Yatsugatake Mountains are located at the border of Yamanashi and Nagano prefectures and can be reached from Tokyo in 2.5 hours, which adds it to the list of possible weekend gataways for city dwellers.  Yatsugatake has it all – beautiful vistas, hot springs, good food – but is especially popular with hikers due to its developed system of trails with accompanying facilities. I spent one night staying at the beautiful Seisenryo and the next day went for a relaxed scenic drive along the Yatsugatake Kogen Line (road number 11).

My itinerary:

This is the most popular photo spot in Yatsugatake – especially in autumn, when the mountains start competing in brightness with the bridge. I was there early in the season, but still liked it very much.

My next stop was Makiba Koen – a big touristy place where people (especially kids) can run around in the pastures and interact with animals like horses and sheep. Complete with restaurant and gift shop, but I just stopped there for the views. Mt Fuji is also visible from here.

Then I headed further up and into the mountains, where there’s less people and more views. Kannondaira viewpoint is located at the end of a twisted road with several pullouts along the way. It’s also one of the entry points to Yatsugakake hiking trails – I saw people with backpacks there.

Having thoroughly enjoyed Mt Fuji from different angles, I bid my farewell to Yatsugatake and headed back to Kofu, where my road trip started a little bit less than a week before. I still had things to see and do there.