Day trips from Tokyo: Kamakura, Nikko, Fuji, Hakone and when to stay

The ranking for a first trip, and where in Tokyo to sleep

Rank them like this on a first trip. Kamakura is the easiest full day: about an hour from Tokyo Station on a direct JR train, with its temples, shrine and Great Buddha laid out along one line. Nikko is a long day for the World Heritage shrines, and a night if you want Lake Chuzenji and Kegon Falls too. Mount Fuji and Hakone are both better with a night: Fuji tends to slip into cloud as the day goes on, and a Hakone day trip is mostly trains, cable cars and boats. So with one spare day, go to Kamakura; with two, add Nikko; with three or more, trade a day trip for a night at Lake Kawaguchi or in Hakone.

Keep one Tokyo hotel and choose its area by the trips you will take, because each leaves from a different terminal. Shinjuku is where the Fuji Excursion train, the highway buses to Lake Kawaguchi and Odakyu's Romancecar to Hakone start, and the JR Shonan-Shinjuku Line runs to Kamakura. It is the only base here with direct trains to all four, though its Nikko trains are JR–Tobu through services that the NIKKO PASS does not cover. Asakusa is the terminus of Tobu's limited expresses to Nikko, and nearby Ueno has the shinkansen towards Utsunomiya for Japan Rail Pass holders. Tokyo Station and Shinagawa have direct JR Yokosuka Line trains to Kamakura and the Tokaido shinkansen to Odawara, the gateway to Hakone.

Sleep out of town instead when a trip's best hours fall outside a day from Tokyo: dawn at Lake Kawaguchi, the evening bath and early lake in Hakone, or Lake Chuzenji in Nikko's autumn traffic. Hakone also fits neatly between Tokyo and Kyoto, since Odawara is on the shinkansen between Tokyo and Nagoya and you can carry on west without coming back. Each of the four full guides, linked at the end of this page, compares the places to stay there.

Kamakura: the easiest full day

Take the JR Yokosuka Line from Tokyo Station or Shinagawa to Kita-Kamakura, about 60 and 50 minutes according to the Kamakura City Tourist Association, with no change; from Shinjuku, the JR Shonan-Shinjuku Line serves the same stations. An IC card such as Suica covers JR and the Enoden, the coastal line that Enoshima Electric Railway lists at 5 minutes and ¥200 from Kamakura to Hase, so no pass is needed. Odakyu's Enoshima-Kamakura Freepass, ¥1,640 from Shinjuku when we checked on 2026-10-10, covers the Odakyu line and the Enoden but not JR, so it pays only on a day that adds Enoshima and starts and ends on the Odakyu side.

Walk the day in one direction: the Zen temples of Kita-Kamakura in the morning, Tsurugaoka Hachimangu at midday, then the Enoden to Hase for the Great Buddha and Hase-dera. That holds a full, unhurried day. Stay a night only if you also want Enoshima at sunset or Hokokuji's bamboo grove; the Kamakura guide gives both routes, the opening hours and the places to sleep.

The trip goes wrong in hydrangea season. Hase-dera, which grows about 2,500 hydrangeas, says they peak from late May to late June, and at the height of the bloom its hydrangea path needs a ¥500 ticket on top of admission, for a set hour that can be booked online; in 2025 that paid period ran from 6 to 26 June. If June is your only chance, book the slot and arrive early, or enjoy the temples of Kita-Kamakura and leave the hydrangea path out.

Nikko: a long day, or a night for the lake

Tobu's limited expresses run from Asakusa, also stopping at Tokyo Skytree, to Tobu-Nikko in about 1 hour 50 minutes, and all seats are reserved. With a Japan Rail Pass, take the Tohoku shinkansen from Tokyo or Ueno to Utsunomiya and change to the JR Nikko Line, around 1 hour 40 minutes in total according to JNTO's national park site. JR and Tobu also run through limited expresses from Shinjuku in about two hours.

On the Tobu route, buy the NIKKO PASS World Heritage Area, which Tobu sells only to foreign visitors. When we checked on 2026-10-10 it cost ¥3,000 for two days and covered one return between Asakusa and Shimo-Imaichi, the Tobu trains on to Tobu-Nikko and the Tobu buses around the shrines; the limited express charge is extra, and the Shinjuku through trains are not covered. The All Area pass (¥8,000 for four days) adds every Tobu bus in Nikko, including those up to Lake Chuzenji, and the lake cruise from mid-April to 30 November, so it suits a night at the lake.

Toshogu, Rinno-ji and Futarasan Shrine take three to four hours at a brisk pace, according to the city's tourism site, so the shrines fit a day trip with time to spare. The lake is what breaks it. Visit Nikko warns that from mid-October to mid-November the usual 45 minutes from Nikko Station up the Irohazaka to Lake Chuzenji can stretch to more than four hours, and recommends staying overnight; Tobu adds that it will not refund bus tickets if traffic stops you getting there. In those weeks, keep the day trip to the shrines, or sleep at the lake and travel up before 07:00 at weekends or after 15:00 on weekdays, the quiet windows in the city's traffic guide. The Nikko guide covers the shrine route, Kegon Falls and where to stay.

Mount Fuji and Lake Kawaguchi: better with a night

Go from Shinjuku. The Fuji Excursion limited express runs direct to Kawaguchiko Station, fastest in 1 hour 53 minutes; when we checked on 2026-10-10, Fujikyu listed four round trips a day, with one more in some seasons, and a one-way fare of ¥4,200, with no unreserved seats. Highway buses from Busta Shinjuku take approximately 1 hour 45 minutes for ¥2,200, or ¥2,000 booked and paid online, and can be reserved a month ahead. No pass is needed for the journey; at the lake, the local tourism federation lists a ¥1,500 1 Day Pass for its three sightseeing bus lines.

The thing that goes wrong is the mountain. JNTO says the best views come in the morning, as haze and cloud tend to hide Fuji as the day wears on, and that it is often hidden in the rainy season, from early June to mid-July. The first direct train from Shinjuku reached Kawaguchiko at 09:28 when we checked, and the tourism federation says crowds concentrate between about 10:00 and 16:00, so a day-tripper arrives in the haziest, busiest hours. A night on the north shore of Lake Kawaguchi or near Kawaguchiko Station gives you the dawn, and a second night a second chance.

If it has to be a day, take the 07:30 departure, the first direct train when we checked, and the 17:41 back from Kawaguchiko, the last direct one. The Mount Fuji guide orders the viewpoints, from the north shore to Chureito Pagoda and Oshino Hakkai, and compares the areas to stay in.

Hakone: better with a night

Odakyu's Romancecar runs from Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto in about 80 minutes, with all seats reserved; from Tokyo Station or Shinagawa, take the shinkansen to Odawara instead. Buy the Hakone Freepass: when we checked on 2026-10-10, Odakyu listed it at ¥7,100 for two days from Shinjuku, including the Odakyu return to Odawara, or ¥6,000 from Odawara, with unlimited rides on the mountain train, cable car, ropeway, lake boats and the listed buses. A Romancecar seat costs ¥1,200 more each way, and Odakyu says the pass is worth it even for a day trip.

A day trip can ride the whole loop: the Hakone Tozan train up to Gora, the cable car, the ropeway over the steaming valley of Owakudani, a boat across Lake Ashi and a bus back down. That is most of a day in transit. A night at a ryokan adds the hot-spring bath, dinner and Lake Ashi early in the morning, when Hakone Navi says its still surface can mirror Fuji. The Hakone guide compares Gora, Miyanoshita, Hakone-Yumoto and the lakeshore as places to stay.

This winter the loop breaks in two. Odakyu Hakone will run buses instead of the ropeway between Owakudani and Sounzan from 7 to 24 December 2026, and between Togendai, Ubako and Owakudani from 12 January to 26 February 2027. The replacement buses accept the Freepass but are expected to be very crowded, so in those weeks reach Owakudani by whichever half of the ropeway is still running.

To spend a night in both Hakone and at the Fuji lakes, look at Odakyu's Fuji Hakone Pass: ¥11,100 for three days when we checked, covering the Odakyu return between Shinjuku and Odawara and the trains, boats, ropeway and designated buses in both areas. It does not cover JR between Shinjuku and Otsuki or the highway buses from Shinjuku to the lakes.

If you have more days: Yokohama, Kawagoe and Mount Takao

Each of these is under an hour from central Tokyo, which makes them good choices for a late start or a lighter day between the bigger trips.

• Yokohama: the city's official visitors' guide puts it 25 minutes from Tokyo Station and 16 from Shinagawa by JR. It lies on the same Yokosuka Line as Kamakura, about 25 minutes short of it according to Kamakura's tourism association, so it makes an easy evening stop on the way back.
• Kawagoe: about 30 minutes from Ikebukuro on the Tobu line, according to Tobu, and promoted by its tourism association for the Edo-period atmosphere and retro streets of an old castle town in Saitama.
• Mount Takao: the hiking day. GO TOKYO puts Takaosanguchi Station about 55 minutes from Shinjuku on the Keio Line's Semi Limited Express, with numbered trails, a cable car and a chairlift to choose from on the way up.

Choosing by season

Whatever the month, go on a weekday if you can: the Fuji lakes' tourism federation warns that weekends and holidays in its busy seasons bring the heaviest traffic. Then let the season break any tie in the ranking.

• March to May: cherry blossom reaches Kamakura in April and central Nikko in mid-April. It is also the Fuji lakes' busy season, from early April into May. In the long holidays of late April and early May, Kamakura City reports Enoden queues spilling out of Kamakura Station, and the Hakone Ropeway expects congestion on fine days then, as it does on three-day weekends and in the autumn-leaf season.
• June to mid-July: the rainy season, and Fuji's weakest. Nikko or Hakone, where Hakone Navi lists hydrangeas in June, make better use of a grey day; Kamakura's hydrangeas come with the crowds described above.
• July and August: Kamakura's tourism association says temperatures often exceed 35°C and suggests sightseeing in the morning, while Hakone Navi notes that Hakone's summer is cooler than Tokyo's. The Fuji lakes are busy through the summer holidays.
• September to November: autumn colour reaches Nikko's lake in late September and the town from late October to mid-November, the traffic season described above. The Fuji lakes are busiest from late October to mid-November, and Kamakura's leaves come last, from late November to early December.
• December to February: the clearest air. JNTO and Hakone Navi both say clear winter days give the best views of Fuji, which makes it the best season for Lake Kawaguchi, and for Hakone outside this winter's ropeway works. In January, many people come to Kamakura for the first shrine or temple visit of the year.

Guided tour or do it yourself

On your own, all four trips are straightforward and cheaper: one train or bus from Tokyo, the passes above and your own pace, including the early starts that matter most at Fuji and Nikko. A tour earns its price in three situations. At the Fuji lakes the viewpoints are spread out and linked by buses, and JNTO notes that getting from Lake Yamanaka to Lake Saiko means changing at Kawaguchiko Station, so a small-group tour by road saves time. At Toshogu, a guide turns the carvings into stories. And if you cannot spare a night but still want Fuji, a tour at least removes the planning.

Be clear about what a tour cannot do. A tour from Tokyo travels in the same hours as the day-trip trains, so it cannot make Fuji appear, and a Nikko tour that includes Lake Chuzenji meets the same autumn traffic as the buses; in October and November, prefer one that travels by train and stays with the shrines. Kamakura gains least from a guide, since its sights sit along one train line: pay for one there for the history, or to add Hokokuji's bamboo grove without working out the buses. Before booking any tour, check the meeting point, which fares and admissions are included and when you will be back in Tokyo.