We catch our first glimpse of Mt Fuji from the bullet train as we speed northwards. It stands gracefully, impressively on its own, nothing else around to detract from its beauty. Our reserved seats were on the wrong side of the train so we changed carriages into the non-reserved section to get better seats. By the time we had got to our station the clouds had moved in and the view was over. We picked up another car for this leg and headed to Hotel Mt Fuji for 2 nights. 

On the way we stopped at a suspension bridge hoping for a good view but the cloud was still there. We also stopped in at Lake Ashi at Hakone for lunch, hoping for the perfect Mt Fuji picture but there was no mountain view.

Hotel Mt Fuji sits on a hill overlooking lake Yamanaka with Mt Fuji to the right. The hotel was very nice and had everything you could need, even though some of it a little dated. Whilst this stop was mainly for resting and admiring the view,  we managed to find a golf driving range nearby to use up some energy. The girls loved it as the next ball appeared on the tee automatically after sending one on its way. It looked like the Japanese take their golf very seriously as the place had showers, changerooms and other facilities even though there was no golf course. 

We were very lucky as we had a clear view of Mt Fuji the whole time we were there. Cloud would generally appear but mostly only the other side of the mountain. This hotel I would definitely recommend, the views were amazing and the service was top notch. We didn’t eat dinner here as it was too expensive but had breakfast included which was great.

The next day as we were leaving we tried to drive up to a lookout up on the side of Mt Fuji but only found a closed road. I think it would be a nice view in spring with leaves and flowers out, although the mountain itself wouldn’t be as good looking without snow covering it.