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Part-way to the peak of Mt. Takao is an unforgettable beer garden experience.

Every summer in Japan “beer gardens,” seasonal open-air establishments that offer all-you-can-drink plans and plenty of food, open up around the country. But while knocking back a couple chilled brews might sound like a great plan in midsummer, the truth is that oftentimes even the coldest of cold ones isn’t enough to fully counteract the heat and humidity that blanket Japan throughout July and August.

On the other hand, September in the Tokyo area is still warm enough for a cold beer or two (or three…or four) to sound very appealing, but without the risk of sweating to death if you’re drinking them outside. And so it was that we headed out to Mt. Takao, in the Hachioji City section of west Tokyo, one fine September day.

If you time your transfers right, it’s less than an hour from Shinjuku Station in downtown Tokyo to Takaosanguchi Station, the closest station to Mt. Takao, on the Keio Takao Line (there’s also a Takao Station in the area, but it’s much farther from the mountain).

▼ Takaosanguchi Station (高尾山口駅)

Mt. Takao, or Takaosan, as it’s called in Japanese, is known as one of the Tokyo area’s best day hikes, since it’s easy to access from the city and has multiple routes to the top, all doable in 90 minutes or so and not requiring any special equipment beyond some good walking shoes. However, Mt. Takao also has one of the Tokyo area’s best beer gardens, called Takao Beer Mount, which is located on the side of the mountain at an elevation of 488 meters (1,601 feet).

From Takaosanguchi Station, it’s a short walk to the foot of the mountain. Follow the stream, and soon you’ll see this structure.

This building is Kiyotaki Station, and from here a chairlift or cable cars whisk you up close to the top of the mountain, and also close to the entrance to the beer garden, for 950 yen (US$6.80) round-trip. If you’re feeling energetic, you can hike up instead, taking Hiking Route 1, but our Japanese-language reporter Ahiruneko was not feeling energetic, he was feeling thirsty, and wanted to get to the beer garden ASAP.

For his trip up, Ahiruneko opted to take the chairlift. Why?

Because, for safety reasons, people who have been drinking aren’t allowed on the lift. If you’re planning to hit the beer garden, your choices for getting back down are the cable car or walking, so the trip up was going to be Ahiruneko’s only chance to ride the lift.

Not that taking the lift gets you completely out of walking, though, as there’s a pretty steep stairway to climb to get to the chairs.

As a native of Hokkaido, Japan’s snowiest prefecture, Ahiruneko has been on lots of ski slope chairlifts in his youth, but even he was surprised at the brisk pace of Takao’s, and there was more swaying than he expected too.

The view, however, was gorgeous, with just a tiny yellowish tinge to the trees as an early sign of autumn.

A word of caution, though: If you’re going to be snapping photos with your phone, Ahiruneko recommends securing your device with a neck strap, since at best it’s going to be a pain to retrieve if you drop it, and at worse it’ll never be found.

Even at the lift’s quick pace, it takes 12 minutes to get to the upper station, which is at an elevation of 462 meters.

From here, it’s a six-minute walk to Takao Beer Mount, along the route shown on the map below.

Once Ahiruneko had made the walk, the beer garden building came into view!

There were, however, once again stairs for him to climb at the beer garden’s entrance.

He persevered and made it to the top of the steps, though, and then, he’d arrived!

Takao Beer Mount is, even by beer garden standards, a very spacious place. They have roughly 600 seats, and accept reservations for groups of even more than 100 people.

By showing up on a weekday shortly after Takao Beer Mount opens at 1 p.m., though, he had practically the whole place to himself! Even when he headed up to the highest seats on the rooftop…

…it was like he’d rented the whole place out.

This also meant that there was no one ahead of him in the drink line! Looking at the menu, Ahiruneko saw that no single brewer has a monopoly at Takao Beer Mount, and Asahi, Kirin, Suntory, Sapporo, and Heartland beers are all options, as are lemon chu-hi cocktails, highballs, and sake.

Taking a seat and taking his mug in his hand, Ahiruneko took a moment to appreciate the beautiful vista before him and to appreciatively toast the beauty of the mountains, forests, and sky.

In these quiet surroundings, where you can hear the chirping of the birds and rustling of the wind, the liquid refreshment was especially glorious.

Maybe even a little too glorious. As he made quick work of his first beer, Ahiruneko remembered that he hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast, and figured he should put something in his stomach before downing another brew.

Takao Beer Mount serves a mixture of Japanese, Chinese, and Western-style dishes, pretty much the holy trinity of buffets in Japan. Even though hardly any other customers were there at this time the cooking staff had still put out a full spread, and Ahiruneko grabbed some yakitori chicken skewers and mapo tofu, along with a number of other sides, all of which were satisfyingly tasty.

▼ He also grabbed another beer because, remember, it’s all you can drink.

To his happy surprise, Takao Beer Mount even has Hachioji ramen, the local version of ramen with a soy sauce-based broth, extra oil, and a generous amount of chopping onion…

…and locally brewed Hachioji sake.

Oh, and we can’t forget the dessert corner, with its chocolate fountain.

Takao Beer Mount charges 5,000 yen for two hours of all-you-can-drink-and-eat, and let’s just say Ahiruneko definitely got his money’s worth.

When his time was up, Ahiruneko, with a smile on his face, left the beer garden and walked back down to the upper cable car station for his ride back to the bottom of the mountain.

The ride down takes only six minutes, and the Mt. Takao cable car track has an angle of a little over 31 degrees. That number might not mean much to people who aren’t infrastructure enthusiasts, but it’s apparently the steepest cable car route in all of Japan!

Looking out the front window, we’re not inclined to argue with that designation, and Ahiruneko felt a little thrill watching from this perspective as the car made its descent, plus a little bit of childlike joy when they passed by another car on its way up and then went through a tunnel.

And with that, Ahiruneko’s visit to Mt. Takao, and Takao Beer Mount, came to a close. Of course, you don’t have to be as singly focused on the beer garden as he was, as plenty of people do a full hike from the foot of the mountain all the way to its top, stopping to check out waterfalls, temples, and other points of interest along the way, and after all that grab a late lunch or dinner at the beer garden. Really, there are all sorts of ways to enjoy the place, just bear in mind that Takao Beer Mount is a seasonal spot, and its last day to be open this year will be October 15.

Location information
Takao Beer Mount / 高尾山ビアマウント
Address: Tokyo-to, Hachioji-shi, Takao-machi 2205
東京都八王子市高尾町2205
Open 1 p.m.-9 p.m.

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