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Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route
Enjoy stunning vistas while traversing the Japanese Alps via a series of trains, cable cars, trolley buses, ropeways, tunnels and hiking routes.
The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route is a spectacular traverse of the Northern Japanese Alps offering up gorgeous scenery and a smörgåsbord of transportation. From Ogizawa in Nagano Prefecture you'll first take a tunnel trolley bus burrows through the mountain side to the impressive Kurobe Dam, Japan's tallest at 186m. Here you can admire the reservoir and peer over the precipice where the water cascades down to support the towns below. The next section is perhaps the most spectacular, a 488m ascent by cable car to Kurobedaira. The air is starting to get thinner as now you will be at 2,316m above sea level. Another tunnel trolley bus brings you to the highest point of the route at Murodo, a plateau sitting at 2450m. Here you are rewarded with glorious Alpine vistas with Mount Tateyama towering above. What goes up must come down, and you will make the descent by a combination of bus, funicular train and train, eventually arriving at the sea level city of Toyama.
The full journey from Nagano to Toyama takes at least 7 hours, but we recommend breaking the journey with a night in Murodo. This way you can linger at the many view points or even take a detour for a walk in the mountains to steaming volcanic calderas. On a clear night in Murodo the stars are spectacular. From mid-April to mid-June you can take a bus from Murodo through the Tateyama snow corridor, where 20m high walls are carved out of snow.
When to go: The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route is usually open from mid-April to late November, but this can change depending on conditions. The trip is very popular with Japanese tourists and can be very crowded over a public holidays as well as weekends in autumn. The autumn leaves are at their most spectacular along the route from late September into early November.
For more information email us: [email protected] or call: 303 952 0379
A quick note about our experiences: Our experiences are designed to be part of a complete, tailor-made travel package and are not available to book individually. This allows us to ensure every detail – from accommodation to transport – is perfectly coordinated for you. If you're interested in one of these experiences, we'd love to help you build a full itinerary around it!
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