Climbing Mount Fuji in 2026: Rules, Fees, and Permits

Mount Fuji has been climbable, more or less, for free and without much oversight for most of its history as a tourist attraction. That changed for good after 2024's overtourism headlines, and the 2026 season locks the new system in.

The fee is now mandatory and uniform

For 2026, every one of the four trails — Yoshida, Subashiri, Gotemba, and Fujinomiya — charges the same ¥4,000 climbing fee. That replaces the old, confusing patchwork of a "voluntary" ¥1,000 conservation donation on some trails and no fee at all on others. The voluntary system was scrapped after the 2024 season once it became clear a "please consider donating" sign wasn't managing crowds or adequately funding the mountain's toilets and rescue services.

Payment and registration happen online in advance; you're expected to show proof at the trailhead.

Yoshida Trail: capped and curfewed

Yoshida — the busiest of the four, reached directly from Tokyo via the Fuji Subaru Line 5th Station — has a hard daily cap of 4,000 climbers. Once that's hit, the gate closes for the day regardless of what time it is.

The trailhead also now closes from 2pm to 3am, except for climbers who've booked a bed in one of the mountain huts. This specifically targets "bullet climbing" (弾丸登山) — attempting the summit overnight without sleep or acclimatisation, which used to fill the trail with exhausted, underdressed hikers and generate a steady stream of hypothermia rescues.

Season dates for 2026

Trail	Opens	Notes
Yoshida	1 July	Busiest trail, closest to Tokyo
Subashiri	1 July	Newly aligned with Yoshida — the two trails merge near the 8th station, so staggered opening was causing bottlenecks
Gotemba	10 July	Shizuoka side, longest and least crowded route
Fujinomiya	10 July	Shizuoka side, shortest route to the summit

The season closes around 10 September. Outside these dates the mountain huts, toilets, and safety infrastructure aren't operating, and climbing is genuinely dangerous rather than just inadvisable.

Booking around it

Because Yoshida's cap can bind on peak weekends, book your climbing date and a hut bed — if you're going overnight, which is strongly recommended over a sleepless bullet climb — well ahead of summer. If you're weighing this against Japan's other 2026 fee changes, the ¥4,000 Fuji fee is small change next to the new departure tax — but it's one of the few Japan travel costs that now requires advance planning rather than a same-day decision.