Live Nippon · Your Tokyo hotel
A driver-guide picks you up at your Tokyo hotel in a licensed green-plate van and drives the route you choose: Fuji and Hakone, or the Fuji lakes with Chureito Pagoda. Pick it for control over timing, the one thing that decides whether you see Fuji: you can leave at 6 am and chase the clearest side of the mountain.
Live Nippon is a fully licensed private-hire company: its vehicles carry the green number plates that Japanese law requires for paid passenger transport, and its drivers hold commercial permits. The listing makes a point of this, because unlicensed "white plate" drivers are common on cheap private tours. The $507 from-price is per group for the mini van; bigger groups book a HiAce for nine, a 16-seater, a 22-seat Coaster or a 37-seat bus. Ten hours run hotel to hotel.
You choose one of two routes. Fuji and Hakone: the 5th Station in season, Oshino Hakkai's spring-fed ponds, Owakudani and Lake Ashi. Fuji surroundings: Lake Kawaguchiko, the Kachi Kachi Ropeway, Oishi Park, Oshino Hakkai and Chureito Pagoda at Arakurayama Sengen Park, with its 398 steps. Reviewers say guides swap stops around for weather and crowds, and many recommend an early start: one couple was collected at 6 am and had Fuji in clear sky by mid-morning.
Read the extras before you compare prices. Every ticket is on you (ropeway, cruise, Kachi Kachi Ropeway), and so is lunch. The listing adds a 2,800 yen "Mt Fuji entrance fee" per group for the drive up, and 5,000 yen for every hour past ten. In winter, from about December to early April, snow often closes the upper Subaru Line, so the listing promises the 5th Station only in the hiking season; the lakes route works year-round. For four people, the total still lands near a group-tour price per head, with nobody else's schedule to follow.
Your driver-guide collects you at the hotel. Ask for an early start: reviewers who left at 6 or 7 beat both the traffic and the crowds.
Out of Tokyo on the Chuo or Tomei expressway, with commentary on the way.
The 5th Station in season (30 min on the listing), or Chureito Pagoda and Lake Kawaguchiko on the lakes route, while the morning is clearest.
Spring-fed ponds and grilled snacks in a village between the lakes, then lunch where the guide recommends, at your cost.
Owakudani and a Lake Ashi cruise on the Hakone route; Oishi Park, the Kachi Kachi Ropeway or Saiko Iyashi no Sato on the lakes route. Tickets are extra.
Door to door. Past ten hours from pickup, the clock runs at 5,000 yen an hour.
★★★★★Today we were picked up at our hotel in Tokyo by our driver and guide Israr at 6am for a private tour to Mt Fuji and Hakone. [...] We also stopped for lunch at a lovely local restaurant over looking the magnificent Lake Kawaguchiko. At every stop Israr provided us with additional time for a personal wander or activity.
★★★★★Moon was very knowledgeable about each of the places we visited throughout the day, and helped us navigate a cloudy start to see a full unobstructed view of Mt Fuji in the afternoon.
★★★★★Was a great way to explore hakone and Fuji with a big family (7 adults 2kids). We were given two options at the beginning of the trip - hakone + Fuji vs Fuji alone and ended up taking the first choice.
★★★★★Our guide Petteri was excellent. Customized the day to our needs and took us to some less crowded scenic spots. Would highly recommend!
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Per group. The $507 from-price covers the mini van, its driver-guide and up to ten hours. Larger vehicles cost more. Tickets, lunch, the 2,800 yen Fuji fee and overtime come on top. See our private vs group guide for the maths.
A charge per group, not per person, listed as an exclusion. It covers the vehicle's drive up the mountain road on the Fuji route. It isn't the 4,000 yen climbing fee for the summit trails: a day tour doesn't climb.
Often better than in summer: Fuji is fully visible far more often in winter, about 79% of observations in February against about 7% in June (Fuji City data via LIVE JAPAN). The 5th Station is the problem, since snow usually closes the upper road from about December to early April. Choose the lakes route then.
The listing marks the tour and the transport as wheelchair accessible, and infant seats are available. Tell the operator at booking so they send the right vehicle; Chureito Pagoda's 398 steps have no step-free route, so the guide will plan around it.
Ready to book
Your own driver-guide from your hotel, on the route with the clearest view of Fuji that day.
Private Fuji Lakes & Hakone Tour, Shinkansen BackA private car for up to five: Chureito Pagoda, Oshino Hakkai, two Fuji lakes, Hakone, then a reserved Shinkansen seat.★ 4.9 · 10 hours · from $314
Hakone Cruise & Ropeway Day Trip with Fuji ViewsHakone without the rush: shrine, Lake Ashi cruise, ropeway to Owakudani and Fuji from a peace park. No 5th Station.★ 4.9 · 10 hours · from $83
Mt Fuji & Hakone Day Tour, Bullet Train BackThe most-booked Fuji day: 5th Station, Hakone Ropeway, Lake Ashi cruise, then the Shinkansen from Odawara past the traffic.★ 4.8 · 11 hours · from $159