Mt. Fuji's most popular trail has opened bookings for 2025 climbing season

Japan’s majestic Mt. Fuji, the country’s highest peak and a renowned symbol of beauty, is set to implement significant changes this summer to combat increasing congestion and safety concerns on its popular hiking trails.

A key alteration will see a mandatory 4,000 yen (approximately US$28) fee levied on every hiker using any of the routes leading to the summit.

Restrictions will also be placed on the hours non-lodging hikers can access the trails. Those without reservations at the mountain’s huts or lodges will only be permitted to hike between 3 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Another change for 2025 is that hikers are now required to make prior reservations, or register their details to climb Mt. Fuji, via an online system before arriving at the mountain.

This is intended to help ease congestion, ensuring that visitors are spread equally across all available climbing dates.

For those planning to ascend via the Yoshida Trail in Yamanashi Prefecture, the most frequented route, bookings have now opened.

The reservation system for the Subashiri, Gotemba and Fujinomiya trails are expected to be opened shortly.

Mt. Fuji has 4 separate trails, with the Yoshida Trail being the most popular

The Yoshida Trail will be open to hikers from July 1st to September 10th and bookings for all dates can now be made via the link at the end of this article.

To help you complete your booking, we’ll take you through the process.

If you’re using a browser with an inbuilt translate function, it’s advisable to turn this on as soon as you access the booking website, as the first page of the process is only available in Japanese.

If you don’t have access to a translate function, don’t worry, as we’ll walk you through each step.

Upon accessing the booking website, you’ll be given two options – single day hikes (【日帰り登山者】富士山吉田ルート通行料) and hikes with mountain hut reservations (【山小屋宿泊者】富士山吉田ルート通行料).

Click the top blue button to book a single day hike, or the bottom blue button to book a hike with a mountain hut stay

Select the チケット購入に進む option under the type of booking you’d like to make and you’ll then be greeted with a list of terms and conditions that clarify that the system is solely for this specific trail, that separate reservations are needed for mountain huts (if required), and that a daily limit of 4,000 hikers will be enforced.

You’ll be asked to confirm that you will bring adequate equipment amongst other key information

Details regarding refunds and rescheduling are also provided. Users must confirm their understanding before proceeding.

The subsequent reservation calendar and information entry screen offers multilingual options via a button.

The reservation website’s calendar will indicate availability for each day using a system of symbols: a circle signifies ample availability, a triangle denotes limited remaining slots, an X indicates full booking, and a hyphen means hiking is prohibited on that particular date.

Select your date from the calendar, using the key to help you identify available booking slots

After selecting a date, hikers will choose a reservation time, though only one option exists for each reservation type.

You can then proceed to fill in your personal information and go through to the payment process to finish your booking.

Full payment will be required upon making a reservation and while rescheduling to a different time is possible, refunds will not be granted within two days of the ticket purchase.

As mentioned earlier, those not staying in mountain huts are restricted to the 3 a.m. to 2 p.m. window, while hut guests have unrestricted access.

This new timing regulation is intentionally designed to discourage overnight hiking to catch the sunrise from the summit without utilizing mountain hut accommodations, a practice local authorities aim to curtail.

Though it seems obvious to many, the reservation process also requires hikers to confirm they will bring essential gear, including warm clothing, separate upper and lower rainwear (ponchos are not acceptable), and appropriate climbing footwear.

While it remains to be seen if trail entrance officials will conduct gear checks, authorities have expressed concerns following recent incidents involving ill-equipped tourists.

Spot checks, particularly for non-Japanese hikers, are a possibility, and lacking the agreed-upon equipment could potentially lead to denial of access to trails.

Hikers are therefore strongly advised to ensure they have all necessary items before arriving at the mountain.

If you plan on climbing Mt. Fuji in 2025, head over to the Yoshida Trail reservation page as soon as possible to book your hike!

Source: Official Website