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Tokyo To Fuji 2018/5/10 10:50
Hi

Im planning to have a trip from Tokyo to Mount Fuji by rental car. I would like to know from experience people so that I can have a lovely day. My plan as of now is

1. Depart from Tokyo (Shinjuku) to Fuji Safari Park Via express way

2. Spend a couple of hours at Safari Park and depart for Shibazakura festival

3. Enjoy the flowers and return to Tokyo

Does this plan makes sense? I would like to know how can I modify the itinerary to add some more places. Night attractions are also fine. And one more thing is how much will it cost for Express way Tolls for my itinerary.

I would also like to know similar one day car trip itineraries for me from Tokyo

Thanks
by Krish (guest)  

Re: Tokyo To Fuji 2018/5/14 06:01
Unless you like driving in heavy traffic with lots of stop lights, and even slow toll-road backups that happen in the Kanto, I would get out of the city using a train before renting a car somewhere in the rural area. I never did figure out why but I've actually had to stop while driving on a toll road between Haneda and Shinagawa.

If all goes well, the toll from around Shinjuku to an exit for the Safari Park on the south side of Fuji would be around Y3300 to Y3900 (without an ETC) and take between 1 1/2 and 2 hours each way (longer if you run into traffic or take a wrong turn).

http://search.w-nexco.co.jp
for tolls and

http://www2.kumagaku.ac.jp/teacher/~masden/tolls/
for instructions in English.

I might take a train to Odawara, rent a car there, drive around Fuji, return the car to Odawara, and take a train back. A train is the fastest way into and out of Tokyo. I even use this method for other Japanese cities to save on time and gasoline. In the next couple of weeks I'm going to take a train from Fukuoka (Hakata) to Karatsu, and then rent a car in Karatsu to check out sights around the peninsula to the west, returning the car to Karatsu and taking a train back to Fukuoka. Driving can get slow even in the countryside with many stoplights and a 50 km speed limit on the national highways.

Get out of town by train and then rent a car. You could do this for Nikko, Chiba, Chichibu, or other nearby areas, but you'll waste a ton of time driving out of the city and finding your way back even with a "navi."
by Anaguma (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Tokyo To Fuji 2018/5/14 11:57
Thanks a lot for the details.

I had to take the car option because my family has got some aged members who really can't walk for long distances transferring the trains, standing for long without seat in case of rush hours etc :(

Could you please name some good places most suited for one day trips from Tokyo? Some plcase I came across are Nokogiriyama, Kamakura etc.

I'm looking for some attractions which is one of a kind in Tokyo and can't be seen commonly in other regions. Like Volcanic museums, peculiar architectures etc.

Thanks
by Krish (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Tokyo To Fuji 2018/5/17 15:14
Nokogiriyama has a lot of walking. If you drive to the cable car (ropeway) and take it to the top, you get a good view over Kanaya but you're not there yet. You have to hike down to a gravel parking lot, pay the entry fee, and begin the steps up the mountain to the quarry and overlooks. You could also drive to this parking lot but there's not much there.

At the other end of the mountain on the south side, you could drive up to the parking lot just below the stone Daibutsu. You have some steps to go up but not too many.

Kamakura has a lot of sights but they seem to be in patches of woods in a largely urban area. Parking can be difficult. Most people walk the trails between the temples, but you could probably find somewhere to park around the train station, the Daibutsu, and Enoshima.

Nikko would be a good place to have a car. To see the temples though, you have to walk uphill. The car would get you up around Lake Chuzenji with stops along the way such as Akechidaira for the Kegon Falls overlook. A car will get you to the northwest part of the lake area to some waterfalls, marshes, and an upper hot spring area. On the way to Nikko Edomura in the lower part of Nikko town is a shop called Oshinko-mura on the right side of the road. It has hundreds of different kinds of pickles.

On the east side of Utsunomiya (downhill from Nikko), is the pottery town of Mashiko, if that interests you.
https://www.japan-guide.com/chottozeitaku/161125.html

In the town of Sakura, heading out toward Narita Airport, is the National Museum of Japanese History. It's in the grounds of the former Sakura Castle of which little remains.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6407.html

In kasukabe, Saitama is the Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel , an interesting tour of a huge engineering project built to divert flood waters from Tokyo. You have to have a Japanese speaker with you for the tour though.
http://www.ktr.mlit.go.jp/edogawa/gaikaku/english/

Again, I would advise that you aim for the edges of the Kanto Plain, as it's almost totally urbanized within with corresponding traffic. The Kanto from Takao-san (west side of the plain):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/anaguma/5238512655

You could also base yourself just outside the Kanto (43,000,000 people, 1/3 of the total population of Japan, and nearly as many cars) in someplace like Kawaguchi-ko by Fuji-san or Takasaki on the NW, and you wouldn't be bogged down quite as much as being in the middle of the largest conurbation on earth. Tokyo and the surrounding prefectures of the Kanto bog you down and suck up time getting between two points. If you're planning on hitting up Kabukicho every night, then Shinjuku is a good location (I wonder what happened to my bottle of whiskey I left in a snack bar there from my student days). It's not a good base to see the surrounding areas.
by Anaguma (guest) rate this post as useful

Re: Tokyo To Fuji 2018/5/17 19:54
If you are thinking about visiting this year, I'd skip the shibazakura as it's well past its prime and not worth the effort.
by John B digs Japan rate this post as useful

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