Take the World-Class Mountain Sightseeing Route to Discover What Each Season Has to Offer!
Tateyama Cable Car
Murododaira in July
Take the World-Class Mountain Sightseeing Route to Discover What Each Season Has to Offer!
Tateyama Cable Car
Exceeding 3,000 m in altitude, the Hida Mountains are also known as the Northern Alps for their landscape featuring rocky peaks and snowy valleys. The route runs 37.2 km between Toyama and Nagano through the Northern Alps. Each year, around one million tourists from home and abroad visit here to enjoy incredible scenery and experience. Private vehicles are not allowed to use the route to avoid pollution. Instead, you travel using six modes of transportation, including bus, ropeway, and cable car. If you start on the Toyama side, take the cable car from Tateyama to Bijodaira, then a dedicated bus will take you to Murodo, the highest point on the route.
Murododaira in July
Theroute opens in mid-April after a snowy winter. Flowers may be blooming at the foot of the mountains, but you can still enjoy walking through the snow at Murododaira, one of the snowiest places in the world. A highlight of this season is the gigantic 500 m-long snow wall, which materializes due to removing snow from the road. As the season shifts, trees sprout new leaves, contrasting with the remaining snow. From June to September, alpine plants bloom throughout the short summer. Walkers admire flowers around Mikurigaike, filled with thawed water, and the Midagahara wetlands. Fall comes early in the mountains. From September to November, leaves slowly change color from the summit. Shomyo Falls, the highest in Japan, looks most stunning during this season. Around November, autumnal colors spread at the foot of the mountains while the Murododaira plateau is covered with fresh snow.
©Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route
1.Bijodaira
A plateau covered in the primeval forest. In spring and summer, follow the trail on foot to commune with nature and enjoy birdwatching in the beech forest, a habitat for many wild birds.
©Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route
2.Shomyo Falls
The water drops over a cliff 350 m high. Admire the breathtaking scenery in spring and summer as the flow of water increases. In fall, red leaves make a striking contrast with the white shining falls.
©Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route
3.Midagahara
An alpine wetland registered under the Ramsar Convention. Alpine plants bloom in summer, and nearby mountains make a spectacular backdrop to the autumnal colors.
A mysterious sea of clouds appears in the right weather conditions.
©Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route
4.Yuki-no-Otani (Snow Wall)
The walls of snow rise as high as 20 m, running around 500 m. Keep on the sidewalk and feel its might closely.
©Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route
5.Murododaira
The plateau is the route’s popular tourist base at an altitude of about 2,450 m. You may see stoats or grouse, a “messenger of the mountain gods.”
©Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route
6.Mikurigaike
This crystal-clear lake is a symbol of Murododaira. Relish the scenic view of the most beautiful volcanic lake in the Northern Alps as it mirrors the surrounding mountains off its surface.
20 mins by Shinkansen from JR Kanazawa Station
The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route from Kanazawa can be reached in about one and a half hours by taking the Shinkansen bullet train, a local train (Toyama Chihou Railway), a cable car and a bus enjoying the scenery along the way and taking four different vehicles.
