Mt Fuji 19 to 21 April

My planned 3 day self-drive at Mt Fuji from 19 to 21 April now turns out to be he peak cherry blossom viewing weekend at Fuji area. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom this week. Rightfully, I should count myself lucky and be super happy. but I am not!

Will be coming from Tokyo. and I have read online about massive traffic jams on the highways and super long waits for carpark at the places of interests. Not talking about the expected massive crowd yet. So now I am very worried. Will I still be able to have a great trip? Should I simply reschedule my road trip to another time? Please help. I do not wish to end up sitting in my car for hours in massive traffic jams or waiting to get a carpark lot.

It will be horrible. Does it have to be the weekend? And by car?
A weekday by public transport would be much more pleasant unless you want to access remote spots in which case a car will be better.

If you can change to weekdays tgat would be better. If not, then try to avoid peak times.

Meaning Saturday ideally start very early. Or consider making the trip slow. I would think tgat Doshi road shouldnft be too full of cars. And will be a nice drive. Not fast, but nice.

On the day you go to the pagoda be there very, but very early. Try maybe for 6:00 am there. You could even just go there from your hotel by train (not bus, tgat would be stuck in traffic too) or rent a bicycle for the day. But anyway, be there very, very early. I went on a weekend in full bloom last year at a time I thought was early (maybe I was there before 8:00 am) and had to wait 1.5-2 h to get up to the pagoda and by the time I was up there they had started burning the grass on Mt Fuji and it had become shrouded in smoke

https://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com/2024/05/full-bloom-around-fuji...


The rest of the area was less crowded.

You are driving back on a Monday, so that should be fine.

Thank you all. I suppose I should just call it off. I was planning to drive around to see as much of the area as possible within the 3 days, including some neighbouring towns if time allows.

my only other alternative date is 28 to 30 April but 29 is a public holiday :(

What specifically are you going to the Fuji area for?

@lovejapan
I donft think that crowds are soooo bad that you must call it off. Just try to travel anticyclical as much as possible.
Eg be at the pagoda very early.
If you go by car from Tokyo also depart very early or take smallish roads.

In my experience from a weekend in full bloom the only area that was collapsed in car traffic was around the pagoda.
Around Kawaguchiko it wasnft a real problem. And Ifd think the farer away you get from lake Kawaguchi the quieter it will be.

And the good thing is that you donft return on Sunday evening but Monday.

If you donft want the drive from Tokyo you could also see if you can rent a car in Kawaguchiko instead and go by train. But Ifd expect the train to be pretty full.