A day trip to Monkey Mountain!

Summary

A trip to to Takao mountain, in Hachijoji. Nature, soba, temples, Mt. Fuji, cable cars and of course monkeys.

**Has parking**West Tokyo**For Elementary School Kids**Half day-Full Day Activity**Low cost**10:00-16:00

Website

http://www.takaotozan.co.jp (English available)

Location/Access

東京都八王子市高尾町
Tokyo, Hachioji, Takaocho


大きな地図で見る

By train: 40+ minutes from Shinjuku, Keio or Chuo line. Head for Takao Station (高尾駅）

By car: Parking available, view website for directions.

Activities

This is a great place to take young kids, as they'll love traveling up the mountain in the cable car, as well as seeing the monkeys that live up at the top. We visited in early spring, and the weather was just perfect, if a little chilly on top. I imagine the perfect season to visit would be Autumn, when the 紅葉 kuoyou, or red leaves, would bring the surrounding woodland alive with fiery red and yellow.

Other than the monkeys, there are a number of interesting shops and events taking place throughout the year. Also, be sure to check out the view of Mt. Fuji from the top of the mountain; apparantly one of the top 100 "Fuji views" in Japan!

Food



Mainly Japanese style: Soba seemingly being the "famous" food of the area. The soba is hand made, and you can actually see the chefs preparing and cutting the ingredients in one of the restaurant windows. Menus are in both English and Japanese.


Cost

The cost is very reasonable:

Parking: 500 yen
Cable car: 450 yen one way (free up to 6 years old)
Monkey park: 400 yen (children up to 3 years free, under middle school age 200 yen)

Rating

A great way to spend half a day, but too few activities to fill longer than that. One of the big pluses was the fantastic feeling of being out of the city and surrounded by natural beauty. Considering the proximity to the center of Tokyo I found this quite amazing.

There seems to be many events, and some onsen nearby, so perhaps if you left the kids with the inlaws and visited as a couple you could stretch the visit out to a weekend.

Overall, the low price and beautiful surroundings give this location a respectable 7/10.