1 known as Tako-sugi, the Octopus Cedar. 5 min
- 7Mount Takao and Yakuo-in
Temple of mountain worship for over 1,000 years, with tengu statues (long-nosed and crow-beaked). 30 min
- 8Mount Takao summit
599 m top with views to Mount Fuji on clear days. 30 min
More walks in Tokyo
- Yanaka and Nezu: old Tokyo from Nippori to Nezu Shrine
- Asakusa back streets to Kappabashi and Kuramae
- Basho's Fukagawa: Morishita to Kiyosumi Garden and the art museum
- Nihonbashi to Ningyocho: merchant Tokyo
- Kagurazaka: geisha lanes and stone alleys
- Shibuya to Meiji Jingu via Cat Street
- Nakameguro to Ebisu via Daikanyama
- Imperial Palace East Gardens to Yurakucho's under-track bars
- Jimbocho book town to Kanda Myojin
- Shibamata: Tora-san's town to the Edo River ferry