Tokyo to Kawaguchiko: the ¥2,000 bus, the ¥4,200 train and the ¥16,000 pass

Source: Wikimedia Commons · lumoplank, CC0

One train a morning reaches Kawaguchiko without a change, and it is also the most expensive seat in the table, the one that sells out first, and the one with only four departures in each direction. The bus is half its price and needs the same month of notice. The pass costs more than either and only pays for itself if the mountain is not the only trip in your week.

1The four routes and the fare on each

The Fuji Excursion is the only service in that table that crosses from one railway company to the other without you getting off. It leaves Shinjuku at 07:30, 08:30, 09:30 and 10:30 and arrives at 09:28, 10:26, 11:28 and 12:24; the return legs are 14:08, 14:58, 16:48 and 17:41 out of Kawaguchiko. Every seat is reserved, so when those four trains are full the day is over as far as the express is concerned.

The fallback is the same railway split in two. A Chuo Line train from Shinjuku reaches Otsuki, and the Fujikyu Railway takes it from there: climb aboard at Otsuki and 45 minutes later you are at Kawaguchiko Station. The unimpeded way is a Kaiji or Azusa limited express to Otsuki, which needs its own seat ticket on top of the ¥1,410 JR fare; the cheap way is a Chuo Line rapid, no booking, and about half an hour slower.

Source: Wikimedia Commons · MaedaAkihiko, CC0

2The Fuji Excursion, seat by seat

Two seats on the Fuji Excursion cost ¥4,200 each for the whole run, and the ticket splits into a ¥2,580 fare and a ¥1,620 limited express charge. Book the seat the day the window opens — one month before travel — and note which side of the train you want: leaving Shinjuku the mountain appears on the left as the line runs towards Otsuki, and on the Fujikyu stretch the same side keeps it in view.

The tickets are sold through JR East's own reservation service, and through the resellers below, which hand you a voucher to exchange or a QR code to show. In autumn foliage weeks and on the three-day weekends the 08:30 departure and the 16:48 return are the first to go.

Source: Wikimedia Commons · MaedaAkihiko, CC0

3The bus: ¥200 for booking online

The Shinjuku highway bus takes about 1 hour 45 minutes and costs ¥2,200 bought at the counter or ¥2,000 booked online — the same seat, the same bus, and a ¥200 difference that exists only to move you onto the website. From Tokyo Station's Yaesu South Exit the fare is ¥2,300, and the first departure at 06:20 puts you at Kawaguchiko Station at 08:27, twenty minutes earlier than the first Fuji Excursion.

Every seat is reserved. The reservation window opens one month before travel, on the same date of the previous month, and the operator takes bookings until ten minutes before departure — which matters because the early buses fill first and the cash fares are not the ones that go. The one honest warning about the bus is the return: the Chuo Expressway into Tokyo on a Sunday afternoon is a queue, and a 17:00 departure can put you in Shinjuku an hour later than the timetable says.

4What the ¥16,000 pass covers

The JR TOKYO Wide Pass costs ¥16,000 for three consecutive days, is sold to non-Japanese passports only, and is the one pass in Japan written to include the Fujikyu Railway — every train, to Kawaguchiko. Reserve a seat on the Fuji Excursion with it and the seat ticket costs nothing extra; the pass also covers the unreserved and reserved cars of the Chuo Line limited expresses that stop at Otsuki.

The arithmetic that decides it: a Fuji Excursion round trip is ¥8,400, so the pass is ¥7,600 worse than paying for the mountain alone. Add a second day out on JR East — Nikko, Izu, Karuizawa, or the Joetsu Shinkansen to Gala Yuzawa in winter — and it turns. The exceptions written into the terms are the sightseeing expresses on the Fujikyu line: the Fujisan View Express and the Fujisan Express charge extra for their seats even with the pass in hand.

The pass is not valid on JR buses, so it buys nothing on the highway bus above. A nationwide Japan Rail Pass is a separate product priced for long Shinkansen legs; the Fujikyu line is not a JR line, and the Tokyo Wide Pass is the one that names it.

5Driving it: ¥3,080 of tolls with an ETC card

Shinjuku IC to Kawaguchiko IC is 117.9 km of the Chuo Expressway and 1 hour 42 minutes without traffic; the toll is ¥5,140 paying cash and ¥3,080 with an ETC card, so the card rental decides a third of the drive. A kei car from a major Japanese chain books at ¥9,790 for 24 hours plus ¥1,100 for the collision damage waiver, before fuel and parking.

The car earns its money on the far side of the trip, not the way there: the lake's north shore, the Five Lakes beyond Kawaguchiko, Oshino Hakkai and the ropeway are spread out, and the loop buses stop running before dinner. Coming home on a Sunday the queue starts at Otsuki junction, which is why the express trains and the bus are the ones that keep their timetables.

6From the airports, without going into Tokyo

Both Tokyo airports run a direct coach to Kawaguchiko, and both need booking. From Haneda the fare is ¥3,300 (¥2,300 if you board at Shinagawa Station's Konan Exit) and the ride takes about two hours fifty; from Narita it is ¥6,000 and about three hours forty, with a rest stop, limited seats, and a cash-only rule on board — Suica and PASMO are not accepted for that fare.

The alternative is to treat the airport as a normal arrival into Tokyo, spend the night, and leave on the 07:30 Fuji Excursion with a seat you reserved a month earlier. That costs an extra Tokyo night and buys the one thing the coaches do not have: four departures a day from a station in the middle of the city.

7Once you are there: the loop buses and the Mt Fuji Pass

Kawaguchiko Station is the hub for three sightseeing lines — the red line around the lake, the green line down to Saiko, and the blue line out to Motosuko. Single rides start at ¥180, and a one-day free coupon is ¥1,500 or ¥2,000 for two days; the buses are ordinary scheduled services, so nothing needs reserving and an IC card works.

The Mt Fuji Pass is the all-in version, sold to foreign visitors only with a passport shown at the counter: ¥7,500 for one day, ¥10,200 for two, ¥12,400 for three, covering the Fujikyu line and the area's buses, with admission to the ropeway, the lake cruises and the ice caves folded in. Buy it if you are doing three of those; for a single afternoon around the lake the ¥1,500 loop-bus coupon is the cheaper answer.

8What I would book

• Two people, one day, want the mountain early: Fuji Excursion out at 07:30 with seats reserved a month ahead, and the 16:48 back. ¥8,400 for the pair of you, door to door in under two hours.
• Same day, budget first: the 06:20 coach from Tokyo Station or the 07:00 from Shinjuku, booked online for ¥2,000, and accept the traffic on the way home.
• The four expresses are full: Chuo Line to Otsuki and the Fujikyu local, ¥2,580, about two and a half hours, no booking anywhere in the chain.
• Kawaguchiko as one day of a three-day loop (Nikko, Izu, Karuizawa): the JR TOKYO Wide Pass, and reserve the Fuji Excursion seats with it for nothing.
• Four of you, or the Five Lakes: a car, an ETC card, and an early start to beat the Otsuki junction on the way back.

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