Chubu & Japanese Alps · Tateyama, Toyama
Tateyama Kurobe: crossing the Japanese Alps from Toyama to Nagano in one day
The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route crosses the Northern Alps from Toyama to Omachi in Nagano by train, three cable cars, the Highland Bus and two electric buses in tunnels. You pass Murodo, at 2,450 meters, and Kurobe Dam, the tallest in Japan. Open from 15 April to 30 November, and the ticket from Toyama to Omachi is ¥14,360.
A whole day of crossing, from Toyama in the west to Omachi in Nagano, through the Northern Alps. You ride a train, a cable car and the Highland Bus up to Murodo, walk for an hour and a half around a crater pond at 2,450 meters, cross the mountain by electric bus in a tunnel, ride down by ropeway and cable car to Kurobe Dam, eat lunch at the dam, and leave by bus through a tunnel to the Nagano side. All the rides together cost ¥14,360, and at the counter you buy the whole way on one ticket. You walk only at Murodo and at the dam, about an hour and a half in total. The route is open from 15 April to 30 November. The snow walls are in spring, until 25 June, and the dam's water discharge runs from late June to 15 October. From late October there is snow at Murodo, the rooftop decks close, and from 4 November a winter timetable applies. The operator warns that from mid-November snow may stop the Highland Bus on the Toyama side, and in November it recommends crossing from the Nagano side. The JR area pass for tourists, Alpine-Takayama-Matsumoto, ¥24,500 for five days, covers the route and also JR from Nagoya to Toyama and from Omachi to Nagoya, and is valid only until 10 November. It pays off only if you also ride those lines.
The day on a map
7 stops, in order
- Stops
- 7
- Walking minutes
- 3
- Tateyama Station, then Ropeway 7 min
- Bijodaira, then Bus 50 min
- Murodo, then Bus 10 min
- Daikanbo, then Ropeway 25 min
- Kurobe Dam, then Walk 3 min
- Lunch break at Kurobe Dam, then Bus 70 min
- Shinano-Omachi Station
The same stops with the same numbers, and the way from stop to stop. On a phone it opens in the app, and that is what you navigate with in Japan. Pin names on the map are in Hebrew.
Getting there: You start at Dentetsu-Toyama Station, a seven-minute walk from JR Toyama Station. From Kanazawa take the Hokuriku Shinkansen, 22 minutes, ¥2,860 in an unreserved seat: the Hakutaka that leaves at 06:16 reaches Toyama at 06:39 and makes the 07:14 train, but it is easier to sleep in Toyama. The day ends at Shinano-Omachi, and from there you go on to Matsumoto or Nagano.
TrainMust
Dentetsu-Toyama Station: the train to Tateyama
You start at Dentetsu-Toyama Station of the Toyama Chiho Railway, a seven-minute walk from the main exit of JR Toyama Station. The 07:14 train reaches Tateyama at 08:20 and connects with the 08:40 cable car, which is the first cable car of the day from 4 November. Buy breakfast before that at the JR station: Minamoto's shop opposite the central ticket gate opens at 06:30 and sells masu-zushi, pressed trout sushi in bamboo leaves, ¥1,300 for the small box. The same-day ticket counter at Dentetsu-Toyama only opens at 07:30, after the train leaves. So either book a web ticket in advance, which also fixes your boarding time for the cable car, or buy a regular train ticket here for ¥1,420 and the rest at the counter in Tateyama. If you have a suitcase, hand it in here, 05:00 to 10:00, and collect it at Shinano-Omachi from 15:00: ¥4,000 per item, cash only, until 8 November, and the tag needs a Japanese phone number.
Ride to Tateyama
Stop 1Cable carMust
Tateyama Station: the mountain cable car to Bijodaira
At Tateyama, 475 meters up, the route itself begins. If you have no ticket yet, buy it here: Tateyama to Ogizawa is ¥10,940, and with the bus to Shinano-Omachi ¥12,940. The station has a shop with light food, and toilets open 24 hours. The cable car climbs 502 meters in seven minutes, at an average gradient of 24 degrees, and leaves about every 20 minutes. From 4 November the first cable car is at 08:40.
Up to Bijodaira
Stop 2NatureMust
Bijodaira: the Bijo cedar and the Highland Bus
You step out of the cable car into a cedar forest. Right in front of the station stands Bijo-sugi, the cedar that gave the station its name, tied to a legend about the old ban on women climbing the mountain. According to the operator, some of the cedars in the forest are more than a thousand years old. From here the Highland Bus climbs 1,473 meters over a 23-kilometer road, and every passenger has a seat. Sit on the left: that is the side for Shomyo Falls. The station's rooftop deck closes for the winter after 31 October.
Up the plateau to Murodo
On the way you can stop at:
- Shomyo Falls: A 350-meter waterfall you see from the left window of the bus on the way up. The autumn colors reach it in early November, the last on the route.
- Midagahara: A plateau of wetlands at 1,930 meters, listed under the Ramsar Convention, with about 3,000 small ponds. If you get off there, you need a reserved seat to board the next bus.
Stop 3NatureMust
Murodo: Mikurigaike pond at 2,450 meters
Murodo, at 2,450 meters, is the highest point of the route, and an hour and a half here is the heart of the day. You leave from the roof of the terminal on a walk of about 15 minutes to Mikurigaike, a crater pond about 10,000 years old, 630 meters around and 15 meters deep. The operator's course continues from there to Enmadai, about 20 minutes each way. Ptarmigan live in the low shrubs around the pond, and seeing one is luck. The Tamadono spring rises at Murodo, and this year you can drink from it until 31 October. The trails inside the Jigokudani valley were closed in 2020 because of volcanic gas, and we found no notice that they reopened. Between mid-April and 25 June you pass here between the snow walls of Yuki-no-Otani, up to 20 meters high. From late October Murodo is usually under snow, and in November the temperature here is often below zero: waterproof shoes that do not slip, even if you are not hiking.
Through the mountain to Daikanbo
Stop 4ViewpointRecommended
Daikanbo: the station hanging above Kurobe Lake
Daikanbo is built into the side of a cliff at 2,316 meters, and its rooftop deck looks out over Kurobe Lake and the Ushiro-Tateyama range. Apart from the roof you cannot go outside, and the roof closes for the winter after 29 October, so from then on you see the view only through the station windows. From here the ropeway goes down into the Kurobe valley.
Down to Kurobe Dam
On the way you can stop at:
- Kurobedaira: The change station at 1,828 meters, with an alpine plant garden of about 100 species, 2 minutes on foot from the station. The rooftop deck closes for the winter after 30 October.
Stop 5AttractionMust
Kurobe Dam: the walk across the dam and the observation deck
You come out of the Kurobeko tunnel onto the tallest dam in Japan, 186 meters, and walk along its crest, 492 meters, with the lake on one side and the drop on the other. From Kurobe Dam Station, at the eastern end, you climb 220 steps to the observation deck at 1,508 meters, and come down the outer stairs to the new viewing plaza. The dam's full viewing course takes 110 minutes and the short one 90 minutes, so here you choose: the walk across the dam and the deck. The water discharge, more than 10 tonnes a second, runs from 26 June to 15 October. The lake cruise boat, Garube, stopped running at the end of fiscal year 2024. In November there are days when the dam is below freezing and there is snow on the path.
Down to lunch
Stop 6LunchRecommended
Lunch break at Kurobe Dam
You eat at the dam, because Kurobeko and Daikanbo have no restaurant. There is no kosher food anywhere on the route, and no dish is labeled vegetarian: the broth in the noodle soups is made from fish, and the curry comes with a pork cutlet. You may bring food, and you take all your rubbish with you. If you keep kosher, you can order three days ahead from the Chabad Kyoto catering service, which ships anywhere in Japan, to your hotel in Toyama. The options:
On to Shinano-Omachi
Stop 7StationMust
Shinano-Omachi Station: the train to Matsumoto
The day ends at Shinano-Omachi Station, on the Nagano side. If you handed in a suitcase in Toyama, collect it here, 15:00 to 17:45. The JR Oito Line reaches Matsumoto in about 55 minutes, ¥720: on a November weekday there are trains at 15:55, arriving at 16:50, and at 17:13. Matsumoto is a good city to sleep in after this day, and from there you go on to the castle and the Nakamachi quarter. If something on the way ran late, the last departures that still reach Ogizawa are the 15:00 cable car from Tateyama until 3 November, and the 13:50 cable car from 4 November.
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Written as a draft and verified by hand against official sources. Opening hours and prices change, so check before you go.