The best hikes in Japan take you to cedar forests, jagged mountains or sweeping rivers while also showcasing its unique culture - from the distinctive architecture to the spirituality and folklore which drives it.
Many of the best hikes in Japan are old pilgrimage routes, taking walkers from shrine to shrine, through majestic woodlands. Others head to high-rising ridges, where the pointed peaks of mountains pierce the skies. Hiking in Japan allows you to explore one of the most unique and remarkable nations in the world. Here are the five Japanese hiking routes we've chosen to get you started:
- The Kyoto Trail, Higashiyama Course
- The Kamikochi-Yari-Hotaka Circuit (via Daikiretto Gap)
- The Nakahechi Route (on the Kumano Kodō Pilgrimage Trail)
- Mount Fuji, Gotemba Trail
- Jomon Sugi via the Arakawa Trail, Yakushima Island
It’s important to note that these route descriptions are only short summaries, designed to inspire but not to serve any navigational purpose. They are not intended to guide you on the route and further mapping and planning (or a local guide!) will be required if you want to safely walk any of the trails featured.
In the view of our in-house experts, these routes embody the spirit, history and wonder of Japan - from the Japanese Alps and Mount Fuji to the mystical forests.
1. The Kyoto Trail (Higashiyama Course), Kyoto
- Start/Finish: Fushimi Inari Station/Hiei Cable Car Station
- Distance: 15.3 miles (24.6km)
- Walking time: 8-9 hours
- Difficulty: Moderate
- Best for: Exploring the temples and attractions of Kyoto
The Kyoto Trail is a network of hiking routes in and around the city of Kyoto, taking in its temples and shrines, as well as the surrounding hills and cedar forests.
The Higashiyama Course - signposted with numbers - takes you through the Higashiyama hills, beginning with a short walk from the station to the iconic Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine, famous for its orange gates. From here, you’ll climb hundreds of stone steps to Yotsu-tsuji, a scenic lookout point over the city.
After this, the trail takes you past several important temples, including the Uta no Nakayama Seikan-ji Temple, known for its cherry blossoms in spring and red acer leaves in autumn. You’ll climb to the triangulation point of Mount Kiyomizu-yama (242m/793ft), before later ascending a steeper, rockier path and then climbing along a ridgeway to Mount Daimonji-yama (466m/1,528ft), where you’ll have views of the forested Yamashina Basin to the east, and Kyoto to the west. Descending down moss-carpeted stone steps, you’ll walk the Philosophers’ Path, a stone path alongside a canal lined with cherry trees.
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The final part of the hike is an ascent to the cable car station of Mount Hiei, the summit of which lies beyond at 848m (2,782ft), with views over the city. You can use the cable car station to descend.
The hike in its entirety takes around eight to nine hours - however, this doesn’t account for time spent looking around the numerous temples and shrines you pass. We’d recommend taking your time to enjoy the sights and sample some of the street food, such as daifuku (a stuffed rice cake), meat skewers or ame-yu, hot water with malt syrup and ginger. Split it up and do the walk over a few days.
2. The Kamikochi-Yari-Hotaka Circuit (via Daikiretto Gap)
- Start/Finish: Kamikochi
- Distance: Variable
- Walking time: 3-4 days
- Difficulty: Extremely challenging
- Best for: A dramatic ridgeline experience
Before we start this entry, it's important to highlight that this is one of the most dangerous routes in all of Japan. It involves exposed scrambling with chains and ladders, and there have been fatal falls. A helmet is strongly recommended, and this is really a route only suitable for experienced scramblers in dry weather.
The Japanese Alps is a term used to refer to the Hida Mountains, Kiso Mountains and Akaishi Mountains that stretch across Japan, bisecting the island of Honshu, which is the largest and most populous island of the country (with Tokyo on the east coast and Mount Fuji in the south). The name was popularised by Reverend Walter Weston, an English missionary known as the "Father of the Japanese Alps," for whom there's a plaque in Kamikōchi, where this route starts.
The hiking in the Alps is plentiful, but this trek on the high peaks - the Kamikochi-Yari-Hotaka Circuit - is one of the most dramatic, and demanding.
This is a multi-day adventure. Leaving Kamikochi, your first day will see you ascend Mt. Yarigatake, which stands 3,180m (10,433ft) tall, in a distinctive spear shape which gives it its name (‘Yari’ translating as ‘spear’). The route up passes through lush forests and rivers until you reach the truly rugged peak.
You'll spend night one in a mountain lodge here - where you'll sleep on tatami mats and eat simple, delicious Japanese food like curry. Day two will then see you take on the Hotaka ridgeline and the notorious Daikiretto Gap, a traverse with vertigo-inducing drops which takes you to Okuhotaka. It's exposed, vertigo-inducing and not to be taken lightly, but it also has unrivalled views of the Alps.
After another night in a lodge, an early rise the next morning will take you to the summit of Mt Okuhotaka, the joint-third highest mountain in Japan, with some iron ladders for assistance, then it's back to Kamikōchi.
We'd strongly recommend only attempting this with an expert guide, in stable weather. The season for this is July to September, once the snow has melted.
3. Kumano Kodō Pilgrimage Trail (Nakahechi Route), Kii Peninsula
- Start/Finish: Takijiri-oji/Nachi Taisha
- Distance: 41 miles (66.5km)
- Duration: 4-5 days
- Difficulty: Challenging
- Best for: tracing the footsteps of Samurai
Much Better AdventuresJapan is a country rich in tradition, history and natural beauty and the Kumano Kodō hiking trails capture all of that. The trail was routinely walked by emperors, samurai and court nobles, who considered it sacred and left behind diaries of their voyages from Kyoto. Thanks to this, and the stunning nature, the pilgrimage route became one of only two to have UNESCO World Heritage status in 2004, the other being the legendary Santiago de Compostela route finishing in Spain.
The Kumano Kodō is not one trail but a network of routes - the most popular of which is the Nakahechi Route, which links the three grand Shintō shrines of Kumano that would traditionally be visited by pilgrims. Takijiri, on the Kii Peninsula, is the starting point for the Nakahechi route. From there it's ancient cedar and cypresses, small villages, forest trails, stunning viewpoints, a stop at Japan’s tallest single-drop waterfall and some stunning architecture. The trail is just under 70km and usually walked in four to five days.
4. The Gotemba Trail, Mount Fuji
- Start/Finish: Gotemba Trail Shin-5th Station
- Distance: 13.1 miles (20km)
- Duration: 10-13 hours
- Difficulty: Challenging
- Best for: summit baggers.
Mount Fuji is world famous. The highest mountain in Japan, standing at a lofty 3,776m (12,388ft), the volcano has a shrine to the Shinto goddess Sengen-Sama at the summit. The traditional pilgrimage trail up Fuji passes through sacred forests, home to Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. If you've only got a short time to go hiking in Japan, it's a real classic.
The Yoshida Trail is the most popular route up Mount Fuji. The Gotemba Trail is a quieter option. It's the longest, starting at 1,440m (4,724ft), but it has the fewest other climbers on it (and similar views). The slopes on the way up are also gentle, making for a lengthy, but manageable hike. The climb up and down is around 10-12 hours of hiking, though it starts not in forest, but on open volcanic sand.
The climbing season on the Gotemba Trail is 10 July to 10 September, when most of the snow has melted. There are ten stations along the way on the Fuji climb, the first being at the bottom of the mountain, and the 10th on top.
Note that the Gotemba route is a long one, with minimal mountain huts on the way and no first-aid station. The wide, sandy slopes make it easy to get lost on in fog.
All trails up Fuji cost 4,000 yen per person, per climb, and climbers on the Shizuoka-side trails (which includes Gotemba) must also register through the Shizuoka FUJI NAVI system.
5. Jomon Sugi via the Arakawa Trail, Yakushima Island
- Start/Finish: Arakawa trailhead (out-and-back)
- Distance: 13.7 miles (22km)
- Duration: 9-12 hours
- Difficulty: Challenging
- Best for: Japan's most famous tree
Yakushima is a small, mountainous island off the southern tip of Kyushu. Its forests of ancient yakusugi cedar were among the first places in Japan to be listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in 1993. Locals joke that it rains 35 days a month here - come prepared - but all that rain feeds a deep green landscape of moss, ferns and huge trees, and the island is home to its own subspecies of Japanese macaque and sika deer.
The island's best-known hike leads to Jomon Sugi, its oldest and most celebrated cedar. Estimates of its age range from around 2,000 to 7,200 years, and its trunk measures a massive 16.4m (54ft) around. The first section follow an old forestry railway through the Arakawa valley. The track is fairly flat, but the sleepers and bridges need a steady step. Beyond the end of the railway, the path climbs into the forest on roots, rocks and wooden steps, gaining about 700m (2,296ft). Along the way you'll pass Wilson's Stump, a vast hollow cedar stump. From inside, the opening overhead forms the shape of a heart. The trail ends at a viewing platform beside Jomon Sugi, at around 1,300m (4,265ft), and you return the same way.
While this isn't a technical hike, it is a long one. Start early. Private cars can't get to the Arakawa Trailhead between March and November, so you have to take a shuttle bus - and plan your day and hiking speed around getting the shuttle back.
When is the Best Time to Hike in Japan?
Lower-altitude trails in Japan can be hiked year-round, but the best seasons are spring (March to May) and autumn (October to November). These avoid the rainy season, which runs from roughly June to mid-July in most regions, and the hot, humid summer that follows. Typhoon season peaks between August and October and can bring heavy rain and trail closures at short notice.
Cherry blossom season is among the busiest times of year to visit. In Kyoto and Tokyo the blossom usually arrives in late March or early April, and it comes later further north and at higher altitudes. Spring temperatures climb quickly, from an average of around 8°C in March to about 20°C in May.
Autumn is the other peak season, when the forests turn a glorious blaze of colour. The leaves change first in the mountains, from late September, and reach Kyoto by mid to late November. Daytime temperatures are pleasant, from the low 20s°C in October to the mid-teens by late November. In the high mountains, such as the Japanese Alps, the main hiking season is July to September, once the snow has melted from the high trails. Some mountain huts open from late April, but snow lingers on high routes into early summer. Mount Fuji's official climbing season is even shorter, running from early July to 10 September.
What Animals Live in Japan?
There are tens of thousands of species of animal living in Japan’s mountains, tropical islands and atmospheric forests, and a high number of them are endemic. These include the Japanese serow, a furry ‘goat antelope’ dwelling in dense forest, the Japanese racoon dog (as cute as it sounds) and silver-furred Japanese macaques - all of which can be found in the Japanese Alps.
Asiatic black bears live across Honshu, including the mountains around Kyoto and the Kii Peninsula, while Hokkaido is home to the larger brown bear. The Kii Peninsula, which is crisscrossed by the Kumano Kodō pilgrim routes, is home to sika deer, the endemic Japanese weasel and Asiatic black bears.
Several of these hikes take place in bear country. If you are hiking in Japan, you need to be wary of this, as there have been a rising number of bear attacks here.
What to Eat in Japan?
When you think of Japanese food, chances are you’ll think of crispy tempura, rich bowls of pork ramen, and sushi made with the freshest fish. All of these foods are popular in Japan, and we definitely recommend you try them. But it’s also worth delving a little deeper into the country’s traditional cuisine. There are plenty of street foods you can try in Japan, from takoyaki (pancake balls with seafood inside), senbei - rice crackers flavoured with soy sauce or nori - and korokke, which is the Japanese version of croquettes.
Japanese food, known as ‘washoku’ is based around five principles, including five cooking methods - raw, simmered, steamed, grilled, and fried - and five flavours, all of which should be perfectly balanced. These are salty, bitter, sweet, sour and ‘umami’ (which means ‘savoury’). One of the best ways to experience these principles of Japanese cuisine is during a traditional kaiseki meal - nine or so courses beginning with an appetiser such as soup, seasonal sashimi, and progressing to a flame-grilled main course or a substantial hotpot.
How to Get to (and Around) Japan?
By train: Japan has an extensive and efficient train network, stopping at most major cities and towns. There are five main types of train in Japan: Local; Rapid; Express; Limited Express/Special Express; and Shinkansen (Bullet Train). The local train will stop at each station, and therefore take much longer - you use it for short distances, while rapid and express also make frequent stops. Rapid express trains only stop at major destinations, but they don’t match the speed of the bullet train, which can travel up to 198.8 mph (320kmh) and are the most popular choice for crossing the country.
By plane: Japan's main international gateways are Narita and Haneda (both near Tokyo); Kansai (near Osaka) and Chubu (near Nagoya). There are also numerous regional airports - around 90 in total, making air travel easy and convenient.
By bus: Japan also has a good network of both local and overnight buses, which are more economical than its trains for travelling round the country. Buses are useful for getting to remote spots, such as hiking trailheads.
Japan Hiking FAQs
What Months are Best for Hiking in Japan?
The best months to hike in Japan are October and November, to experience the autumn foliage, and during cherry blossom season (the end of March to early May). However, the hiking season in mountain areas like the Japanese Alps is much shorter, from roughly July to September, when the snow has melted. The best months to hike in the Japanese Alps are July, August and September.
Which is the Best Trail up Mount Fuji?
The best trail up Mount Fuji for experienced hikers seeking solitude is the Gotemba Trail. It offers fewer crowds, a longer and more challenging route, and expansive views of the mountain’s lower slopes. The best trail up Mount Fuji for beginners is the Yoshida Trail. It offers the most facilities, first-aid stations, and mountain huts. The trailhead is the most easily accessible, starting from the Fuji Subaru Line 5th Station.
How many days does it take to hike the Nakahechi Route of the Kumano Kodō?
The full Nakahechi Route, from Takijiri-oji to Kumano Nachi Taisha, is around 41 miles (66.5km) and usually takes four to five days of walking. Most hikers start in Tanabe, the gateway town for the Kumano Kodō, and catch a bus to the trailhead at Takijiri-oji. The first leg runs about 24 miles (38km) over two to three days to Kumano Hongu Taisha, the most important of the three Kumano Grand Shrines. From there, the route continues over the Kogumotori-goe and Ogumotori-goe mountain passes to Kumano Nachi Taisha and Nachi Falls. Daily stages are typically 8-13 miles (13-21km). Many walkers also add a rest day in the Hongu area, where there are several hot spring villages.
What are the Best Hiking Day Trips from Tokyo?
The best hikes near Tokyo include an ascent of Mount Takao, near the western outskirts of Tokyo, and Mount Kintoki, where you have excellent views of Mount Fuji. You can also reach the Fuji Lakes Area, which is excellent for hiking, in two hours by train from Tokyo.
What Accommodation Will I Find Along Japan’s Long Distance Hiking Trails?
On longer hikes like Kumano Kodō and the Japanese Alps hikes, you can stay in traditional ryokan, temple lodgings, and mountain huts. These often include meals and sometimes even onsen access. You will also find a few campsites in these areas.
Read More:
- How Japanese ‘Omotenashi’ Manifests itself in the Mountains
- The Japanese art of Daisugi Tree-Growing
- 20 of the Best Hikes in Asia
Inspired? Check out our Ultimate Adventure in Japan, taking you along some of Japan's best hiking trails.