Mount Tsurugi

Climbed on 12 April 2025 with sunny weather, although the chairlift was still closed. There was still snow at the last 20% of the ridge line trail, needed to walk carefully without snow shoes but fun hike! The peak has scenic views of the valleys around Mount Tsurugi

The mountain is great and the view beautiful. Unfortunately (maybe because the hiking season didnt properly start yet - April) They did not have a any trail closures for the red trail until it is almost too late to return. Please do not turn your beautiful hike into a dangerous adventure especially with the snow still lying around. Though if you are 110% sure the red trail is open until the end and you have asked the locals then it is a beautiful trail.

There is very simple chair lift (¥1900 for round trip) that takes you to mid way. Takes abt 15min to the hiking point. There is also hiking route to walk up which will take abt 30-40min if u wanna skip the lift. From the lift station, there are three different hike route to the top. 40min, 60min and 120min. I took 40min steep way up and took 120min scenic route back down. The 120min route was really nice with view. I recommend that route if the weather was nice. Definitely don’t do it if the weather is bad as it is really narrow hiking way on the side of steep hill. It’s pretty easy hike route overall.

If you are a hiker you can hike all the way up but there’s still a considerable hike at the top after the chair lift 1050yen each way. Get there early to get a car park otherwise you will have to park illegally on the road. Stunning views from the top when the cloud clears. Highly recommend!

Scenic chair lift provides an easy and scenic way to the top station. However there is still another long and arduous walk up a steep slope to the peak. Not for those who are not physically in good shape.

Went there on a cloudy day. We didn’t get any view as expected but just wanted to check out this one from the hiking list. Free parking. It was pouring for hours while going up and coming down. Was quite challenging and fun going down for 2 hours through mud and water. We didn’t carry any jacket and it wasn’t too cold at the top.

We took the chairlift up/down and hiked to the top. We then took a different loop walk down and in total hiked for 2.5hrs.

It took us more than 1 hour to climb the mountain without a chairlift and with heavy backpacks (15 kg gurai). But it's better than paying 1500¥ for a chairlift to the middle of an ascent and still making efforts to climb. On top they sell some food in a restaurant, and there's a temple, and of course a very nice view.