Glorious Autumn Hiking within 1 hour away from Tokyo

It’s about the time to plan a trip for autumn colour hunting! To enjoy the great autumn foliage in Japan, the best place is in nature such as mountains,gorges,rives and lakes. Yet, I guess if you are visiting Japan only in Tokyo area, you may not have a time to travel all the way to mountains or gorge. But did you know there is a beautiful mountain where you can reach in 1 hour from Tokyo??! I’m going to introduce one of the most beautiful places to enjoy autumn foliage and it’s a great place to hike,too!

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Mt.Oyama/Tanzawa National Park

Mt.Oyama is within Tanzawa-Oyama quasi national park which is located in Northwest of Kanagawa prefecture. The national park with 38,762 hectare area includes mountains, forest, dam, river, lake and waterfall. It’s possibly the best destination for nature activities near the city. Tanzawa is also popular for camping during summer and has several camp sites and hiking/trekking during autumn.

The mountain is 1,252 high and welcomes thousands of hikers from beginners to experts all year around. It takes 80~110 mins to the summit and trail is pretty rough and not well paved yet it’s not extremely hard for beginners and you may see many Japanese elder people hike there at age of 70!

If you are not into hiking and just want to enjoy the autumn foliage, don’t worry, there is a cable car service can take you to the summit within 6 mins only! Yet, I still recommend to choose to hike as there so many beautiful things you can only see when you hike :-)

Before entering the hiking trail, you will go through the shrine “Oyama-Afuri Shrine”. Mt.Oyama has long been regarded as a holy mountain and object of worship. Religiously motivated mountain climbing has been practiced since 18th century. At the top of the mountain is the head office of the Oyama-Afuri Shrine.

So Oyama is one of the best places to enjoy the autumn foliage not only because it’s the great mountain but the beautiful shrine and there is another spectacular thing. During the peak season of autumn foliage (mid Nov to early Dec), leaves and trees in the mountain and the shrine are lightened up! (from sunset to 19:00–20:00) How awesome to enjoy the autumn colour at day and night??

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Mt.Oyama/Oyama Afuri Shrine

Address: 355 Oyama, Isehara,Kanagwa(Tanzawa-Oyama quasi national park)

Nearest Station: 30 mins by bus from Isehara station: North exit (Odakyu line)

-Take a bus №10 at Platform 4 towards “Oyama Cable Car”

Cable car: Every 20 mins (9:00~16:30) 630 yen single/1,100 yen return

Search this word “Mt.Oyama” “Tanzawa” “Oyame Afuri Shrine” on Google Map

Peak season: Mid November to early December

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