Mount Fuji, Japan

Mount Fuji is now the most regulated iconic peak in Japan after crowd-control gates and a $14 fee were introduced in 2024, following 300,000 annual climbers who turned the sacred trail into a congested highway. Summit waits routinely exceed two hours, and the trail is 40% slower than the average alpine ascent. This forced bottleneck, worse than the congestion at #10 Trevi Fountain's plaza, has sparked a 20% drop in permitted climbers this season, proving that even natural wonders need hard limits to preserve tranquility.