The short answer
Aokigahara Forest works well with children: the main trail is flat, free and easy, cave tickets are 200 yen for a child, and the caves themselves are a genuine adventure. Fugaku Wind Cave is the one to start with, Narusawa Ice Cave suits older children, and Saiko Bat Cave is the one to skip with small legs.
Why this works better than it sounds
Set aside the reputation, which children have generally never heard of. What is actually here is a flat forest walk on strange ground, three caves that read as an adventure, and an entry price of nothing.
The trail is level, wide and signed, so a four-year-old can manage the main loop. The lava underfoot is uneven enough to be interesting and rarely difficult.
Which cave for which child
| Cave | Child fare | The hard part | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fugaku Wind Cave | 200 yen | Cold, and a few low sections | Start here — level and short |
| Narusawa Ice Cave | 200 yen | Steep steps, ice underfoot, real stooping | Older children who like a challenge |
| Saiko Bat Cave | 200 yen | Close to 350 m, long stretches bent double | Skip it with small children |
Full descriptions of each are on the lava caves.
The cold is the thing to plan for
Children feel it faster than adults and complain about it sooner. Fugaku Wind Cave sits at around zero degrees in August and Narusawa Ice Cave stays below freezing all year, and neither has anywhere warm to retreat to inside.
Footing, and what shoes to put them in
Wet lava is the one genuinely slippery surface here, and it stays slick for hours after rain. Trainers with a worn sole are the wrong choice; anything with a real tread is fine.
The exposed roots across the trail are a trip hazard for anyone watching the canopy instead of their feet, which with children is most of the time. It is worth saying out loud at the trailhead.
How long children will actually last
An hour on the main trail plus one cave is a comfortable morning for most families and leaves everyone in a good mood. Two caves and the trail is closer to three hours and works from about seven upwards.
All three caves on foot is a half day and asks a lot of short legs. The walking between them is lovely and it is still walking.
Which departures take children
Most of them, with an adult alongside. The walk that stays on the surface and enters the ticketed caves takes children from six, with under-twelves needing a parent or guardian, and its flat trail suits a family better than a ladder descent does.
Among the private cars, one carries a child seat as standard and two are listed as wheelchair accessible for their above-ground stops, which also means pushchair-friendly at the viewpoints.
Making the day work
Go early. The trail is quietest before ten, the light under the canopy is best in the morning, and the cloud that hides Mount Fuji from Koyodai Lookout builds as the day goes on.
Carry water and something to eat: there is nothing inside the forest, and the kiosks at the cave entrances sell drinks and little else. The noodle restaurants around Kawaguchiko are a much better lunch than anything at the trailheads.
What children actually notice here
Not the reputation, which they have generally never heard of, and not the geology as such. What lands is the strangeness of the ground: roots running over rock like spilled rope, moss over everything, holes between blocks of lava, and the fact that the whole floor sounds different underfoot from ordinary forest.
The caves land hardest. Fifteen minutes underground with a low ceiling and ice on the walls is a genuine adventure at almost any age, and the boxes of cocoons still stored in Fugaku Wind Cave are the detail children tend to remember and repeat.
Koyodai Lookout is the other reliable hit, largely because it involves climbing something and arriving at a view. Twenty minutes up is about the right length before the complaining starts.
A half day that works
The shape that succeeds most consistently with children under ten is short, front loaded and warm at the end.
- Koyodai Lookout first, while legs are fresh. Forty minutes return, and the view sets up everything else.
- Fugaku Wind Cave. Level, short, cold, and the gentlest introduction to what a lava tube is.
- The walk between the caves, or a stretch of the nature trail. Twenty minutes to an hour depending on how it is going.
- Stop before anyone is tired. Lunch at Kawaguchiko is a much better ending than a third cave nobody wanted.
That is roughly three hours including the travelling between stops, costs one cave admission per person, and leaves everybody willing to come back.
If somebody is not enjoying it
The two things that go wrong are cold and footing, and both have the same answer: leave the cave and get back onto the trail. There is no cave here longer than a quarter of an hour at a normal pace, and the surface trail is flat, warm by comparison and free.
If the whole cave idea turns out not to suit, the day still works. An hour on the nature trail plus the lookout is a proper visit to this forest and it asks nothing of anybody beyond a pair of decent shoes.
Getting there with children in tow
The bus from Kawaguchiko is straightforward and takes about half an hour, but it is the return leg that decides whether the day ends well. Services thin out earlier than most families expect, and a cave car park in fading light with tired children is nobody's idea of a good ending.
Photograph the return timetable at the stop where you get off, before you walk away from it, and build the afternoon backwards from that time. A car removes the problem entirely and turns the three cave entrances into a few minutes of driving each, which with small children is worth a great deal.
Whichever way you travel, the toilets and the only real food are at Michi-no-eki Narusawa. Plan a stop there rather than assuming you will find something at a trailhead.
Find a walk that suits your family
Flat trails, admission included and free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead. Fares start at $51 per person.
For the fees and hours see Visiting the Forest; for what is growing beside the path, wildlife and plant life.
Departures that work with children
A flat trail with admission included, a private car with a cooked lunch, and a six-hour drive with a child seat aboard.
Hidden Fuji drive tour with a Local English speaking guide
From $386 per group (up to 4)
Check Availability