strategic place to camp in japan

What’s your favorite way to spend summer time? In Japan, camping with BBQ is one of the most popular and exciting activities to enjoy summer. 

Japan has numerous nice camping sites with beautiful scenery in nature and other facilities such as hot springs and adventure playgrounds. There are various places to camp out in Japan including mountains, forests, beaches, lakes and parks.Camping is a popular outdoor activity since anyone from children to adults can enjoy it and have a special experience in nature staying away from regular life.“Glamping” (mixed with “glamorous” and “camping”) is recently trendy camping style in Japan. It offers a glamorous time with large tents, beds, other furniture and dishes cooked by chefs.

so i recommended camping sites in Japan which are located in or around the Tokyo area. Some campsites provide options of equipment rental, so you can easily go camping even empty-handed.

Wakasu Park Camping Ground

so you want to camp out in Tokyo? Wakasu Park Camping Ground (若洲海浜公園キャンプ場) is one of the best camping sites near the center of Tokyo, which is also budget-friendly as it is a municipal park. The camp ground faces Tokyo Bay, so you can enjoy the views of the sea with Tokyo Gate Bridge, Tokyo Disney Resort and Mt. Fuji. There are shared kitchen facility with BBQ grills in the park, and the campsite offers food and rental equipment for BBQ.

Access: 15 mins by bus from Shinkiba Station (新木場駅)

Rate: JPY600(Adult)/JPY300(Children)

Season: All Season

Map: https://goo.gl/KmQV2J

Website: http://www.tptc.co.jp/en/c_park/03_07

Kouan Campsite

Kouan Campsite (浩庵キャンプ場) has one of the the best locations with the view of Mt. Fuji since it’s located directly on Lake Motosu (本栖湖) at the foot of Mt.Fuji. The camping site is mainly separated into the north and the south of Lake Motosu. The north one is especially recommended to pitch a tent with the beautiful scenery of Mt.Fuji and its reflection in the lake. The camping site is available in all seasons. Don’t forget to have a BBQ and play with fireworks! If you want to experience the camp there more easily, you can stay at cabins and have meals at a restaurant with a variety of menu. Kindly note that rental equipment is not available.

Access: 40 mins by car from Kawaguchiko Station (河口湖駅)

Rate: JPY600(Adult)/JPY300(Children)

Season: All Season

Map: https://goo.gl/UHBsH2

Website: http://kouan-motosuko.com/en/

Auto Campground GreenVila Daigo

Auto Campground GreenVila Daigo (大子広域公園オートキャンプ場 グリンヴィラ) is one of the best camping site near Tokyo for foreign travelers since you can go camping there empty-handed. The auto campground offers quite various equipment for camping and BBQ from tents and sleeping bags to table and cooking utensils. The campground consists of private sites and free-open sites, and the lawn on the both grounds are well organized. For advanced campers, it’s recommended to stay on American travel trailers. There are lots of facilities in the camping site to stay comfortably: shower and laundry facility, hot springs, indoor warm pools, adventure playground, tennis courts, etc. You can’t fully enjoy Auto Campground GreenVila Daigo just for a few days.

Access: 15 mins by taxi from Hitachidaigo Station (常陸大子駅)

Rate: JPY3,600 (Free Camping Site)/JPY5,900(Private Camping Site)/JPY6,900(Travel Trailer)

Season: All Season

Map: https://goo.gl/JHwrZa

Website: http://www.greenvila.jp/

The Farm Camp

The Farm spares a field for people in urban area to enjoy farming and also offers camping sites as The Farm Camp, located in Chiba Prefecture. You can spend the quiet time on camping in the vast farming field and can experience to harvest vegetables the farm grows. They also have 5 glamping plans and some of them are very exclusive since only a few groups can stay with the glamping plans, for instance “Forest”. They include a large tent, a hammock, beds, luxury BBQ dinner and so on. There is a natural hot spring facility in The Farm and you can view starry night sky from the outdoor hot spring. The Farm Cafe also serve salads, pizza, pasta, etc cooked with freshly picked vegetables.

Access: about 1.5 hours by car from Tokyo area

Rate: JPY8,000 per site (Camping Site)/from about JPY15,000 (Glamping)

Season: All Season

Map: https://goo.gl/psBn2g

Website: http://www.thefarm.jp/