Trail 6 does not just follow the stream — for one stretch it runs up the streambed itself. What that means for your shoes, and the eight minutes at the end.

The onsen beside the ticket gate at Mount Takao: prices, hours, the tattoo rule, why you cannot bathe with a plaster on, and where to leave your rucksack.

The cable car and the chairlift up Mount Takao cost the same, so price cannot decide it. The weather, the clock, and who the chairlift will not carry can.

The quietest way up Mount Takao has exactly one view, halfway up — and it faces back the way you came, so most walkers pass it without knowing it is there.

Trail 1 goes straight through a 1,300-year-old temple, and nothing on site tells you what to do. A walk-through guide to Yakuo-in, in the order you meet it.

Trail 1 is paved all the way up Mount Takao, but the climb is not evenly spread. Where the hard section is, and how the cable car skips exactly that part.

Trail 1 is paved — and it is the hardest way up Mount Takao. Picking your route first-hand, with fares, timings, and the chairlift rule most guides miss.