Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route

[Dino84]

Hi all,

I'm going to Japan next month and I wanted to try the alpine route. Has anybody travelled there lately? Is it better to travel the whole way through from Omachi or just try from Toyama to Murodo and turn back?

Scott.

 

[footy99]

Hi all,

I'm going to Japan next month and I wanted to try the alpine route. Has anybody travelled there lately? Is it better to travel the whole way through from Omachi or just try from Toyama to Murodo and turn back?

Scott.

I left from Matsumoto in the morning to Omachi, took the standard route to Murodo where I took a short 2hr side hike then got the last train to Kanazawa for the night. It was a full on 6am-10pm day.

If you just went from Toyama to Murodo and back, you miss a huge chunk of the crazy transport and ingenuity that made it possible to cross in a day. And after sitting through a lecture from my ryokan host that morning on how incredible Kurobe Dam is, I couldn't miss seeing it! The advantage of that option is much more time to hike around Murodo - which is a stunning area to hike around and you could also probably make it up Mount Tateyama. Depends what you like I guess and how it fits with the rest of your trip.

 

[Dino84]

I left from Matsumoto in the morning to Omachi, took the standard route to Murodo where I took a short 2hr side hike then got the last train to Kanazawa for the night. It was a full on 6am-10pm day.

If you just went from Toyama to Murodo and back, you miss a huge chunk of the crazy transport and ingenuity that made it possible to cross in a day. And after sitting through a lecture from my ryokan host that morning on how incredible Kurobe Dam is, I couldn't miss seeing it! The advantage of that option is much more time to hike around Murodo - which is a stunning area to hike around and you could also probably make it up Mount Tateyama. Depends what you like I guess and how it fits with the rest of your trip.

Thanks footy99, will have a small child with us so will probably avoid too much hiking. My partner hasn't had too much experience with snow so I mainly wanted to show them the snow walls near Murodo, from which I heard are pretty impressive this year!

Scott.

 

[footy99]

Fair enough.

The bus from Murodo towards Toyama goes through the snow walls so that part was over pretty quickly for me. Although if you are going next month, that whole area might be open to walk around.

Personally, I'd do whatever fits with where you are staying. If it is near Toyama, the return trip is probably best and you can take it slow around Murodo and the snow walls. If you're coming from Matsumoto or somewhere else near Omachi to somewhere near Toyama, I'd check out the whole thing. The main attractions between Omachi and Murodo are the dam, various lookout points and the transport options to get through the terrain. If you do it that way, try to get your hands on a movie called "The Sands of Kurobe" (Japanese with Eng subtitles). It's a great dramatisation of how the dam and tunnels between Omachi and Murodo were actually constructed. I stumbled on it by chance the night before at the ryokan in Matsumoto when I mentioned I was going to check out this route and they happened to have the video of it there. They were also very proud of that Dam - which is probably common in Japan.

 

[Dino84]

We haven't decided whether we're staying around Toyama or Matsumoto yet. Thanks for the tips, gives me a bit to think about.

Scott.