Japan Trip Report, Apr12-28, 2024, Day 14: Kurobe alpine route

       

 DAY 14, Apr 25 Thursday 2024: 

Tateyama Kurobe alpine route

The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route (立山黒部アルペンルート, Tateyama Kurobe Alpen Route) is a spectacular route through the Northern Japan Alps which is traversed by various means of transportation including cable cars, electric buses and a ropeway. The route is approximately 90 km long with  impressive scenery

Map below shows the sequence...

Completed in 1971, the route connects Toyama City with Omachi Town in Nagano Prefecture. 

The route is open from April 15 to November 30 and inaccessible during the winter.

The main attraction of the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route is the magnificent scenery of the Tateyama Mountain Range, part of the Chubu Sangaku National Park. 

LOGISTICS

We bought online tickets here in advance

https://www.alpen-route.com/en/transport/ticket_advance.html

the route has just opened and we knew it'll be terribly in demand.

. We had to pick a slot for departure time for the Tateyama Cable Car from Tateyama Station and only the earliest was available... 7am

The departure time for the Tateyama Cable Car from Tateyama Station will be printed on our ticket. If we miss it, our whole ticket becomes invalid, we had to be there for that first leg before time

* There are no specified departure times for other transport links. We just have to line up at the boarding gates.

we had to go in from Toyama to Tateyama and the short 12 kilometre trip  takes an hour on the mountainous route on the local train. 

Obviously there weren't too many options for the local train from Toyama so we had to take the 5:10 AM train. We walked to the Dentetsu station to take the train. 

We had printed out the different legs in the Dentetsu  station at Toyama itself the previous evening... at each leg we had to swipe that particular individual ticket to open the stile. 

TOYAMA TO TATEYAMA LOCAL TRAIN...TERRIBLE START FOR US!

we boarded the train from Toyama to Tateyama at 5.10 am ... the first leg of the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route starts from Tateyama as the name implies. 

There were only two coaches and half of the second coach had no seats which meant 20 of us had to stand for the whole one hour journey. This was so unexpected. 

at the station they were holding up placards saying there is no restroom on the train. What they should have really done is to ensure normal seats for all ticket holders, never mind the heads up on the toilet situation. 

At 5.10 AM we were standing for the 1-hr journey on a rickety old local train which swayed and rattled. After 20 minutes I sat on the floor of the coach, a couple of other ladies followed. I made my son also sit on the floor till we reached Tateyama.

TATEYAMA CABLE CAR STATION

we were at the Tateyama Cable car station by 6:15 AM We had a pretty long wait till 7:00 AM to board the cable car. The place was pretty, we looked around a bit and then waited

1. Tateyama Cable car (7 minutes): 

we rise higher and higher out of Tateyama Station on this cable car that climbs 500 metres at a 24 degree gradient to Bijodaira Station. from around 900m to 1500m. 

2. Tateyama Highland Bus (50 minutes): 

we travel further up into the alps aboard this bus from Bijodaira Station, past the Midagahara Wetlands to Murodo. passing through the famous Tateyama Snow Corridor.

3. Tateyama Tunnel Trolley Bus (10 minutes): 

Passing through a tunnel that connects Murodo with Daikanbo, this electric trolley bus is the highest operating one in Japan.

Daikanbu

 Daikanbo stop between the Tateyama Trolley Bus and Tateyama Ropeway: 

 Sitting at 2316 metres elevation, the station has an observation deck on its roof that provides a sweeping panorama of the Japanese Alps and Lake Kurobo below.

Going toward the next... ropeway

4. Tateyama Ropeway (7 minutes): 

There are panoramic views from this 1.7 kilometer long ropeway between Daikanbo and Kurobedaira, that’s the longest in Japan with just one span.

Lovely origami...tulips, stars with cable cars lined up....

Kurobedaira Station  transit station of Tateyama Ropeway

we had our picnic meal...

souvenir shop

KUROBE CABLE CAR

Kurobe Cablecar (5 minutes): This short cable car  operates completely underground between Kurobedaira and Kurobe Dam.

Kurobe Lake and Dam

 transfer stop Kurobe Dam offers some special sightseeing opportunities. 

The tallest dam in Japan at 186 metres in height, Kurobe Dam powers a local hydro plant and makes for a particularly imposing sight along the Alpine Route. 

Kurobe Lake is one of Japan's largest man-made lakes, and is surrounded by majestic mountains, verdant forests, and crystal-clear water

Kurobe Dam

one of the tallest dams in the world, stretches out for 333 meters. 

 there are 200 plus steps up a long staircase to enjoy superb views of the dam from its dedicated observation deck.

5. Kanden Tunnel Electric Bus (16 minutes): 

Another electric tunnel bus, this service takes us from Kurobe Dam to Ogizawa.

MADE A MISTAKE

Ogizawa was the end of the Alpine route, 

It has been hectic at each of the transfer stations. We went to the observation decks and lingered on till the crowd had disappeared in each transfer station.

It has been quite easy to get on the transportation for the next leg of the journey everywhere. 

The lines were pretty easily managed. In fact they had a separate line for individual travellers which was always very short. Only groups travelling with their guide were the majority crowd and they had a separate line, it suited us really well.

We showed the relevant tickets to the staff and they scanned it and let us through the stile at each station. So by the time we came to Kurobe Dam the bunch of tickets had been used

at Kurobe Dam also we had wandered around the lake and enjoyed the scenic surroundings.

Ogizawa Buses (40 minutes / 100 minutes): 

There is a Choice of two bus connections out of Ogizawa to JR stations.

 The Ogizawa-Omachi Local Bus runs to Shinano-Omachi Station and takes 40 minutes. 

Alternatively, the Nagano Express bus runs from Ogizawa to Nagano Station and takes 100 minutes.

Son had already bought Nagano Express bus tickets with the rest of the package.

I could not find that ticket and I did not know whether it was bought, though son insisted he had bought it.  

 Ogizawa-Omachi Local Bus was waiting to depart

The staff for the departing bus gave us three minutes to buy the ticket for that bus, actually our express bus was only at 3:30 PM. The previous one had been at 12:30 and of course we had not reached the station by then. 

Anyway the local bus was departing and we bought the tickets for both of us costing $20 for the two tickets. 

Only after reaching Shinano-Omachi, I found the express bus tickets which we had already bought. It had been stuck in the jacket pocket upper side.

Shinano-Omachi

Spent sometime in the scenic village wandering around, had our meal the packed sandwiches we had brought. 

When our original express bus came to the bus station, we showed them our tickets. We thought they might make a fuss that we had not been there for the first leg of the journey but they didn't; we boarded the bus and reached Nagano

In Nagano I had plans of some local sightseeing but I was too tired. The bus had dropped us at the Nagano train station. 

We bought the shinkansen ticket to Toyama, boarded the train, 46 minutes journey and reached our hotel.

It had been an awesome day!

report continues here

https://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2024/06/japan-trip-report-apr12-28-2024-day-15.html