Eizan Cable Car and Ropeway 比叡山
Visiting Eizan Cable Car and Ropeway today
- What it is: The Kyoto-side route up Mount Hiei. The cable car climbs 1.3 km from Cable Yase to Cable Hiei in about nine minutes, then the ropeway covers the last 486 metres to the summit in about three minutes.
- Getting there: Take the Eizan Railway from Demachiyanagi to Yase-Hieizanguchi (14 minutes), then walk about 3 minutes to Cable Yase Station. There is no parking.
- Hours: The cable car runs 9:00-18:15 and the ropeway 9:15-18:00. Both close in winter; the 2026 season started on 20 March. Night runs are held on summer weekends and during Obon.
- Then and now: The Eizan Cable reached its 100th anniversary on 20 December 2025, and both the cable car and ropeway got new interiors for the 2026 season.
Best timeGood any time of year
Checked against: Eizan Cable & Ropeway 2026 season (Keihan) · Yase area (Hieizan official) · Eizan Ropeway (Tabi-mag, Japanese) · Eizan Cable and Eizan Ropeway (GLTJP). Check opening times and prices before you go.
Eizan Cable Car and Ropeway on Shibuya246
Photos and stories from our visits, as they were written at the time.
Outdoors & Sport
Snow on Hieizan
I went for a drive late in the day and caught some snow on Mt Hiei about half way up.
Outdoors & Sport
Mount Hiei
This is a view of the mountain in the morning that I went up the other day, Mount Hiei
Outdoors & Sport
Ropeway, Cable car on Mount Hiei
Following on from the earlier post, I wanted to show a few shots of the ropeway car that took me to the top of Mount Hiei. It was a smooth ride from the…