Lake Kawaguchiko is a lovely place to spend a couple of days exploring. Within easy reach of Tokyo it’s a great retreat from the city. There’s plenty to keep you entertained for a few days also.
Getting There
We took the train from Shinjuku station direct to Kawaguchiko station. But first we had to get to Shinjuku. Since the train left Shinjuku at 09:00, we didn’t want to get the metro during rush hour with my travel bag. So we chose to get a taxi to Shinjuku station.
We haven’t taken a taxi in Tokyo yet, let alone with a dog so we were a bit nervous. But we needn’t have been. We ordered a taxi on the GO app. There was no option to enter that we had a dog or to send a message to the driver. When he arrived we just pointed to the bag and said Inu (which means dog) and he was totally fine. I was travelling in my Air Buggy backpack so fully enclosed as I would need this for the train anyway. However, it did cost over ¥10,000 so was even more expensive than the train!
We arrived at Shinjuku with plenty of time to spare so we grabbed a drink and waited at the platform. We had booked our tickets a few weeks in advance as had read that the trains got full. It was a good job we did, as when the train split in Otsuki there were lots of people that ended up standing in between the carriages. It cost ¥4,060 each and I didn’t cost any extra. There is supposed to be a charge of ¥290 but I never had to pay it yet.
The train was really nice and spacious. There were luggage racks for those who travelled with cases, but we just had a backpack so we put it on the shelf above our seats. We chose the front seats thinking there may be more space, but to be honest it seemed like there was less.
Kawaguchiko Ropeway
Our first stop was to go to the Kawaguchiko Ropeway. It was about a 15 minute walk from the station which was pretty straightforward to find with the help of Google maps. Tickets for the humans were ¥500 and I had to pay ¥200. The only downside is that I wasn’t allowed to go in my own bag. I had to go into one of their plastic boxes which made me a bit sad 🙁 It seemed a bit strange since the plastic box took up way more space and if you’re in a covered bag then I’m not sure what difference it made. But hey ho!
The ropeway only took a few minutes to the top and it had lovely views all the way up (which I couldn’t see as I was in my box on the floor). At the top there were some stunning views of both the lake and Mount Fuji. It was quite crowded so we headed past the crowds and found some nice hiking trail to go on. However, we did see signs to watch out for bears so we didn’t want to go too far since we didn’t have our bear bell with us and with me, I know I would go crazy if I saw one so it wasn’t worth the risk. Maybe the humans can come back and do some more hiking in the future without me.
Evening
The Air BnB we were staying at was about a 20 minute walk from the station. So after we did the ropeway we found a small place to grab some late lunch and then headed to the Air BnB for our 4pm check in. We rested for a bit and then took a small walk to the lake to pass the time away. The humans then had some ramen at a small cafe nearish to the Air BnB before we had an early night ready for our big cycle around the lake the following day.
Cycling around Kawaguchiko
The next day we set ourselves the target of cycling around the whole lake. The lake itself is around 25km in total so we had a challenge! Unfortunately after around 10 minutes of cycling we realised daddy’s bike was a bit knackered, so we had to turn back to change it. Thankfully there was another one so we swapped it over and off we set.
We started the cycle with a pit stop at a cafe on the lake to fuel ourselves up with a coffee and a smoothie. Then we got on our way. A lot of the way around the lake is actually on the road. However, the road is really quiet so there’s no need to worry about safety. In total it’s about 25km to go around the whole lake.
We stopped many times to take pictures as the views were just so nice. Fuji looks so amazing from so many different angles. Part way round there was a great place to stop with a beautiful flower garden which made for amazing pictures.
Towards the end of the cycle we found a cafe next to the lake which was pet friendly and even had it’s own pet menu. I got lucky! On the evening we got even luckier when we found a restaurant that let me go inside! Even better, the owner had his own dog, Andy, and I got to play with him all evening while the humans ate pizza and drank beer!
Chureito Pagoda
Before we headed back to Tokyo we wanted to go to Chureito Pagoda. We took the train from Kawaguchiko station for 10 minutes to Shinyoshida station. From there it was a 10 minute walk to the pagoda. It was clearly signposted the whole way so it was easy to find. You have to climb quite a lot of steps to get to the top so I was grateful I had my K9 Sports Sack!
It’s quite common that you don’t see Fuji from the top and we didn’t get lucky. However, we were fine with that as had seen it a lot over the past couple of days. It was still a great view, so I can imagine it must be wonderful during cherry blossom season and when you can see Fuji. As we were visiting the temple, of course I had to dress the part. So I put on my special Kimono for the occasion.
Other than the pagoda there’s not much to see up there so we didn’t stay for too long before heading back to the station.
This time we took the local train to Otsuki. We then had some lunch there before we took the train from Otsuki back to Tokyo.
Conclusion
Whilst a lot of people do Kawaguchiko in one day, I would definitely recommend to stay at least 1 night, if not 2. There’s plenty to keep you busy for those days and we didn’t even do everything like the pirate ship. We had a great couple of days down there. We’d love to go back to see the other lakes around the area.
While you are here don’t forget to check out my recommended pet friendly places in Tokyo.
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Woof woof, Wylie x