Japan Trip - Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route

At the end of 2017, I started to plan my next solo trip to Japan. That time I was still wondering which area of Japan should I explore next, then I remember an ex-colleague told me he went to a place where there is a massive snow wall even during pre-summer season. So I went to check about it and decided I shall explore the Chubu region (中部地方) in May 2018.

I've planned a 11 days trip to Japan (19th ~ 29th May 2018) which I will spend a week at the Chubu region and the last 4 days in Tokyo. In order to fulfill my itinerary I purposely find an airline which can land on Nagoya Chubu Airport (中部国際空港) and depart from Tokyo, so I've booked Singapore Airline at a price of $676. The main highlight of this trip for me is to explore the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route（立山黒部アルペンルート）and I found out there is a tourist pass which cover the fare along this route and also the Shinkansen ride to Nagoya（名古屋）. So I bought the Alpine-Takayama-Matsumoto Area Tourist Pass for $207 which has a validity period of 5 days. Highly recommend everyone to buy this pass for those who want to explore the Alpine Route as you can also make use of this pass to explore Matsumoto, Nagoya and so on. 

The tourist pass which clearly mention the path it cover

As I was researching on how to explore the Alpine Route, I came across this website: alpen-route.com

which provide an in-depth details about the Alpine Route like what is the recommended attire at certain period, how to travel from one stop to another and how much is the fare, etc. The site also provide a recommended sightseeing courses to help you plan your trip, and this is also where I found out about the tourist pass. This site really helped me a lot to plan my itinerary for the trip especially the Alpine Route as it require to take a few transportation to reach the Snow Corridor. 

Breakfast in SIA

On 19th May (Sat) midnight I took the flight from Singapore and landed at Nagoya Chubu Airport in the morning. After I activated the tourist pass I took the Shinkansen from Nagoya station to Matsumoto station which took 2 hours and spent my first day there. It was a sunny but windy day, so I don't feel hot at all. It was such a good weather to travel around. The first day was just a leisure sightseeing, I visited the Matsumoto Castle（松本城）, walked around the station and went back to backpacker hostel and rested early to get ready for the next day!

Random scenery while I was walking toward the backpacker hostel

Had Sanzoku Yaki (山賊焼き) for lunch - a Matsumoto's specialty 

The Matsumoto Castle

Rabbit in the park

The next day, 20th May (Sun) I went to the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route. To visit the Murodo's Snow Wall, there are 2 ways to reach there: 1 way is from Tateyama station on the left, another way is from Shinano Omachi on the right as shown in the image below. For me I chose to travel from Shinano Omachi to Tateyama station, one end to another. You might be thinking did I travel the whole route along with my big luggage? Well, the best part of this route is which they provide a baggage forwarding service with a price as listed here, so you can drop your baggage at one end and collect it on the other end. It's such a convenient service as you can peacefully enjoy the trip along the route without worrying your baggage.

Image from alpen-route.com

Beginning Part: Shinano Omachi (信濃大町) → Ogizawa (扇沢) → Kurobe Dam (黒部ダム)

Early morning I took the train from Matsumoto station to Shinano Omachi station which was around 58 minutes. Had my breakfast in the train while enjoying the scenery outside. I can feel the excitement when I saw the snow mountain while getting closer to Shinano Omochi station 😆 Once I reached the station I went to the Alps Roman Kan which is just on the right side of the station to drop my baggage. It cost ¥1,300 to forward my baggage to Dentetsu Toyama station （電鉄富山）. 

Reached Shinano Omachi station around 8.20am

The baggage pick up point information

Once I reached Shimano Omachi station, it was the beginning of my journey to Murodo Snow Wall. On the left there is a booth selling the bus ticket to Ogizawa. Since I bought the tourist pass so I don't need to pay for the ticket and just have to show them the pass. 

I was on time to take the first bus to Ogizawa

The bus ride took around 40 minutes and I reached Ogizawa（扇沢）around 9am. From there I need to take a tunnel bus to Kurobe Dam（黒部ダム）but this time it will just be a 16 minutes bus ride. You'll need to get a ticket for the ride but same thing for me I just need to show them the tourist pass. The bus will be there for every 30 minutes so I waited in line for the next bus (9.30 am). 

The crowd waiting for the bus

Cute little cat mascot

At each time there will be a few buses move together to accommodate all the passengers 

New electric buses from 2019 onwards

Around 9.50 am, I reached the Kurobe Dam which is also the first sightseeing spot. First, I went to the Dam Observatory to see the magnificent view. Once I reached the observation deck, indeed it was magnificent and chilling too. I have to wear my down jacket already. Near the dam it was a greenery mountains but behind them were white snowy mountains which create this magnificent scenery. I spent some time there to enjoy the view and the chilling weather. I was so grateful that there wasn't many people came to the observatory deck so I can slowly take my time to take photos.

The path I need to walk on later

Middle Part: Kurobe Dam（黒部ダム）→ Kurobeko（黒部湖）→ Kurobedaira（黒部平）→ Daikanbo（大観峰）→ Murodo（室堂）

I have spent around 30 minutes on the observation deck before continuing my journey. From the deck I have to walk across the dam to the Kurobeko station. It was around a 15 minutes walk to cross the dam and while walking on the dam I can feel the strong cold wind blowing toward me. I can't even stop there for awhile to take photo. 

Once I reached the Kurobeko station will have to wait for the next cable car to travel up to Kurobedaira.

Waiting for the next cable car at 10.50am

It was just a 5 minutes short ride to Kurobedaira（黒部平）. It's a resting point before moving towards to Murodo's Snow Wall. There was a few booth selling snacks and souvenirs, and also a small garden outside the station to enjoy the surrounding view. I was quite excited when I came out from the station as I can see the snow mountain up close and there was also some snow on the floor too. That was just my second time in my life to see snow up clos, so it was hard to hide my excitement 😆. I remember video calling my parents to show them the view there. 

 

I also had a quick lunch there - Kurobe soba, while waiting for the next departure time

The next ride will be a ropeway to Daikanbo（大観峰）at 11.30am. Once I got into the ropeway and start moving up, the surrounding was just breathtaking. Behind was the Kurobe lake which I just saw and in front was the purely white snow mountain. 

A fully packed ropeway

It was also a short ride around 6 minutes but it was a pleasant ride with that surrounding view. There is a observation deck on top of the station and it was another splendid view. It's a wide panorama of the Japan Alps and the lake formed by Kurome Dam. 

The Kurobe lake which I just saw up close an hour ago

There was just one last ride left to move to Murodo's Snow Wall. From Daikonbo will need to take the Tateyama Tunnel Trolley Bus to Murodo and it will be a 10 minutes ride.

My heart was pumping as I move closer toward Murodo. Can't wait to see the snow land! Around 12pm, I've reached Murodo（室堂）and quickly walked out of the station. Once I reached outside, I was simply speechless with the view in front of me. For someone who grew up in a country without four seasons, I can't really describe my feeling when I finally saw that piece of snow land. I was also grateful that day was a sunny day so I can fully enjoy the day. 

室堂雪の大谷 - Murodo Snow Wall such a fascinated view. For the first time I can see the cloud at my eye level, it was like I was above the sky 😂 It was hard to imagine during pre-summer season I was still able to see such thick snow. A piece of advice to those who haven't experience winter before, besides bringing a winter jacket and gloves there, remember to bring a sunglasses as well. Due to the surrounding pure white snow, during the sunny day it would be too bright to open your eyes. Even for my DSLR camera I have to add a polarizer filter to my lens to prevent too much light taken when I take the photo. At Murodo besides walking along the road to fascinate the snow wall there is also a hot spring near by, the Tateyama Nature Conservation Center and so on. I also saw people carrying their ski equipment up for skiing. Too bad I was there alone, can't play a snow ball fight with anyone 😅

 

Saw someone lying there to create a snow angel 😂 Just made my first snow ball

Ending Part: Murodo（室堂）→ Bijodaira（美女平）→ Tateyama Station（立山駅）→ Dentetsu Toyama（電鉄富山） 

I spent around 2 hours walking around Murodo and taking photos before decided to leave there. Do take note that going down the mountain to Dentetsu Toyama station will take more than 2 hours, so don't leave there too late. There are 2 types of bus moving down, 1 is a direct bus towards Bijodaira, another one will stop by Midagahara（弥陀ヶ原）before Bijiodaira. So according to your itinerary and timing you can choose any bus to board. I took the bus around 2pm and leave Murodo. Even on the way down the view outside was also magnificent 😍 

Once I reached Bijodaira I took the next cable car down to Tateyama station.

From Tateyama station will need to take an hour train ride to Dentetsu Toyama station and that was where I gonna collect my baggage.

Around 4pm I reached Dentetsu Toyama station（電鉄富山）and I can already see a pack of baggage there. Once I showed the person in charge my receipt, I can collect my baggage and move out of the station. In my itinerary I suppose to spend some time at Toyama to visit the Kansui Park before moving to my next destination. However I was already quite tired after a whole day of taking different transportation and already fascinated enough with the view I saw that day, so I decided to skip that plan. After a short break in a cafe, I took the Shinkansen to Takayama（高山）which I will spend my night there. 

To summarize my experience on Tateyama Kurobe Alpine route: 

• I began my journey from Shimano Omachi and leave my baggage around 8.20am
• After a few transportation changes, I reached Murodo around 12pm
• Spent 2 hours there and move down to Dentetsu Toyama around 2pm
• Reached Dentetsu Toyama station and collect my baggage around 4pm

Some people will go for a half journey, which is go to Murodo only and back to their beginning point. However I would strongly recommend to go for the full route as the view at each part is simply gorgeous. I was very grateful that day was such a good weather with a clear blue sky. This would be my most fruitful trip among all and really hope someday I can bring my parents there. 😊