The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route is a destination worth visiting while in Japan.  The route passes through stunning landscapes of Mt Tateyama in the Japanese Alps.  The main attraction on this route was the snow wall, an attraction only available in Spring.

Tateyama Alpine Train

Tateyama Alpine Funicular

 

 

 

 

 

 

To reach to the peak,  we first took a 1-hour train ride from Toyama to Tateyama on the Toyama Chiho Railroad, followed by a 7-min ride on the Tateyama Cable Car up to Bijodaira and lastly a 50-minute Highland Bus ride.

Waterfall on Tateyama

 

The Highland bus ride up to the alp started with scenic green landscapes with cedar trees and a view of the highest waterfall in Japan.  As we went higher, we started seeing bits of snow, and then more snow, and finally at the peak, a beautiful mountain top capped with snow.  Since our visit was in June, the Japanese alps were not fully covered in snow, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

Tateyama Alpine Route

 

Despite being surrounded by snow at 2,450m above sea level, the weather was surprisingly warm.  Our warm clothing seen in the picture below was actually unnecessary.

Tateyama-Alpine-01

Tateyama-Alpine-02

Snow-wall-03

My youngest daughter had never experienced snow, so she was extremely delighted to be able to play with snow for the very first time in her life.  As she was having so much fun, hubby stayed with her and my other daughter while my son and I headed to the main snow wall.  The picture on the left is also a snow wall, but not the main one along the road.

 

Snow Wall Japan

It is important to know that the snow wall does not open the whole day. On the day that we were there, visitors were no longer allowed to walk along the stretch of snow wall after 3pm. Fortunately for us, we managed to walk down the stretch just before it closed for the day.

Snow-wall-01 Snow-wall-02

 

In June, the highest point of the snow wall was 11m. In early Spring, the snow wall could go as high as 20m!  It is really amazing how the Japanese were able to clear so much snow and create a snow corridor that remained intact throughout Spring (mid April to mid June).

 

Snow Wall Japan

 

From the peak, we returned to Toyama and took the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo.

 

 

Tips

  • There are two ways to get to the peak to see the snow wall.  One is from Shinano-Omachi, and the other is from Toyama.  Visitors could do the full route in one day. i.e. ascend the mountain one way and descend the other.    The route from the top to Shinano-Omachi involved multiple transportation – a ropeway (cable car), a walk cross the Kurobe Dam, a trolley bus to Ogizawa, a local bus to Shinano-Omachi and finally multiple JR trains to Tokyo.
  • From Tokyo, you could go to either one.  The one between Tokyo and  Shinano-Omachi required multiple train transfers as described above, whereas the one between Tokyo and Toyama is more direct and faster via Shinkansen bullet train.
  • From Kyoto or Osaka, you would take the train to Toyama.
  • For us, our previous stop was Shirakawa-go, so the most convenient point of entry was Toyama. We took a bus ride from Shirakawa-go to Kanazawa, and then a bullet train  to Toyama.
  • More details are available on the official website is www.alpen-route.com/en/.

 

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